There was a marathon city council meeting last night, at least I felt like I had run a marathon, and all I did was sit there and take notes.
The council managed to pass 10 Resolutions and Ordinances and table one. That one of course was the sewer agreement changes with Georgetown. After listening to several residents, a council member, Billy Stewart, and two Commissioners, Steve Bush, and Chuck Frieberger, CM Zurschmeide rightfully tabled the Ordinance.
Among the Ordinances and Resolutions passed were R-09-10 authorizing the purchase of 8 new police cars, the Ordinance for additional appropriation of the EDIT Fund of $75,000, and the Ordinance amending the previous Ordinance regarding cleanliness of premises. This gives more strength to the Code Enforcement Officer.
The council also approved an amendment to the parking fee Ordinance raising the fee from $100 to $150 per year for downtown residents and business owners. And they will continue to collect old parking tickets. And CM Gonder's Resolution promoting the Smart Growth America Program passed 9-0.
All in all a busy and productive meeting without too much turmoil.
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35 comments:
The Georgetown sewer issue is a non-starter. The Council HAS to follow the terms of the contract Georgetown signed.
Look: New Albany residents pay for parks in the county that we rarely if ever use. New Albany residents pay for Sheriffs that don't respond when we call 911. New Albany residents pay for road crews that don't pave or plow our streets. New Albany residents pay A LOT of money to support county schools that our kids don't attend. Meanwhile, the county has Exemplary schools and we've got Failing schools. Something is seriously wrong with this picture.
Raise the damn rates!
From Freedom of Speech:
These figures DO NOT justify a $12,500 monthly salary for a full time City Attorney, or a second recently hired Code Enforcement Officer!
And if that were the whole story, you’d be correct. However, the city attorney has far more responsibility than code enforcement. Also, with a second enforcement officer, there would be twice the referrals for the city attorney. With only one code enforcement officer, she knows she can only focus on the worst of the worst. A city the size of New Albany should have a dozen code enforcement officer and at least four full time city attorneys.
If you didn’t have any police officers, then you wouldn’t have any arrests. But if you had no arrests because there were no officers, can you automatically say no arrests means no crime? It goes the same way for code enforcement. Drive around New Albany. There are way too many violations for Pam alone to enforce. Focusing on the past numbers misses the point.
I understand that Pam has taken an administrative position and we now have one new code enf. officer.
Does anyone have the details?
And, maybe the past numbers where "bad" because we did not have a full time city attorney and 2 code enforcement officers when those numbers were collected!!
That argument made absolutely no sense. If anything, it made an arguement FOR the positions.
And "they" say duh to me.
Shirley,
With the new code enforcement officer in place, Pam took an administrative job. Someone told me, but I've forgotten which department she's in now.
The administration is in the process of hiring the second code enforcement officer. We'll have two, with one confined to CDBG eligible areas as planned.
thanks Jeff
The Georgetown sewer issue is a non-starter. The Council HAS to follow the terms of the contract Georgetown signed.But this omits the imperative of Pres. Coffey to cut some form of self-aggrandizing deal with the County Commissioners prior to taking action.
Why is it, that one post signed here is The New Albanian,and his next post is sign Anonymous?
Anon May 28, 2009 2:40 PM,
Why is it that you will not post anything under your name?
2:47 that's really none of your business. Why not leave us alone over here, and go back to your buddy's blog.
BTW I read FOS, not once did Professor Erik has not proofed his point.
So go play with your plastic police car and pretend you have all the f*ck'n answers.
Why not leave us alone over here, and go back to your buddy's blog.
Shirley, are Mark's and Roger's comments not welcome here?
not once did Professor Erik has not proofed his point.
In English please?
You might have gotten your sidewalks but you will not get your two way streets this time. Better luck next time.
Shame on you Iamhoosier, threatening Councilman Price like you did, BTW how come you got Kentucky tags?
Three cheers for Councilman Price. Keep counting our nickels and dimes Steve.
Hey, Smith, when you going to build a new bookstore? Here I thought you already spent your old ladies money.
And to think. our buddy Gillenwater had all the so-called answers tonight? Hmmmm!!!!! Can you believe he had the balls to tell Bledsoe he was ignorant.
Say Mr. Gonder, I sure hope your not planning to run for re-election next time. Hey look at this guys voting record bloggers and wonder whose pocket he's in.
Iamhoosier--you really had bad vocabulary tonight. God D this, God D that and Fu*k that and even ask Price if he ever read a book. Shame on you Mark,here we thought you were different. Think you can buy an election?
There over at the Brewhouse licking their ego's.
Thanks Dan for looking out for the little people.
I want my side walk paved.
6:39 your comments have never beem welcome here. Why you ask? See we all support the little people.
Whoa - nine posts in about 20 minutes? You must be typing those little bitter fingers right down to the bone. Must have just gotten off the phone with the council president, unless you are him, and that wouldn't surprise me given the cowardice of anonymity.
It's almost as hilarious as CM Coffey first not knowing the difference in the price of a barrel of oil between Novermber and May, and then claiming that what he meant was that as natural resource costs rise, the price of construction and finished products decrease.
Interesting, to say the least, but of course none of this is about what's good for the city.
It's just about the small people giving the middle finger to a modern world they'll never be able to comprehend.
That's why I laugh, and laugh often. All the conjoined councilmen and their ragtag underachievers are capable of doing is hurting the people they claim to protect.
And that's very, very funny. Suckers are born every minute -- more often in NA -- and they vote for the people best placed to ensure that they'll never have a chance.
LOL. My sides are splitting.
Yes Sir, Mr.10:50 "No one cares what you think." You try to act like your trying to help our city, but you have your own personal and financial agenda. Right? We thought so!
