What if a progressive CM had run strongly for the council's Planning and Zoning Committee? What if VM Diane Neighbors had appointed that progressive instead of pro-developer CM Jim Gotto? Would the May Town Center proposal ever have made it this far without Jim Gotto (who made the motion to approve MTC on the Planning Commission)?
Slight correction -- The VM does not appoint the chair of the Planning Committee, or the Traffic and Parking Committee for that matter. By Charter, both are elected by the Council and then serve on those respective commissions as ex officio members.
ReplyDeleteHere's the language -- there's more to the section, this is just what addresses how the councilmember ends up on the commission:
Sec. 11.502. Number, qualifications, appointment, terms of office and vacancies of members.
The commission shall consist of ten (10) members. The mayor shall serve as a member of the commission by virtue of his public office and one (1) member of the metropolitan county council shall be selected by that body from its membership to serve as a member of the commission for a term of two (2) years.* The member of the council selected to serve as a member of this commission shall be the chairman of the council committee on planning, provided such a committee is established.
Diane Neighbors is the queen bee of the "Good Ole Boys" network. Her task of appointing chairs of council committees allows the network to control the city. Just look at who heads each powerful committee -everyone of them recipients of big money from the business coalition.
ReplyDeleteCommittee appointments were the reason they elected her. She was a poor council-at-large, and quite frankly Greg Adkins does a much better job running the council meetings.
Don't you love how she was absent when Councilman Duvall pulled the anti-discrimination bill out on first reading to vote. How convenient that she was not there. Was she afraid that she might have the tie-breaking vote like Howard Gentry years before and ruffle some feathers with her vote?
The "Good Ole Boys" couldn't take a chance on losing her with that vote. Then they would be forced to run Tygard in that spot and lose the constant turmoil that he brings to the city.
Guarantee that Gotto will run for At-Large in 2011 and either help Tygard if he wins re-election, or they lose Neighbors and run Tygard for Vice-Mayor and Gotto will do Tygard's dirty work.
This city's best hope is to defeat them all!!