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January-June 2006 City Commission Meetings |
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| Commission meetings are often
boring, sometimes interesting, occasionally irritating, and rarely
exciting, but attending them or watching them on television offers insight
into issues and personalities which would be difficult to achieve any
other way. That's transparency. Below, occasional observations and impressions. Some readers confuse two similar terms: Public Comment is that time early in the meeting during which individuals are offered up to 5 minutes each to talk about almost anything. A Public Hearing is the discussion period focused on a specific agenda item like a lot-split or an alley vacation. See Does Public Comment serve democracy? Check out the city's excellent website: www.ci.royal-oak.mi.us. It's thorough, has an excellent search capability, and staff actually responds to communication. (also see Civics 101) 2004 meetings January-June 2005 meetings July-December 2005 meetings 2006 January -June meeting 2006 July-December meetings |
The 43rd Royal Oak City Commission, especially the new members, will find interesting and may benefit from reading VersagiVoice's comments about an earlier new commission. Click here, then scroll the page to find: City Commission focuses on 2-1/2 philosophical issues and Pluses & Minuses of the new City Commission.
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During a brisk and business-like first commission meeting of 2006, residents, commissioners (newbies and vets), the mayor, and acting city manager addressed such diverse issues as I-75 impact on Lincoln, a request for a homeless sleepover on city property, appointments, legal nitpicking about approving certain invoices, and budget adjustments. There had been joking speculation about whether Acting City Manager Tim Thwing would call on himself as Planning Director and move from the city manager's seat to the lectern from which department heads speak. He didn't. He sat there and answered wearing his acting city manager hat or department head hat as appropriate. Unlike during his normal testimony as a department head, Thwing -- in this dual role -- seemed to pick up one bad habit of several commissioners; that is, making the same point two or three times, sometimes using exactly the same words. Newcomer Gary Lelito had arranged for the concerns of Lincoln residents to be put on the agenda.Listening to his comments following many Public Comment remarks, one is alerted to watch for whether we have another commissioner who may overdo the "I care about the residents" mode. Lelito didn't overdo it on this first outing, but there was a hint of that predilection in his demeanor. Newcomer Steve Miller, so far, is behaving like former commissioner Marie Donigan. He is quiet most of the time, occasionally makes concise comments, asks questions which can be answered briefly because the questions are focused, seems not to play to the camera. Some praised the former commissioner for that operational style; others contended she was quiet because "she hadn't done her homework." But the night belonged to the 15, of 17, residents who -- with two emotional exceptions -- quietly described the negative impact on their Lincoln neighborhood of a bridge-related traffic pattern. It is hard to argue with their descriptions, but that negative impact will also be felt by Madison Heights, which is already sure to lose some houses, and -- as Mayor Ellison said -- no matter what changes are made, someone will feel negatively impacted. One 42-year resident in the area recounted being adversely affected over the years by "progress:" I-696, Campbell Road, I-75. More important than the complaints about the potential and speculated physical impact of "the bridge," though, is the feeling of being neglected by the city commission. That complaint has several dimensions: that the commission has not provided residents a hearing; that the commission is vacillating about taking action now, before the design phase is created; finally, that the South End is being shafted one more time. There were a couple of tense moments during Public Comment. One speaker charged city hall with betraying the South End and sounded distraught about what he considers unmindful treatment of his neighborhood. Civic activist Dale Savage rebuked one city commissioner for smiling or laughing during Savage's comments, was reminded by Ellison that it is inappropriate to direct comments to a specific commissioner, apologized, and finished his comments. At Lelito's request, Ellison took several minutes to give an overview of all that has gone before. That overview made it clear that the commission has indeed been listening to residents and has taken a formal position or two about the Lincoln bridge and the I-75 widening overall as it affects Royal Oak, and that it is procedurally impossible to do anything formally, until there is further action at the State or Federal level. The mayor took the opportunity to comment that four of the seven members of the commission live in the South End. Commissioner Andrzejak countered the "negligence" charge by naming several improvements/investments to the South End, including the $4.2 million Salter Community Center and a couple of parks. Other business was conducted.
All that, and they were still able to adjourn before midnight, at 10:27. Short agenda. No posturing. Even including a long dog-and-pony coda by the Prevention Coalition, the meeting adjourned at 9:18. Good work. Following a concise and clear description by Finance Director Don Johnson, the commission with a single roll call vote ratified and approved multiple resolutions which authorize the issuance of capital improvement bonds and of capital improvement refunding bonds. On the recommendation of Interim City Attorney Dave Gillam, the commission approved going ahead with installing the Oakland County Wireless pilot program in the South End of Royal Oak. Answering leading questions by Mayor Jim Ellison, the county's WiFi representative confirmed that the lowest-speed free Internet connection will always enable users to connect to and work with, say, county and city websites. Incremental higher speeds, approaching that of a DSL line, will be available at added cost. The lowest free speed will increase as improved technology generate continually increasing speeds.
