Will someone who was at the Pachyderms meeting this morning confirm that Dr. Priscilla Bell, President of NIC, said that the LCDC is currently working on the Education Corridor “master plan”? Thanks!
February 29, 2008
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NIC has a Master Plan underway, apparently fired up last fall after a time of sleep. Their web site has a lot of information on it. But what is interesting in the context of the current dialog on the Education Corridor is that Dr. Bell is reported to have said that a consulting grouip hired by LCDC is doing the research and planning for a report to be released soon. She could not recall the name of the consultants.
Comment by yabetcha — March 1, 2008 @ 1:00 pm
yabetcha,
From the LCDC website:
Comment by Bill — March 1, 2008 @ 5:28 pm
Bill, do you know when this decision to engage MIG was made? Why are they not making these discussions public? Shouldn’t the taxpayers be on the Stakeholder’s list too?
Comment by mary — March 1, 2008 @ 5:57 pm
The earliest reference I can find to the Education Corridor Master Plan is on May 9, 2006 (almost two years ago). The LCDC apparently held a special meeting at 11:30 on that day, along with the City Council. (The City Council didn’t adjourn on 2nd, but merely recessed.)
Note that the LCDC normally meets on the third Wednesday of the month, not the second Tuesday.
Here is an excerpt from the meeting minutes:
As you can see, there is an item 1.a about the Education Corridor Master Planning effort. But the details are slim. At the bottom of the excerpt (above), you see that Tony Berns informed everyone on the items, but there are no details in the minutes. This lack of detail is not illegal, but it’s certainly not open government in action.
I searched the minutes back to 2004. When I have time, I may search back further to see whether any additional tidbits can be found.
Comment by Dan — March 1, 2008 @ 6:30 pm
Mary,
I’m sorry, but I don’t know. The Fort Grounds Homeowners Association might have something in its minutes. The “partnering with … private stakeholders” caught my eye because it did not specifically identify the private stakeholders. Maybe some of the LCDC board members who read this would care to provide the date. Or we can simply make an Idaho Public Records Law request for a copy of the contract and all supporting documents between the public agency (LCDC) and MIG.
Comment by Bill — March 1, 2008 @ 7:11 pm
Dan, as a Planning and Zoning Commissioner for CdA, I was present at several meetings with LCDC, city council and P&Z that included light discussion of the Ed. Corridor issue. That, of course, was before I asked too many questions and was removed from the commission. My recollection is that the Ed. Corridor info was very brief, very much a pretty overview–like a marketing presentation that’s all photos and little substance. My fear is that others on P&Z, city council and even LCDC have been lulled into agreement with the nice images–like I was for a time–and are not remembering their responsibility to the citizens. You have to ask the hard questions!–Who’s paying for this? Who will profit from this? Is this the best and only option? If not, what are the other choices? And, most importantly: Why have there been NO public meetings?
Comment by mary — March 1, 2008 @ 8:10 pm