AGENDA
CALL TO ORDER:
PRAYER AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE:
Dan Coffey preps us for the Lord's Prayer. Whatever happened to the Brambleberry "fer all" voice of doom?
ROLL CALL:
They're all here. Is Steve Price ever really here? Be that as it may, so is a sizeable contingent of preservationists nd Master Plan backers.
Motion to move up the CF1 Forms.
APPROVAL OF CF-1 FORMS: McDonald Marble & Stone, Compliance with Statement Of Benefits Referencing R-01-10 (RE) & R-03-40 (RE)
Approved.
APPROVAL OR CORRECTION OF THE FOLLOWING MINUTES:
New Albany Common Council Regular Meeting Minutes October 5, 2009
New Albany Common Council Public Hearing October 5, 2009
New Albany Common Council Budget Hearing October 5, 2008
New Albany Common Council Regular Meeting Minutes October 15, 2009
Requisite motions to accept and voting in favor.
COMMUNICATIONS – PUBLIC:
1. Maury Goldberg - R-09-24, which is the Master Plan and Phase Two of Scribner Place. He extols the growth in downtown. Many places to go: "You name it." Need things other than restaurants. Pass the resolution tonight. As a private citizen, urges the council not to table it -- hand it off to someone who will introduce it (aimed at Li'l Stevie).
2. Greg Sekula (Historic Landmarks) - Echoes the preceding. Master Plan is a critical tool. A link. The document is flexible, a blueprint/map. Things may not happen as shown, but direction is provided.
Coffey goes out of his way to indicate boredom.
3. Larry Timperman - will wait until the resolution is introduced.
4. Mose Putney - On behalf of Jack Bobo, he is working on the fairly well documented project for the waterfront. He will return.
5. Jameson Bledsoe - Master Plan. Since coming down and listening to certain things, he needs to go through them one by one. Why is this other level of planning needed? It's in the Historical Preservation District ... the reason why I ask is that I invest in the city, and ... here it comes ... for certain developers, this plan could pick one person over another, limiting involvement by other groups. Plan says that people met privately behind the scenes, no chance for citizens to voice their concerns ... remember that time we saw him confabbing with Coffey on the streetcorner? Hmm ... If he wanted to build a building according to historical design, well, this is discouraged! It says that such is discouraged! And, there's the modern green movement, and smalld eveloper couldn't build green, compared to a large developer with large capital reserves, these are concerns I have -- my only option is to come here and speak.
More to come.
The C-J has another news article quoting Ms. Denhart as being President of a local watchdog "group" Citizens for Accountability. I'm sick of this. C-J needs to get their facts rights. Here's the letter I wrote to the Publisher and the article's author.
ReplyDeleteI encourage everyone to write a similar article!
Dear Grace:
I'm writing in regard to today's article about New Albany's bookkeeping. No doubt New Albany's booking needs serious improvement; I'm not writing to dispute most of the content of the article.
I am writing for two reasons, two issues that repeatedly appear in your stories.
You consistently quote Vicky Denhart and Dan Coffey to the exclusion of virtually any other of New Albany's 37,000 citizens.
First, Ms. Denhart is not preseident of a group called Citizens for Accountability. Furthermore, any work by Ms. Denhart cannot be called that of a "Watchdog." A watchdog sticks to facts. Ms. Denhart, who often is fast and loose with the facts, has a history of attacking all politicians. The attacks are often immature and cite "facts" that often turn out to be nothing more than fiction. Additionally, repeating Ms. Denhart's self anointed title of "President" of Citizens for Accountability gives the wrong impression. No such group is registered with the Indiana Secretary of State and is not registered as a PAC. A search or either the yellow pages or internet will find no office, phone number, email, webpage or meeting times for the group. Just because Ms. Denhart persuaded her inlaws to pose for a picture by a "No" sign a few months ago does not mean that the actions of Citizens for Accountability are anything other than the actions of Ms. Denhart alone. Your uncritical acceptance of her claims of broad support gives the wrong impression.
Mr. Coffey, as President of the Common Council, certain is one who is entitled to have his voice heard. However, it is rare in your articles to read quotes from other council members. No council member, not even the President, has a vote that is more important than the other eight. Mr. Coffey's views are often not consistent with the majority of other members. However, you could not know this from reading the Courier-Journal.
Quoting only these two in such an uncritical matter seriously undermines the credibility of your newspaper. If I am going to continue reading the Courier Journal, I expect more balance reporting and reporting that is more critical of the claims presented to its reporters.
Please write your thoughts to:
gschneider@courier-journal.com
publisher@courier-journal.com
There were at least two master plan meetings open to the public. Ignorance is no excuse for accusations. This is exactly what Jameson did with two-way streets.
ReplyDeleteIf he's so concerned with rules as the relate to historic properties, why doesn't he follow the ones that govern the historic property he owns?