They Asked No Questions!
Dear Newsletter Readers,
I know this is the second letter this week, but I’m furious. My head is spinning at the behavior of our City Council last night.
I watched their regular meeting on Channel 19, just to see if anyone would talk about the McEuen plan. Some folks from the public did, but that’s not why my hair is on fire. The problem is this:
Last night’s meeting happened to be the annual report to the council from LCDC, our urban renewal agency. (The guys with the big bucket o’ cash skimmed from all the property taxes downtown.) Tony Berns gave his pretty dog & pony show, touting all the fabulous things LCDC has done for this city. (he failed to mention the many empty condos, vacant storefronts, the unemployment rate of almost 11%, and continuously increasing taxes and fees) It was his usual presentation; big on generalities, light on actual information.
What makes me crazy is that our Mayor and City Council did not ask Tony any questions. Not one.
Tony didn’t report how much property tax money LCDC has received this year or how much they’ve spent or how much they hold in reserve. And no one asked!
There were no questions about the “tucked away” money the Mayor said LCDC has for the McEuen plan, even though the lack of cost and funding information is a hot topic right now.
No questions were voiced about the seven new bills introduced in the legislature to constrain urban renewal in Idaho. The hearings on the bills start today, and LCDC has used our tax dollars to hire a lobbyist to work against any changes, so don’t you think the council would make some inquiries? Nope.
LCDC is the oft referenced ATM machine for the Education Corridor plan as well. Have they amassed enough of our tax dollars to do both McEuen and the Ed Corridor without our vote? Our city council didn’t want to know.
But our city council did do one thing last night…they raised our fees! We will now pay more to use a park pavilion or rent a gym, more for dog licenses or if your pet gets loose, more for some water fees, more for almost all parking and more for every kind of garbage pick up.
Remember all the big money that LCDC siphons off of the property taxes on every single building in their downtown district and their Seltice area district? That’s all money that should be going to the city. If it was, the rest of us would not have to see our taxes go up every year. And we wouldn’t have our fees pumped up too.
If the property tax money from downtown was going to the city as it should, we’d have much lower commercial tax rates, we’d be attracting more businesses and thereby we’d have many more jobs.
But did our Mayor and City Council talk about this connection? No. Sadly, they resemble a highly practiced theater group following a script.
In their role as the elected officials in charge of a city with a frail budget, they did not dare to question the very highly paid Executive Director of the unelected LCDC that holds the fat purse. Who’s running the show? Watch their behavior, then follow the money.
I never know whether to laugh or cry (figuratively). This is the kind of thing that blows the thinking man away. It simply insults the (thinking mans intelligence). And therein lies the problem. Too many people here just DON’T THINK. I’m not being unkind. The facts demonstrate this. Look at the voter turnout…or lack thereof. The same old slickos are returned to office time after time. So why not insult the collective intelligence. Why not behave arrogantly. Why not perform these one act plays. Mayor Chucklesalot knows that she and her yes men are untouchable. I will repeat, this is a terrible place. Yes, there are good hard working people here…..but they sure don’t care about their money. Bloem and Co. are masters of the Ponzi scheme.
Comment by rochereau — February 16, 2011 @ 2:31 pm
No questions?
Hassell–Go along get, questions just slow down the meeting
Bruning–Prior employment consisted of following directives sent down from superiors, nothing new here
McEvers–Hi, happy to be here
Edinger–Use to think he had questions
Goodlander–I know nothing and I don’t have any questions unless I am told that I am suppose to
Kennedy–I could have a question, but Steve said I don’t
So, why was anyone surprised that there were no questions?
Comment by Happy Trails — February 16, 2011 @ 2:48 pm
They already knew the answers to any questions they might have had. It is the pinnacle of arrogance to not even feign some hollow element of sincere inquiry like: ‘What is the eraser budget for the 1st quarter of 2011, Tony?’ If they were really good they could have played a “good councilman, bad councilman” interplay.
