Some things, can probably speak for themselves, take a look at this, and remember, the agenda for the Common Council has been available since Thursday:
From: Twigg, George
Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2007 8:30:59 AM
To: ALL ALDERS
Cc: Plant, Joel; Cnare, Rebecca; Mayor
Subject: RTA resolutionAlders:
At the last Common Council meeting, the resolution regarding the RTA (ID #06762) was referred to the mayor’s office, to draft a substitute reflecting the agreement reached between the Mayor and the County Executive on this issue. We are still working on the draft of that substitute, which would be identical to a substitute introduced for consideration by the Dane County Board. Our hope is that both bodies can pass identical resolutions, sending a strong message of city-county cooperation.
The resolution has been placed on the agenda for next week’s Council meeting. In the interest of gathering public input, we will be asking that it be referred to the Transit and Parking Commission and the Long Range Transportation Planning Commission, returning for action by the Council at its August 7th meeting. Because TPC does not have a scheduled meeting before Aug. 7, we have asked them to hold a joint meeting with LRTPC on July 19th, which they are amenable to doing.
We will circulate the proposed substitute language for your review as soon as it is available. We appreciate that many alders co-sponsored the original resolution, and have a strong interest in this issue.
As always, don’t hesitate to contact the mayor’s office if you have any questions.
George Twigg
Office of Mayor Dave Cieslewicz
What in the world could they have been possibly thinking? They waited until Saturday morning to let the alders know this was the “plan”. There still is no language for the resolution and the “input” is scheduled for Thursday (and Wednesday?). At best, the public might be able to get a copy Monday or Tuesday. How is one supposed to know that they want to comment if they don’t know what they are commenting on? And if this was really the plan, why is it even on the agenda as if there will be a recommendation from the floor?
You might not think this is such a big deal, but as an organizer and someone who cares about public input, I can tell you that is it difficult to get people to show up and give their input. Think about this, not just for this issue, but for many others.
1. Up until the agenda came out on Thursday, the public had no way of knowing if this will or will not be on the agenda. 5 days notice isn’t much.
2. On Thursday, if you looked, you could have spotted it on the agenda and made plans to be at the council meeting Tuesday night, but when you looked and saw it was the same thing as the last meeting, you may have either:
a. been lulled into being satisfied that it was what you agreed with or
b. assumed we wouldn’t be talking about it because it hadn’t changed.
And, more than likely, you didn’t even look for the agenda til Friday, cuz that is when it typically comes out, which is only 4 days notice. And, you were probably confused because it says a substitute or a recommendation will come from the floor. Either way, if you are interested in this issue, you pretty much have to attend to figure out what is being proposed.
3. In this case, on Saturday morning, alders are notified of the new plan. If you know an alder and the alder knows you are interested in the issue, you might at least get a copy of the email sent to you.
4. This weekly schedule isn’t even up on the city’s website.
5. The Long Range Transportation Planning Commission doesn’t have this on the agenda at the moment I’m writing this.
6. The Transit and Parking Commission is listed in Legistar as having a meeting at 5:00, but there is no agenda listed.
Even worse, as an elected official, you would think that we would have some sort of inside track, but Saturday morning was the first time I had any communication on this item, and I’m am, or probably more appropriately, was a co-sponsor. I know the mayor is lousy at communicating with the council, but he’s usually all aces when it comes to the press release. My guess is, he really doesn’t want any public input, only the appearance of wanting input.