If you spent less time kissing everybody's butt and by the way: you ought to have heard the nasty things England told me several times about you. Lets see you deny Malysz and England helped you get your liquor license for Bank St. We thought so! Your the King of WANNABE'S. Surely your lips are chapped by now!
Most people in this city know more about you, than you know about us.
Maybe you need to go play with you pints for awhile.
Hat's off to Freedom Of Speech for calling a spade a spade and printing the truth as they always do.
You Mr. 10:50 have a lot to learn from them.
Little People Rock.
Anonymous 8:31
Don't waste your time with this bully. He wants to feel important and have his ego fed.
Remember he's the anti-christ of New Albany.
"2:47 that's really none of your business. Why not leave us alone over here, and go back to your buddy's blog.
BTW I read FOS, not once did Professor Erik has not proofed his point.
So go play with your plastic police car and pretend you have all the f*ck'n answers"
This response is laughable at best. By the way, I gave up the plastic police car years ago, now I play with a plastic toy camera.
Jeesh... Cant you even get your insults right?
I had forgotten about the special session last night. Looks like I missed a very interesting meeting.
See you Monday.
The anti-christ? That's Dick Cheney's job, isn't it?
The entities responsible for "helping" with our liquor license were the state legislature and the city council itself, not city hall.
The legislature enacted rules for riverfront development areas, and the council created one for NA, thus qualifying us for a license. Had there been no such area, we would have acquired a two-way under normal procedures.
I understand that you're angry, but those hoods you wear have the effect of obscuring simple truths.
My foremost "agenda" is to grow our business, which some of you may recall as the very essence of capitalism, and my preference is to grow it downtown, where certain inducements exist that are available to anyone's business, not just ours.
No special help is needed. One follows procedures, sometimes wins, and sometimes not.
My other "agenda" would be to grow my business in a way that contributes to the revitalization of an undervalued area (downtown). Many other businesses have such an agenda, so there's nothing unique there, either.
To my knowledge, the mayor and I have not always been in 100% agreement. What he says about me, and what I say about him, hardly matter at all. What matters is what is accomplished, wouldn't you say?
Objective and rational observers would find nothing unusual in city government seeking to make the business climate good in an under-utilized part of town.
What they WOULD find unusual is the level of spiteful resistance on the part of the Coffeys and Prices of the world, who have nothing to offer the future and can only impede, not build.
You're angry and embittered. Sorry about that. I'm just busy, because my partners and I have everything on the line with our business investment downtown. We've made a sacrifice in the hope of a return, which is the way capitalism works. It would be nice to know that elected officials uderstand this, and I'm confident the mayor and city hall do, and as a result, they've been supportive.
People like Coffey and Price don't, and so they seek to undermine success, precisely because it's alien to them. Slice it any way you like, but that's plain malice, with twists of envy and ignorance for extra spice.
Posterity will judge them harshly. In the meantime, those who are capable will continue to fight the good fight, and currently, they're winning it -- slowly, surely, and inevitably, with benefits for everyone living here.
Have a nice day, Senor Anonymous, and you might consider anger management counseling as relief for your persistent misery.
Roger,
Good response!
I wonder how much more "senor anonymous" would be if they were to learn that the Family Health Center of Floyd County gets over $20k per year from the Horse shoe foundation, and every singel red cent of that money goes to funding health care for the "little people" that the anonymous tribe claim to be fighting for, yet do nothing for? Anonymous, care to chime in?
He got a sidewalk, I got over $20k a year for over 5 years now....
As for my discussion with Mr. Price, yes it got somewhat out of hand. I did use some language that I regret and will be apologizing to Mr. Price on Monday night. There was no excuse for that.
I was not the one who asked if he had ever read a book. Get all of your facts straight.
My transportation last night had Kentucky tags on it because it is owned by the company that I work for and it is based in Louisville.
Any more questions? I'm not afraid to answer them, admit when I'm in error and sign my name. Can any of you do the same?
Mark
I'm sorry, forgot to answer one question.
I did not threaten Mr. Price.
Yes, Shirley you missed an exciting meeting. The progressive want to force two way streets down our throats, but Coffey assured them it won't happen. Downtown is NOT the priority. Smith was attacking Steve over nickels and dimes. A few God dam's flew and a few F*ck U's flew out of their mouths. Someone called Bledso ignorant, which just spoke volumes on who is really ignorant. [It's their way or the highway and the Council shot them down]. They seem to forget there are worse Streets than Spring, Market, Bank and Pearl Street.
We are ready to do a referendum and march on City Hall if need be. They soon forget they are the minority and not the majority.
Because the majority of tax payers DON'T want two way Streets.
As they say, if it's not broke, don't fix it!
3:35 Always remember, it's a wise man that can lay down at night and not be angry.
Let's see who needs anger management Mr. Albanian.
Actually, two-way streets were not on the agenda of last night's meeting. It was about paving. Had the meeting been about two-way streets, and if so many are opposed, it seems that the horde would have attended last night to heckle progress. But they didn't.
By focusing on the imaginary bogeyman of societal chaos caused by two-way streets, Coffey and Price got their required non-factual grandstanding into the record. By now, they and Bledsoe have undoubtedly linked two-way streets to cancer, communism and illegal aliens.
In truth, the electorate already has spoken. The mayor ran on a platform that included two-way streets, and he was elected. That constitutes sufficient approval to proceed with a plan to convince the council. Naturally, this would involve the expenditure of political capital, and seeing as though the current council is populated with too many mayoral candidates, the odds would lengthen. The point remains that the voters gave the nod.
Randy asked the council for a public meeting devoted exclusively to the presentation of information about two-way streets, one that would allow public input. Wouldn't that be a fine way of gauging public opinion -- or do we trust the mere opinion of a masked anonymous poster, Steve Price and the dancing manhole coverettes?
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