Let's talk Talk first... Councilor Don Harris is tired of being up late and wading through endless public comment periods where topics range from legitimate city business to conspiracy theories (ABQ Journal - Subscription Required) . Frankly, we can see the freshman councilor's frustration. However, you can't fix the problem by moving the public comment period to the end of the meeting. All that does is keep legitimate public comment out of the meeting. Now, we don't have any problem with restricting public comment to city operations or governance, as long as the Council abides by the same restriction. That means no more non-binding resolutions dictating the price of tea in China. The Council should restrict ITS activities to ITS areas of influence and authority. Here are some other suggestions:
1. Start on time and be prepared.A lot can be done to make these interminable, idiotic meetings more efficient with out limiting the ability of citizens to comment. To that end... STOP CHARGING FOR PARKING!
2. No more animal parades. We have yet to see an animal adopted directly from a council meeting. (Although the practice has provided moments of humor and political commentary. Like when one of the male dogs lifted a leg on the council lectern... But we digress.)
3. Discontinue the practice of Floor Substitutes. If your bill is not ready to be heard... yank it! Give the other councilors and the people of Albuquerque a chance to review the changes and form an educated opinion (if you dare).
4. Have your amendments ready and stop making them up on the fly. (See above.)
Trolleys... They're back and bigger than ever with no less than four bills relating to the 19th Century Streetcar. The first and most important, is the repeal of the possibly illegal Transportation Infrastructure Tax extension. We told you about it here and here. The promised repeal (O-07-69) will finally be voted on after Councilor Winter blew it out of committee following its tabling.
There are also three studies on the agenda. Councilor Winter's and Harris' bills are not really up to the task of creating a comprehensive look at transportation in Albuquerque and could easily be subverted by proponents of the trolley, in order to support its inclusion. Councilor Benton's proposed study (O-07-71) is also inadequate but presupposes that a trolley is an inevitable part of the future of transportation in Albuquerque. All of the studies can be considered either inadequate or heavily biased.
SWAT, the Albuquerque group dedicated to protecting taxpayer dollars has sent out the following Action Alert:
"...we would like to invite you to attend Monday's meeting and speak out against this wasteful $300 million trolley project (a project that will run into the billions in the long term) and call for a comprehensive, unbiased transportation study that includes the entire long-term transportation picture including the possiblity of a streetcar and the reality of the automobile."The last SWAT Action Alert resulted in the Mayor jumping the tracks and calling for the Transportation Infrastructure Tax repeal. We'll be watching to find out how this Action Alert fares.
Toilets... We told you about this one here. It obviously has been circling the bowl for some time as it was originally introduced last year. Some of the more offensive language has been removed like charging third parties (in this case Real Estate agents), if their buyer fails to make the required low flow fixture modifications. This would be like arresting the security guard at the bank for failing to stop a bank robbery. However, you and I will still be in the can... or uh, on the hook for the modifications. Mark our words; it won't be the buyer that pays for these modifications. Particularly in slower markets, the seller will be paying for the new thrones and faucets.
This bill will end up being ignored as frequently as cell phone legislation and we'll all end up with two sets of fixtures. One we use for the certification and one we use so that we don't have to flush four times.
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