Residents Meet Opposing Bus Station
THE MEETING OF SOME RESIDENTS OF OLD TOWN
On July 27, 2006, through the hospitality of George and Barbara Meyer on Third Street, approximately twenty-five residents of Old Town held a meeting to discuss the Holly Street Bus Terminal, a proposal by City staff to change the zoning of a portion of Old Town for the development of a Bus Terminal in the currently residential neighborhood.
The meeting adopted the formal nature of an Ad Hoc meeting of residents to debate one proposal, with a Chair and an Agenda. Certain items were voted upon by show of hands and voice. The Chair was held by Rick Williamson, who organized the meeting from canvassing the neighborhood. No Secretary was appointed, and no formal minutes were recorded, but at close of meeting Ross Hunter was asked to write a summary of the proceedings.
Present at the meeting was Renee Hanson, current Chair of the Heart of Georgetown Neighborhood Association. Also present were two representatives of Windridge Village both as members of the Windridge Village Residents Association, and as members of the newly formed action committee known as the Keep Holly Street Residential Steering Committee, which includes residents from outside Windridge Village. Additionally, Will Moore, Chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, was present to provide the meeting with much reliable information.
After all attendees introduced themselves, Rick Williamson led the meeting through the first five points of its Agenda, presenting information and holding discussion intended to acquaint the attendees with the background and chronology of the bus terminal proposal.
Items 6-8 of our agenda comprised three statements on which all the attendees reached unanimous agreement after discussion. These are the Three Unanimous Agreements for which this meeting should be known. [shown on next page…]
ross (blog author) says:
Added on August 4th, 2006 at 7:13 pmThe natural surmise is that this unusual delegation of responsibilities gave rise to the extreme invisibility of this project. And now when Tom Yantis and CARTS staff say they regret not making this project public earlier, they may indeed feel this way from their own discomfort, perhaps learning a political lesson for the very first time.
The disconnection between City and voter seems more understandable now at least – Council slipped in its delegation of tasks, the City Manager ran with the assigned task. This reveals a hole in the fabric of delegation and accountability within our city government. The easy scapegoat in this issue is the City Manager’s office, but once the situation is better understood it may be enough simply to plug this hole and make sure the council doesn’t overstep appropriate bounds again. This is a political matter still to be addressed.
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