March 27, 2008

Open Session, Thursday

Filed under: Open Session — mary @ 1:24 pm

My brother’s face mimics my feeling when, yet again this morning, I stopped by the offices of School District 271 in hopes of reviewing documents about the decision to remodel Lakes Middles School vs. build a new building. The district finance officer, Steve Briggs, sent word out to the front desk that the info was not ready yet. I then asked to speak with Steve and was escorted to his office. He reiterated to me that there are no documents about the remodel decision. There were no bids. No RFPs (Request for Proposals). He nicely assured me that, because of my request, he’s now creating a new document explaining how that important decision was made. It will be done soon.

If this doesn’t bring about 31.1 million questions to your mind, do you have any other subjects to discuss?

Comments (22)

Rate My Cop

Filed under: Observations — Dan Gookin @ 8:21 am

You’ve probably been to those web sites, but wouldn’t admit to such a thing in polite company. It goes like this: The site is named “Rate My Whatever.” And then you’re shown pictures of various whatevers. You can score the whatevers from 1 to 10 and review how others have scored them as well. That may seem like a silly exercise, and it is a common diversion. Then there’s the Rate My Cop website.
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Comments (1)

March 26, 2008

Open Session, Wednesday

Filed under: Open Session — mary @ 9:28 am

Lots of action going on around town these days…new dog park, all the trees cut down on the land across Ramsey from the Kroc Center, upcoming primary elections and levies…

Any comments, questions, ideas? (read the comments to see why this cartoon is posted again)

Comments (17)

March 25, 2008

“Geeze, Mary, quit making me think so hard!”

Filed under: General — mary @ 9:06 am

The author of Idaho’s 1974 Open Meeting Law, Gary Ingram, was teasing me in his second email response to my continuing questions. Yes, I can be irritating in my persistence, but Gary has been pleasantly willing to share his views.

My line of questioning started last week after my City’s Pulse Newsletter referring to Gary’s work on the Idaho Open Meeting Law. One of my interested and astute readers emailed me with a strong comment, so I asked for Gary’s response. Here’s the back and forth of this provocative conversation:

Reader: Gary Ingram sponsored the Open Meeting Law when he was in the legislature. LOGICALLY, HE EXEMPTED THE LEGISLATURE.

Gary: Mary, not true. As written and originally adopted, Open legislative meeting required– All meetings of any standing, special or select committee of either house of the legislature of the state of Idaho shall be open to the public at all times.
This language actually placed a higher standard for the legislature in that there was no provision for closed meetings. The Idaho Constitution requires open sessions of the House and Senate.

Reader: Ask Gary about the Republican’s caucus..Very secret. Enough legislators there to constitute a quorum. And it would be naïve to think that decisions are not made there, in way or another. (more…)

Comments (1)

March 24, 2008

Open Session, Monday

Filed under: Open Session — mary @ 3:22 pm

It was a quiet holiday weekend. Lots of family and friends. Lots of basketball. Now back to the issues of the day–upcoming school levy, jail bond levy, Education Corridor, etc. Questions, Comments, Suggestions on these or other topics?

I just have to bring this cartoon forward again, it’s so on target. (Courtesy of Sunshine Week.org)

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March 22, 2008

Condo Crisis!

Filed under: Observations — Dan Gookin @ 10:03 am

Great article in the Wall Street Journal about the glut of condos being built across the country. Just looking around, you can see the same thing happening here, especially in downtown CdA. It’s been the goal of the Mayor and the LCDC to attract part time, condo-dwelling gentry to the area to improve Coeur d’Alene’s economic conditions. Bad move.

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Comments (21)

March 21, 2008

Sunshine Week–Looks like a ray of hope!

Filed under: Cartoons,Jimmy Barona Cartoons — Jimmy Barona @ 8:05 pm

Dave Patzer, LCDC Board Commissioner, spoke up at this week’s meeting to voice his frustration with the Urban Renewal Agency being the bucket of money for every city group in need of funds. Kudos to him for being a stand-up guy.

Comments (6)

Let the Sunshine In

Filed under: The City's Pulse — mary @ 4:26 pm

The City’s Pulse Newsletter

By Mary Souza, March 20, 2008

Let’s catch our public officials…doing something good! In honor of Sunshine Week, I’d like to highlight some of the honorable actions taken by community leaders to improve openness, ethics and communication in our local government.

Sunshine Week is an annual national event, this year March 16-22, to enlighten us about our government. The web site, www.sunshineweek.org states they are a “non-partisan initiative whose supporters are conservative, liberal and everything in between.” And they seek ” to enlighten and empower people to play an active role in their government at all levels, and to give them access to information that makes their lives better and their communities stronger.” Sounds good to me.

The following local people and groups have shown courage and/or leadership in standing up for the citizens of our area, so I’d like to give Sunshine Awards to: (more…)

Comments (3)

Sunshine Week, March 16-22, 2008 (Friday)

Filed under: Probable Cause — Bill @ 7:05 am

Broken News !

A Mullan Avenue Gang insider, code name “XXr”, has provided OpenCdA.com with what appears to be a draft of a forthcoming Coeur d’Alene Police Department illustrated press release:

Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Wayne Longo today revealed how the recently approved police substation in City Park would be used during the off season from September through May. Longo said he will follow Councilman Mike Kennedy’s advice and use it as a “re-education facility” to adjust the attitude of citizens who “just aren’t team players” and have been officially declared Enemies of the City by the Mayor and her loyal subjects. Longo explained that given its commitment to education, LCDC’s use of taxpayer money to fund the re-education facility was perfectly appropriate. Longo added that any similarity between the persons in the illustration and former Planning Commissioner Mary Souza and LCDC Commissioner Dave Patzer is purely coincidental.

(Note: This is humor. At least, we hope it is. Even in Coeur d’Alene, it could never come to this. Could it … ?)

(Permission to use the preceding cartoon during Sunshine Week, March 16-22, 2008, has been granted by the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists and its participating members.)

Comments (8)

March 20, 2008

Open Session, Thursday

Filed under: Open Session — mary @ 6:19 pm

It’s late because I’ve been writing my newsletter, which I will post here tomorrow. But in the process, I found another of the free-to-use cartoons during Sunshine Week. It reminds me of the upcoming CdA School District Levy–

Any other Comments, Questions, Issues?

Comments (3)

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