Great News! After 30 minutes of debate, the council approved my motion to formally remove eminent domain and Community Renewal Act from further consideration. The motion also included direction for the Mayor to devise a plan for enhanced enforcement of crime and code violations in the Renton highlands. Even though there was a fair amount of debate the motion passed unanimously! Yay!
from Inez Somerville Petersen
I beat Randy to the punch on comments, so you can read my initial reaction to last night’s City Council meeting under his entry for Jul. 17th, 2006 04:44 pm.
Again, I am so proud of the Council for taking this giant step toward regaining its rightful responsibilities on behalf of the Citizens of Renton. We didnt’ elect a Queen, we elected a mayor. We want our City policies/direction to be “blessed” by the City Council, even when it doesn’t require a formal vote. The City Council sets the policy, the mayor and and staff implement them. It is the job of the mayor and her staff to fully inform the Council, not trickle information to them to maniuplate how they think and consequently how they vote.
The HCA has been accused by two councilmembers (who should not be re-elected next time) and the mayor (who likewise should not be re-elected next time), and you heard it again last night, of spreading misinformation about the Highlands Redevelopment plan. This is NOT true.
The HCA used City-provided material and comments from City employees, particularly Alex Pietsch and Rebecca Lind. It was plain to the HCA community leaders what was going to happen with regard to a Declaration of Blight and the Community Renewal Act.
When the HCA tried to bring this info forth, we were vilified (and especially me. And at the behest of Alex Pietsch, the HCA officially dropped from the City’s neighborhood association list. As I said, the mayor controls HOW the Council votes by controlling WHAT the Council knows.
If you ask Denis, Toni, Don, Marci or Randy whether the HCA was spreading misinformation or did the HCA know something they did not know, I believe the latter will be the response. And if per chance, they answer in the former, please go to http://hca-renton.org and see what misinformation you can find there. There is none.
I’m a little irritated at reading in the City’s Contract List, that we citizens paid for Freddies Fourth of July fireoworks to the tune of $25K. I was thinking well of Freddies for being so generous, when it was really just free advertising for that business–you and I paid for the fireworks! I believe this slipped right on by the City Council’s radar because of the way the staff presents material to them.
The mayor controls HOW the Council votes by controlling WHAT they know. That day is a changin’.