This is a pitiful response, Brenda. Just more lame, whiny excuses for
very, very bad and extremely costly decisions.
At 9:33 PM -0500 6/29/08, Brenda Konkel wrote:
Having been the subject of Mike's rants before, and having talked to
him many times in the past, all I can offer is what I usually tell
him. Come up with a specific proposal. Just one. Then find 4
friends and come to the council and use it as an opportunity to
educate people and educate the council. And you'll have some votes.
This has been done innumerable times. You and the rest of the council
just ignore it. As I said, the Comp Plan was a good example. Hundreds
of people provided strong input for better development at the
fringes. But this council keeps contravening it over & over again.
You included.
One particularly memorable *specific* proposal (and this goes back to
before the Comp Plan): A massive meeting on the fate of Old Sauk Rd.
was held back in the late 90s. Old Sauk was a favorite bicycle escape
route. Many of us also saw it as a harbinger of sprawl to follow.
The mass of attendees (75 or so from all over the city, plus another
couple of dozen letter writers) was adamantly against the expansion
of the road to 4+ lanes. We were successful in stopping part of that
road expansion at the time. But it was the partial loss that moved us
to get more political. (BTW, that puts me yet another step ahead of
you, Brenda.)
We then went to work to get better people elected. Each and every one
of those "friends" promptly set out to expand that road fully. You
and Robbie were part of the problem. And now I'm calling you on it.
You could have voted no.
Really.
You could have.
And you could have voted no on the very recent Pumpkin Hollow Plan.
A plan, by the way, with housing density 1/3 that of your
ped/bike/transit-friendly district. Guess who'll be subsidizing that
low density development? Your constituents.
It isn't as if there would have been political repercussions for a 'no' vote.
2nd District residents aren't exactly clamoring for the extra traffic
generated by the the low density, car-centric developments you keep
approving....Because, guess where it is going? Right down Johnson &
Gorham!
Time to start taking some responsibility for your own bad votes. It
isn't the people's fault. We have done our part in supporting and
voting for candidates who have promised us something better than
sprawl as usual.
And guess what? Deflecting the blame won't work. We're going to keep
a spotlight on your bad votes.
-Mike
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