(The latest in a series of posts on City government)
All this Gadfly talk about moving City meetings around time-wise so that they can be more accessible to the public.
All this Gadfly talk about making sure that when City committee members come up for reappointment that Council have evidence of performance before reaffirming.
All this talk — Gadfly — a sensitive man (he says insensitively) — feels he may be creating the impression that in general the City ABCs (Authorities, Boards, Commissions) are not to be trusted.
Not so, not so.
Surely Gadfly followers feel his love for the Environmental Advisory Council (EAC), for instance.
And, after last night’s meeting, Gadfly must give a belated, well-deserved tip o’ the hat to the Historic Conservation Commission.
There were three items on last night’s agenda. One item dealt with a seeming small detail of an awning, a second with major reconstruction that, in fact, was an amalgam of small details. We’ll deal with the third in another post.
If it weren’t for the third item, Gadfly would have skipped the meeting after looking at the agenda for the outdoor joy of an exquisite summer evening.
(As it was, the Gadfly indulged in that natural beauty anyway by slowly walking the mile back and forth to Town Hall — remember him just saying that he was going to put more walking in his life?)
The amount of care, knowledge, experience, and concern exhibited over the smallest details by the HCC was just truly remarkable.
Nothing dramatic, nothing spectacular — just scrupulous, patient attention.
Gadfly has witnessed this before. This was not a one-time thing.
A great example of your non-tax dollars at work.
Chair: Phil Roeder. Members: Seth Cornish, Craig Evans, Roger Hudak, Gary Lader, Jeff Long, Tony Silvoy, Beth Starbuck. (I hope that’s right.)
By and large, I think the HCC does a great job!
I think they stumbled in approving the Benner building at 3rd & New, even with the top-floor restriction (the one that was later trashed by the planning department & city council).
And they definitely were pressured into approving a COA for the proposed totally-inappropriate 9-story building at 4th & Vine — and they should officially ask city council to rescind this approval. (Now, before it’s too late.)