We hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving with lots of leftovers!
Tonight's City Council agenda (.pdf) is full of fun! The items of particular interest to the Crew are 1st Ward Alderman Dave Schmidt's resolution for a referendum on the question of building a new police station, the agreement to let PRC Partners lease space to another service business that doesn't generate retail sales tax revenue, and an agreement that will allow Red Speed, the red light camera company, to line their pockets at taxpayer expense.
We hope to be able to publish a recap tomorrow!
11 comments:
I support Alderman Schmidt putting the new police station to a referendum vote. It's about time somebody in the city government acted like they give a rat's butt what us taxpayers think and want. I think Frimark should step down from being the Mayor and run to be on the school board. Just like the schools, he thinks the solution to every problem is to throw more of our money at it. Frimark would fit right in with that crowd.
In tough economic times, sometimes it does not make sense to put items on a referendum vote. If you ask someone if they would would like fries with that hamburger, chances are they will say yes, even though they know they don't need them or should be watching their budget. With our current situation, running in the red, maybe the whole police station discussion should be tabled until we see how the next 3-6 months shake out.
Red Light cameras question: has anyone seen the contract the city will be signing?
I'm asking because I'm curious about a couple of items (or at least I'll limit my questions to just two), (1) who gets paid what (e.g., does the city have to pay to have the cameras installed, are there any regularly (monthly, annual) expenses to the city for those cameras, what is the cost of each ticket and what is the split of the fees from the tickets, etc.?), and (2) the rights to terminate for convenience.
There seems to be a blind rush to install a camera, if not cameras. If law breaking was really the issue, then the most logical place to install a camera would be at the intersection of NW Hwy and Prospect. A camera there would flash like lights at a disco. But... no one is proposing to put a camera there, oddly in light of the arguments in support of cameras. How about one on Cumberland, in light of all the Cumberland's group's concerns?
What I suspect will happen is that after 3-9 months of people getting tickets and complaints about those tickets, there will be a ground swell of opposition to those cameras. It seems to me it would be worthwhile to know in advance what situation we may well be discussing next summer or fall.
Anon 12:55.....Whoaaaaa Nellllliieee with the school board comments !!! If the city government showed a fraction of the fiscal responsibility the District 64 School Board showed, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in. Show a liile brother.....it's the holidays.
1:49, omg wtf is right! The school board is fiscally responsible? What have you been smoking? This community got fooled by crisis peddling and fooled into approving that referendum for more money and now they go right back to spending it all on the cuts they made before and plus more! It is the holidays all right! Every day is like Christmas for these free spending politician fools in the city and the schools. None of them ever see a problem they don't think more money won't solve and they never think further than how to get more money.
Sounds like whatever is thrown
against the wall tonight and sticks
will get voted on !
Is this "vudo economics" at its
best!
Thank you.
The reason we elect officials to represent us is so that we don't put everything up to referendum.
Let the leaders lead. If you don't like the way they lead, then elect someone else.
There are leaders
and there are...leaders.
Please don't refer to some
here as leaders.
You can't manage people up a hill
......you have to lead them.
Thank you.
The school board fically responsible??? Thanks for the morning laugh.
I'd rather have a referendum than let these bozos just build the station.
Ryan is an idiot, as is Frimark.
Corporal Citizen:
You should be busted down to "Private" with that old hoo-ha about "Let the leaders lead" and not putting "everything" to referendum.
Nobody has suggested that "everything" - or even many things - be put to referendum. So raising that canard is misleading.
I also don't recall either Mayor Coward or any of his lackeys on the Council running for office on the promise that they would spend $20 million or more of our money on a new police station that will hang million-dollar-a-year bond interest around our necks for the next 20+ years while they are giving us $2 million budget shortfalls today.
The voters deserve a vote on such a project.
And while you're at it, why don't you give your kids a vote on whether or not they should get a shot at their next doctor's visit.
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