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01/23/04 Council Changed our Form of Government
without our Vote
Letter to the Mayor and City Council
Thank you for allowing me to speak before you last week. It
was an enlightening and extremely troubling experience.
There are 3 levels on which I wish to comment.
First, the Neighborhood Investment Program was
supposed to enable and empower neighborhoods. The park proposal came
from the City, NOT from the neighborhood.
Second, you totally ignored the right of citizens to petition their government.
When the neighborhood expressed its desire through signatures from over 80
people, you ignored them. So much for neighborhood empowerment and the right of
petition.
You took this action based on the third and most troubling issue.....
By your "gentlemen's agreement" not to vote against another councilmember,
you have short-circuited democracy and representative government and established
a system of 14 fiefdoms. |
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James Northrup:
On matters of zoning, our single member district council
members defer to each as a matter of
convenience.
As the only at-large representative,
the Mayor goes along with this scheme, becoming complicit in its occasional
abuse.
There is nothing in the charter to
preclude this cozy set up. As a practical matter, this causes the districts
to become fiefdoms, which inevitably creates Little Caesars (or Caesaras),
influence peddling, etc.
Prior to 14-1, we had fairly balanced
representation from at-large councilmen alongside single member district
representatives. This mimicked the bicameral formats that we have at the
state and federal level, with the at-large members taking a senatorial
overview.
No more. |
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Editor's Comments:
Actually state law requires cities to offer public hearings on matters of
zoning and other public decisions. When only one council member
predetermines all issues in his district before the community can testify,
there is no public hearing. This council has been violating state law
since Con Jerk was elected mayor. |
Please provide me with the provision in our City Charter that establishes this
form of government. Without such a legal authorization, it would seem that you
are all acting not only in bad faith but perhaps illegally.
So long as you continue to do this, you breed cynicism and the justified anger
of the citizenry.
Editor's Comments: Ms. Bartos refers to the city using federal funds in a
park near her neighborhood for a purpose that is contrary to what she and 80 of
her neighbors want. John Loza (who hates Ms. Bartos because she has run
two campaigns against him - one he lost, one he won) insisted on putting a
walking trail through a tiny park with grant funds even though the community
wants the money used for new sidewalks and gutters on their streets. John
Loza took the opportunity at council to ridicule Ms. Bartos for speaking up for
her neighborhood.
Not one councilmember nor the Mayor voted with Ms. Bartos and the 80 citizens
who signed her petitions. Instead, they let John Loza do what he does best
-- screw everything up.
This is what single member districts have got for us -- an opportunity for
little impotent tyrants to punish their opponents and ignore the needs
and wishes of their constituents. sb
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