“Why didn’t I get a gift card?”: Mr. Heide objects to the Campus Connector Trail

Bravo, Mr. Heide! This is just one small example of a city government that routinely ignores the concerns of its citizens over those of developers.The whole process favors the powers that be. Step #1: The zoning board that limits citizens’ objections to zoning changes to fifteen minutes, whether it’s one citizen or a hundred, you get fifteen minutes total. Step #2: The council gives you five minutes to state a case a competent lawyer would take an hour to explore. Step #3: Down comes the rubber stamp.

One can only speculate that this is all about the city and its cozy relationship with developers, a city parks commission with a questionable track record vis-a-vis the Lincoln Park debacle, and their weak attempt to use nimbyism as a defense. Just who exactly would benefit from a bike path running from Rice Lake Rd. to the Lakewalk???? And how many of our tax dollars will it cost????

George, not sure where you get your facts from, so let me clear up a couple or 9:

1- No developer is involved with the Campus Connector. NONE. Citizens and groups have been working on it for maybe 15 years. Public meetings have been out there, as well as active citizens that work extremely hard on projects like this.

2- I don’t believe there were any zoning changes proposed or made for this transportation trail.

3- You don’t get 15 minutes at Zoning, maybe 3 at best but sometimes they relax that rule, possibly based on agenda load.

4- You don’t get 5 minutes at a council meeting. Only 3 is allowed.

5- A competent lawyer knows that the battle is not won at a council meeting. It is done at the commission level while working with your councilor way before a council meeting.

6- The Parks Commission is all-volunteer. To question them tells me you have been to either zero Parks Commission meetings or maybe one and only stick around for your subject. I have attended almost every commission meeting for maybe 4 years now and I’m happy to say the commission does a good job. They voted down a new park just last year or so only to have the council approve it. The commission heard maybe 6 hours of discussion and an untold amount of time with emails and talking with citizens. Reading the Monitor only gives you John’s take on a subject. As far as the Lincoln Park deal the commission can only act on what information they are given at that moment in time. There are openings on the commission in your district so sign up!

7- I agree with the time limits. Once upon a time, the Parks Commission would let someone talk as long as they needed to but would limit it when repeating started. Then they limited it to 3 minutes after they voted down the park project I mentioned above, most likely because the City wanted the meetings not to run long. The reason they ran long is that the City’s positions and statements needed many people to help rebut and clear up after all the BS that they use from time to time. I represent a group and I get 3 minutes, others represent themselves and they get the same time. We have thought about bringing many folks to the meeting and string out our comments but that seldom works, just because scheduling folks’ time is not easy and it would not reflect well with the commissioners.

8- I will not argue your point “…city government that routinely ignores the concerns of its citizens over those of developers.” Our group fought a development or a part of it only to find out that the City promised the developer something like a road so our fight was lost at the council level. This City seriously lacks equity and transparency. This is why it is hard to fill commissions. If the council will not take the commissions’ hard work and try to understand why they vote a certain way then we do not have effective commissions and I will argue we will not be able to fill these positions with citizens when their time has not been respected. I think there are over 30 open seats now. Join one and see how it actually works.

9- The development you have an issue with is underway and it’s a good project. You just didn’t get your way, I guess. I seldom get mine, but I have learned from them. I hope you will as well.