It occurs to me that that the City Council can be both a source for liberation or a force of oppression depending on whose side they wish to play. It is painfully apparent that majority of the council is content to follow the recommendations of the professionals who are hired because of their connections and not necessarily their abilities. In some cases their advisor's are advancing their own agendas. All to often we hear that a certain expenditure is required by the State, County or Federal government yet our elected leaders don't resist. They don't exhort us to punish those who are the source of our problems instead they help those who would hurt us remain in power. The only conclusion I can reach is that they don't truly represent our interests but their own. The only time they seem willing to resist is when we threaten them. It is our job to tell our elected officials that they work for us and that we will not standby and be content with table scraps while they and other politicians at the State, County and Federal levels feast at our expense. The standard by which we should judge all our elected officials should not be by the bacon they bring home to us but by the number of pigs that they save from the slaughter. After all the pigs belong to the people. We can not afford public pensions and benefits for life for public employees when the price is hospital closings. We can not afford pensions for part time officials based on their highest three years of service while property taxes go up relentlessly. It is ridiculous to expect these abuses to stop when our first line elected officials play ball. If our elected leaders refuse to lead us then they must be replaced. Their arrogance is born of our despair. The thing that they fear most is that all those who are eligible actually do so. The control the majority by organizing a small fraction of the electorate and keeping them happy. This strategy is useless when we all vote. When we all vote then the only strategy that works is acting for the common good.

MikeMasone

I attended the meeting which started about 6PM. The initial portion lasted until 8:45PM or so. At that time the Board went into a closed session. They reconvened about an hour later. The meeting eventually adjourned around 10:30PM.

The main thrust of the meeting centered on the request by Boraie Development LLC for an extension of their Conditional Redeveloper Agreement. As you may already know it was denied. The basis for denial was that the developer would pay the BLRA $21mil and the BLRA would be responsible for infrastructure work amounting to around $29mil. It would cost us an ADDITIONAL $8,000,000. In essence the BLRA was not only giving the land away, in essence it was literally paying them to take it!

That parcel is now being put out to RFP; Request For Proposal. Hopefully we’ll receive a much better deal!

In closing, the design by Boraie was interesting. It included a hotel, residential and some commercial. It seems that previously the BLRA changed the planned residential density from 143 units to over 700!

Summary

Agenda

HappyPolski

Accounts Payable Summary for the period ending March 7, 2007

HappyPolski

Agenda for the BLRA meeting of March 13, 2007

HappyPolski