Comment by Wallypog — February 16, 2011 @ 3:45 pm
This is hilarious, of course! Poor Tony Berns. I’ve seen him speak many times. Granted, he’s no southern preacher, but he does a good dog and pony show. I’ve seen him wow the crowd at the Chamber’s Upbeat Breakfast. Still, for him to speak to the council and not get one question must have seriously hurt his feelings. Not even a pat on the head from Deanna? That’s terribly disappointing.
My issue with the LCDC’s report is twofold. First, Tony is the executive director, not the Chairman. I think the chair should give the report to the council. The chair represents the people who are on the commission, who are supposed to represent us. The mayor appoints the chair, not the ED. Why doesn’t the chair give the report?
Second, there are two LCDC commissioners on the Council. Why don’t THEY give the report? Otherwise, what function do they serve on the LCDC?
Comment by Dan — February 16, 2011 @ 3:47 pm
Their function Dan? To shake their heads up an down at the direction of the Empress Bloem.
Comment by rochereau — February 16, 2011 @ 5:15 pm
Although parts of the McEuen plan would be great for this area, I would love to see this thing turned down by voters for a few reasons.
#1 Timing versus economy.
#2 There is nothing pertaining to cost.
#3 And my most desired, to see the insiders squirm. The ones that put all of their eggs in one basket buying up everything in and around the commercial corridor and Front street and shafting their own family and neighbor. Sorry, it is the only thing that will make them understand what THEY have done to this local economy.
Comment by concerned citizen — February 16, 2011 @ 5:36 pm
Concerned,
Your post makes absolutely no sense. Who are the insiders who put all of their eggs in one basket and shafted their own family and neighbors ? And what have THEY done to this economy ? I dont think anyone knows what you are talking about.
Comment by SteveW — February 16, 2011 @ 7:04 pm
It’s very hard to know what information the council members receive. I suspect some are included in special meetings and others are left out of the loop. I don’t think they are running the show.
Tony Berns is the only paid employee, ever, at the LCDC (except a part time web site guy and the attorney they hire, with our money, to be their lobbyist in Boise and make sure there are no changes the the laws that would curtail their power.) Tony controls all the paperwork, financial info and records of the LCDC. He’s the only person, other than certain key members of the LCDC board, who’s in on every deal. And he’s paid very, very well. Tony protects information.
Tony makes way more than ALL of the city council AND the mayor, combined. He makes more than the Governor. He’s paid with public tax dollars.
Tony reporting to the Mayor and City Council is like a CEO speaking to mid-level managers.
And the other crazy thing? Last year there was a legal case that went to the state Supreme Court, which decided that urban renewal agencies like LCDC are NOT controlled by the city that appointed them. And they are NOT controlled by the state. They are “independent”, the court said. (Remember, they use public money and they are unelected.) But here’s the craziest part: Our city gave some of our tax money to SUPPORT the case for LCDC’s independence! And, of course, LCDC had their lobbyist working on our dime as well.
So, basically, Mayor Bloem and the council gave away their supervision rights over the LCDC. Who’s in charge? I think that’s obvious.
Comment by mary — February 17, 2011 @ 9:28 am
Want to do something about it? Call your legislators down in Boise! Get online and find their email address and phone # and CONTACT THEM. Tell them you want urban renewal to be reigned in.
There are seven bills to do just that. They are being discussed in the house legislative committee right now, as I write this. Call NOW!
Here are the bill numbers: H095, H096, H097*, H098*, H099*, H110, H114*
(*= some of my favorites)
Comment by mary — February 17, 2011 @ 9:49 am
No open session, so will post here. If you haven’t read todays editorial in the Press, do so. Actually, it disgusted me. Mike Patrick really lowered himself IMO. He took a positive incident and, under the guise of complimenting these young people, slammed all who disagree with what is happening in this town. Sorry Mike, that is really low, even for CDA. These are really nice young people and using them is unconscionable. Shame on you!!
And while I’m venting, who is Tom Hasslinger related to. Did he ever take a journalism class? For that matter, did he ever take an english class? Not that I can discern.
Comment by rochereau — February 18, 2011 @ 10:08 am