Well honeybunch, the campaign, I guess is now really underway. With about three weeks left, things got a bit more feisty as we reach and go beyond the middle o’ October. Whilst the EEE alert is still on the minds of a lotta people, the mayoral campaign is finally takin’ center stage.
Effen yew ain’t hoid, Michele Gregorio decided to do a full assault on the Haven projeck, and took the opportunity of the recent MARB (Municipal Accountability Review Board) meeting to make what she sees as a big pernt. It is her contention that the Haven Proejct, which has been at a standstill for months, has a reason for the hiatus: tax breaks.
According to the Republican challenger, the recent confab saw the developers look for what are called in the trade “tax incentives” to git the projeck underway. This is a typical ploy used by developers who wanna squeeze out as much profit, without paying the full load in taxes.
Now, the administration as of this writing has not answered the allegation, which if true, is something they should be ahead of, not behind. Givin’ a development a tax break or breaks when the average Joe is gonna be expected to pay increased levies over the next four years (as the five-year plan goes into its second year) up to 40 mills is something that has to be explained.
When this plan went through in 2014 it was announced – heralded in fact – that there would be no breaks, and the project wasn’t lookin’ fer any. Here we are five-plus years later and this could be a major albatross around the current occupants of the Actors Colony.
Now, the elephant in the room is the MARB. Any decision on this matter will not really be with City Hall, the City Council, or the developers, for that matter. It will be with MARB. Effen it wants to allow the tax breaks it will be solely responsible for that isshew, and the administration can wash its hands of it in rather convincing fashion.
“Hey,” herronner can say, “I don’t want a tax break, but my hands are tied, MARB made that decision.” It gives the political cover for something that we’ve been sayin’ all along has been in her favor. It’ll be interesting to see how this all shakes out. Yew know as well as I do, that no matter what, there’s gonna be some political hay to be made on this.
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Speakin’ o’ political hay, I mentioned to yew a few weeks back that since Gregorio won the primary, some disaffected Demmies have said they would give her support against the incumbent. Sammy Bluejay has been trying to get the skinny on this, and thinks that whilst some might go that far, the bulk of Dems will either stay home or give tacit support to the party candidate.
Gregorio has let it be known that whilst she accepts any support the Dems of a certain ilk might give her, they have to be part o’ the campaign and not go off on their own. That only makes sense, yew can’t have loose cannons out there trying to make issues yew might not approve.
We shall see how this all happens, but Sammy sez that whilst there are some Demmies OK with the arrangement, others wanna give support, but not under the aegis of the GOP campaign…doesn’t look so good dontcha know.
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Meanwhile, Nelly Nuthatch was perched outside the City Council meeting last week when it gave its OK to the charter revision commish’s plans. Whilst the approval came, there were some who wanted to see the entire thing parsed out into several questions given to the voters. They think it’ll be too much for the public to “swallow.”
One hasta give Ed Granfield, the chairman o’ the commish kudos for not allowing the council members to get away with 1) that particular ploy; or 2) the contention that they were unaware that the questions might not be able to be parsed out.
Y’see the barrister for the city mapped out the problems with the charter revisions as proposed. The entire thing is more like a single garment meshed together, not a patchwork quilt. Effen the revisions were parceled out into different questions, the public could approve some, and not approve others.
Well, when the commish did it’s 18 months’ worth of work, they interwove things into each other. Effen you disapprove one part o’ the revisions, it affects the other parts. They really did a nice job of making each section interdependent on the other.
When one or two council members said they didn’t understand that setch was the way things were done, Granfield told the members that was their problem – and well he might. For months the commish was very transparent as to what was done, and council members were invited to meetings, given updates and even asked to read the provisions before they were finalized.
One is given the distinct impression (that’s a nice way of puttin’ it) that the council members didn’t bother to read, attend or bother with all the info that was sent their way. To claim ignorance or lack of transparency on the part o’ the commish was a charge that Granfield was not going to broach.
Granfield, in the words of the “Good Book” don’t suffer fools gladly, and made sure that any lack of information on the part of the membership was a product of their own work or lack of it.
So, the vote is set for April 28, the day the Presidential Preference Primary is scheduled. That will save the city some kopecks. It also gives the anti- people some wiggle room to git their pernts across. It’ll be an interesting few months on this issue.
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Interesting. It seems there has been a lot of angst about the remediation of asbestos in the WHHS projeck. For years a few parents have raised quite a ruckus about the isshew. The matter was taken up by a few investigators from the American Federation of Teachers, the national union. Iva Lootey told me the union came in there with the predisposition that the building was “sick” and making people sick.
Once the investigation was completed, however, a more-than-glowing report was isshewed, and the investigators found that not only were the proper guidelines and protocols used, but in some cases went beyond what was expected. Some parents have been a real pain in the ankle about this issue, and driven school officials and some city officials nuts with their allegations.
The hope is that this report will give all parties the answers they want and the understanding that everything that can be done to keep the air quality and building free from problems is being done in spades. Whether that calms down the individuals who have been leading this charge is a query that will be answered in the fullness of time. Experience tells Cobina that people who have held onto this or any other type issue are not willing to give it up.
Wait for the allegation that the union investigation was a cover-up. That’s usually what follows with these things.
With that bit o’ chatter, I’ll close this time till next, mitt luff und kizzes,