The City Council met tonight and the RDA was on the agenda. It's late, so here's the skinny....
John Capelle (Community Development Director) and Company gave a long (over 45 minutes) slide presentation on how the RDA works (because we all needed an education that, you know).
Ald. Ed DuQuaine stated point-blank that the RDA needs to have City Council approval on nearly every aspect of it's actions. He was adamant there was too much power/authority given to the RDA.
DuQuaine also fired off a list of questions for the Mayor, the City Attorney and John Capelle.
This led to audience participation, which I'll post via video below. Citizens seemed to feel that they were kept out of the loop on the RDA "doings" and that overall communication was a fail. A truly stellar moment took place when Mike Husar (citizen/small business owner) stepped up to the mic. The woman's voice you hear is City Attorney Mary Schanning. Here it is in two parts:
and
Here's a citizen giving his input...
And Mayor Deiss' reaction of "stick to the agenda"...........
1 comment:
It is the responsibility of citizens to keep an eye on economic development efforts. Don't skimp on funding your community television station, whose job it is to record government meetings for posterity, and for later viewing when you can't make every meeting. Don't stop examining every agenda.
Husar's comments on improving property versus giving it away? Giving it away might not cost anything, but it might not optimize the return. If you can put $1000 in your broken-down car and sell it for $2000 as opposed to having to pay to have it hauled away, then you might choose to invest the $1000 to get $2000 back. Similarly, the city might be wise to attract a better buyer who might generate more tax revenue in the future.
MLG employees make plenty of campaign contributions.
Post a Comment