City Council News: April 9, 2009

The big news this week is that the affidavit for the recall of the Mayor was received by the City Clerk. For more on this, see my next post.

Here are some other items I found in this week's City Council minutes:

• A city ordinance was changed to require that the members of the Downtown Economic Stimulus Authority, another city agency that can grant tax abatements, be appointed by the Mayor without council approval. That is not a typo. You read that correctly. The reason for the change is that the new charter created in 2006 required that all boards and commissions be appointed by the Mayor without the approval of the City Council. The exceptions to this are the Public Improvements Advisory Committee (PIAC) and the Neighborhood Tourist Development Fund (NTDF). I can't help but laugh at the multiple layers of irony in this. A measure that would give Barnes successor more power in granting tax abatements gives more power to a Mayor who ran on a TIF reform platform. Yet this very mayor is largely discredited and there are few who would willingly give him the power granted by this change.
• The city re-referred to committee a list to be submitted to the Mid America Regional Council (MARC) prioritizing the city's project wish list for Federal stimulus money. Although the list gives weight to sidewalks, trails, and streetscaping, I was dispointed that so many auto traffic improvements are in the list. In particular, much space is dedicated to interconnecting and upgrading traffic signals. Anything that improves the efficiency of autombile traffic usually degrades the pedestrian experience. Since this is back in committee, there's still time to change it.
• City ordinances were changed to allow more packaged liquor stores to operate in Zona Rosa. This change is being made so that a wine retailer can open in the shopping district. This would seem like a minor issue, yet the Alcoholic Beverage Advisory Group, reaching no conclusion about this ordinance, tabled it at their last meeting. What hung up ABAG and why did the council decide to overrule them?