The commission confirmed that the 30-day notice concerning special events called for by ordinance will be uniformly enforced. The discussion came because of recent late requests from such groups as the Restaurant Association. Police Chief Ted Quisenberry told the commission that the State is picking up the cost for Super Bowl-related overtime. Humorous highlight: During one apparently boring segment of the meeting, Commissioner Terry Drinkwine was caught unsuccessfully trying to stifle a yawn. The close-up shot suggests the TV crew was having fun. Public Comment was short, with only six speakers, none of whom attempted to exceed the the 5-minute limit. Two speakers addressed the Lincoln Bridge/MDOT matter. . . . One said that the change in the city's cell phone vendor has resulted in higher, not lower, costs. . . . Farmers Market Manager Gwen Ross praised vendors and the volunteer committee for their cooperation and patience during all the changes going on. . . . Jay Dunstan, vice president of the Royal Oak Historical Society, announced the society's first Town Hall of 2006, devoted to commemorating and quietly celebrating the 100-plus years the Sullivan Family has lived in and been active in Royal Oak. The event is being held at the Royal Oak Woman's Club. . . . One speaker, actually the first, made the WiFi comments. With the important exception of the discussion by commissioners about expansion of the Holiday Market, on South Main, most of the substance of this meeting developed during Public Comment. Seven of the thirteen speakers weighed in on the Holiday Market expansion, four in favor, three opposed. Details of neighborhood impact aside, one could come away from those comments believing that the market owners, the Violante Family, are good corporate citizens who listen to and help their residential neighbors or are uncaring profit-focused businessmen who ignore the neighborhood and don't listen to residents. The commission voted 7-0 to approve the request to expand the building and to restructure access, parking, and egress of the four to seven semi-trailers which serve the market each day. But that approval didn't come until after unnecessarily long discussion, unnecessary because the commissioners had been provided with all of the information beforehand. I stopped counting after the sixth time that Planning Director Tim Thwing and Mayor Jim Ellison assured the commissioners, one way or another and in detail, that the concerns of the objecting neighbors had been taken into account, and that the proposal before the commission came after consideration of several other approaches; it was not fast-tracked. I wanted to jump through the television screen, offended for Ellison and Thwing, when one of the commissioners went so far as actually to say something like, "I hope I'll receive an honest answer." Another commissioner, who has been around long enough to know better, tried to abort or diminish the resolution by adding superfluous demands. In my mind, that same commissioner offended Tom Violante, Jr. by demanding a personal, you-to-me guarantee about the use of some additional property which the Violantes don't yet own. So rambling was the discussion that Thwing and Ellison uncharacteristically gave long answers and repeated themselves. In defense of the, to me, unnecessary oratorical hassle, is the fringe benefit that residents attending or viewing the meeting -- who may have missed excellent news reports -- were rewarded with an example of the necessary to-and-fro-ing which serves all parties when businessmen, residents, and government need to reach agreement. (I'll comment more about this next week.) There was no commission reaction at all when businesswoman and former city commissioner Laura Harrison described the problems which will be caused for businesses, drivers, and pedestrians from two recently announced needs to close parts of Washington, twice for 4 days each to install then later dismantle a construction crane, and for 4 months to install a water main. Two merchants made the same complaints to me the next morning, and the issue deserves more, separate, column inches than appropriate in this report from the commission meeting. [See] Finance Director Don Johnson provided welcome contrast to overlong discussion with his 2-sentence answers to questions. The camera caught one commissioner's surprised expression with Johnson's short response, when the commissioner had tilted back in his rocking chair, obviously expecting a longer answer after asking a question. The commission approved, 7-0, Johnson's proposal to establish a policy of maintaining an undesignated balance in the General Fund of at least 10% but no more than 25% of budgeted expenditures. Commissioner Mike Andrzejak, requested that Johnson prepare similar policy proposals for enterprise funds; these are funds for which directors control their own income and expense -- like Parking and the Farmer's Market. A pleasant interlude was provided by the Roundtable of Historical Organizations, which described a picture-book the group is preparing to publish and had the Mayor and City Clerk publicly sign the contract with the publishers. Chairwoman Barbara Randau announced that the Roundtable has received enough funding, through pre-orders and donations, to implement the project. Manager of Information Services, Scott Newman, was appointed to be Royal Oak's representative on the Oakland County WiFi Advisory Board; City Engineer, Elden Danielson, was named point-of-contact, and Commissioner Gary Lelito was named alternate. The Howard Shifman legal firm was approved to provide labor counsel services for Royal Oak. Other Public Comments were made re the Lincoln Bridge (with one suggestion being humorously labeled the "Lelito Bridge" because of the commissioner's input); the Fence Ordinance (which seems to be hanging out there somewhere); and the need for a revised policy about towing abandoned vehicles (so that a car is not towed away from in front of the house of the car's owner who happens to be on vacation). 