I'm with Annie:
The first reaction to the MCDA's financial situation should not be to
consider raising taxes.
It's time to look at reform.
Both the MCDA and the NRP are facing funding issues. Both are also facing
new development realities just as the city struggles with how we can
aggressively attack affordable housing. Meanwhile we lurch from one
development crisis to the other, seemingly without a plan, while the
Planning Department remains isolated from decision-making.
Time to stop nibbling around the edges and consider real reform that turns
all these factors into something new and more responsive:
I've put on the table a plan to bring the MCDA and Planning Department
together, governed by a citizen board that includes representatives of the
NRP. (This citizen board would be similar to the one that Annie referred to
in her post. But unlike the one that Jackie and others were on, this one
would be tied directly back into the NRP's neighborhood planning groups. In
that way we could finally fully deliver on the promise of community based
planning.)
This plan may or may not be the final answer but clearly it's time to talk
about reform before raising taxes.
R.T. Rybak
www.rtformayor.com
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