Media

This time, it looks like they have the votes on Monday! And they may be out by Tuesday! The mayor may finally win. (I hear he's seeming less grumpy and excited about winning.) But I have to say, if he is worried about crime, violence and rape . . . sending people back to the bushes puts many of these folks at risk to be victims of theft, battery, and yes, rape. Imagine being a single woman hiding so you can sleep, but being afraid to sleep because of your safety. This is all so very backwards. See below for meeting details and what you can do!

This bothered me so much, I did a survey, with the help of Matt Kozlowski. Our survey results of 27 of the 40 - 60 people are below. Does it match what the mayor has been saying? Spoiler alert! NO!

Last night the Common Council met for 3+ hours at the Pyle Center on campus and had a retreat on how it budgets and the comprehensive planning process coming up. Here's what they had to say about the budget and their priorities.

Why do you cover the mayor's outrageous statements and NOT the actual news - the fact that two committees have unanimously voted down his crazy bench ordinance?

6 meetings were added and 2 cancelled this week, 4 of these happened just yesterday, and 4 affect today, Thursday. And see my email about one of the cancelled meetings, I ended up more than a little irritated.

Homeless single men’s and single women’s shelter days are being increased to 90 days effective September 1st. This is a temporary adjustment in an effort to encourage unsheltered homeless single adults to move inside. If you have questions please contact Preston Patterson (ppatterson@porchlightinc.org) or Melissa Sorensen (Melissa.sorensen@usc.salvationarmy.org).

There are 5 committees looking at the Mayor's bench ordinance - so far two have voted. So far, both have UNANIMOUSLY voted against it. 3 committees left to go.

5 hours into the discussion of Judge Doyle Square, Denise DeMarb asks the question we've all been asking. What happened to the commitment to racial and economic justice, a.k.a. equity? It sounded good during the election, people all SAY its the lens we should at everything through. Where's that lens?

I knew I waited thought this meeting for hours for some reason, but I wasn't expecting this admission. Although it was becoming painfully obvious it was true. This is winter number 5 with haphazard plans and no real, comprehensive, permanent day shelter services for people who have live their lives without a roof to call their own. [archiveorg LynnGreenNoDayCenter2015 width=640 height=140 frameborder=0 webkitallowfullscreen=true mozallowfullscreen=true]

So, I don't know how to say this, so I'll just say it. At the same time Exact Sciences is negotiating to come downtown, "they" also have purchased property in Research Park and are negotiating to stay there. Has this all just been a ruse?

I waited 4.5 hours just to here this portion of the meeting. They heard from the public for less than 30 minutes and then talked about minute, boring details for hours, before they got to the important part - and spent (relatively speaking) little time on it. While asking questions after the meeting, there was still lots of confusion by alders, media and on-lookers. But, here was the explanation we got and the answers they got.

So, cutting to the chase, after about 5 hours of talking about or listening to people talking about Judge Doyle Square, the Board of Estimates passed the following regarding Judge Doyle Square: