During the approval of the Allied Drive project, one of the talking points of the CDA advocates was that they would be far more open and accessible than any private developer. I’m sure I rolled my eyes more than once when they repeated this, but I didn’t say anything. I can now give you two reasons to show you how they are not as open and accessible as one might expect.
First, did you know that when they go into closed session, City of Madison alders cannot stay for the closed session unless they are invited by the members of the CDA. Typically, alders are allowed to participate in the discussions of all city committees unless it is a quasi-judicial hearing. However, the CDA is “not the city” when it suits their purposes and “the city” when they need our money. So, they have found a way to exclude even Alders of the City of Madison from their closed session meetings. Just so you know, this never happened, but I did ask the City Attorney about it and that was his answer. I have to say, it makes some sense that we would be excluded when they are negotiating with the City, except that two alders and our staff are all sitting in that same closed session. And it’s just hard to let them have it both ways and always whatever benefits them the most.
The second issue, was not something I had thought about. Last night, I asked Stuart Levitan for a copy of the WHEDA application for Allied Drive because I wanted to follow up and see how much they asked for in developer fees as I guess I have the wrong number and I got a somewhat odd response.
If your email constitutes a Public Records request, please direct it to Mark Olinger. thanks
Well, no, it wasn’t an open records request. I didn’t think I needed to do that. I thought that since the City approved them applying, that I could get a copy. And besides, they are “more open and accessible than any private developer”. So I asked why. And I was given a copy of a letter to a report who had asked as well and was denied. Again, there may be some valid reasons for withholding the information, but it sure doesn’t match their spin. And again, I guess they are “not the City”.
I find it mildly disturbing that an organization that is getting millions of dollars from the City of Madison for the Allied Drive and Villager Mall projects is so . . . “brusque” with the very same people that they expect to fund their plans. I guess I’ll have to figure out how to craft some open records requests that can’t be denied to find out the information that I want, because I don’t think there is any harm in me knowing the answers to the questions that I have. What a ridiculous waste of time.