20 February 2006 It was Beaumont Hospital's turn to be accused of bad faith, in a replay of the debate over expansion and renovation of the Holiday Market. Both businesses have been charged with plotting with city officials to rush development plans through without giving residents the opportunity to voice their concerns. Even being recognized as good corporate citizens Beaumont and Holiday are characterized no differently than was Morningside, that "greedy out-of-town developer" whose Barnes & Noble and Skylofts have helped rejuvenate downtown Royal Oak. And, except for Commissioner Terry Drinkwine, the city commission caved after 8 of the 10 speakers during Public Comment made their by now stereotypical complaints -- traffic, property values, quality of life, and of course "the children" -- by failing to approve the first reading of Beaumont's request for rezoning two lots along Thirteen Mile Road. This, after Planning Director Tim Thwing and Mayor Jim Ellison gave thorough reviews of what had transpired as the mandated procedures were followed. Commissioner Carlo Ginotti added an unnecessarily negative tone to the debate by chiding the mayor for giving "a speech" and suggested the mayor will have the opportunity to give the speech again at a couple of public hearings. Apparently caught up in the flow of the moment, Ginotti went on to recommend that Beaumont have a Public Hearing of its own, preceding any which the city might schedule. At least, it wasn't a north end-south end fight, and other than all that the commission meeting went well. Routine stuff: City Manager Tom Hoover was reminded of the need for a policy to overcome last-minute requests by such groups as the Restaurant Association, which publicly announce Pub Crawls, for example, before requesting the required special event permit. . . . Finance Director Don Johnson was directed to see to it that an appropriate invoice/payment history is attached to each request for approval of an annual event like the Saint Patrick's Day Parade. . . . DPS Director Greg Rassell assured the commission that Shakespeare in the Park will pay the conventional fee should they use the city's generator. . . . The commission approved the DPS recommendation to replace a defective fuel tank. Perhaps the most dispassionately reasoned debate and decision came after Commissioner Stephen Miller moved to have the city attorney draft a resolution which specifies a super-majority vote before the city's General Fund can draw on the reserves of any Enterprise Fund. Percentages aside, Miller stressed his intention is to "shine a light" on such proposed transactions. Commissioner Mike Andrzejak mentioned the example of the need for a new roof on the ice arena . . . Commissioner Pat Capello stressed the need to protect services, even while reducing operating expenses . . . Commissioner Ginotti agreed that such a policy would "be sending a message" to the Administration, this after some concern was expressed by Hoover and his suggestion that he would like to draft a report to accompany any resolution the city attorney's office might generate. The commission deliberated quietly about a street-paving request, where 2 of the 4 affected residents want paving, one has notified City Engineer Eldon Danielson of opposition, and the thoughts of the fourth are not known. Before they caught themselves and decided to follow the standard procedure, the commission played for a moment with the bad idea of making an ad hoc decision by simply going out and talking to the two who haven't signed the petition. There were questions about previous 50-50 petitions, but staff memories were unable to recall meaningful instances. Drinkwine and Andrzejak voted no. The commission seemed to take the position that "We don't want to subsidize the Dream Cruise," but the overall dialogue struck me as ambiguous and inconclusive. Greg Rassel's and Tom Hoover's replies about income and outgo -- in my mind -- did not really address the concerns expressed in the finance director's memo. Those concerns have to do with the fact that city services are required for more than the nominal one day Dream Cruise and with the fact that the cost of those services may not have been properly allocated in the past. "It's like being a co-signer on a car loan", said the lone resident who spoke on Beaumont Hospital's request to run a $235 million bond issue through the city's bonding process. He could not believe that the city would have "absolutely no obligation" in the event that Beaumont got into financial trouble. The commission and the city attorney and Beaumont spokesmen gave unlimited assurance that, not only will the city have absolutely no obligation, but that Beaumont will pay the $45,000 filing fee which the process requires. 06 March 2006 Shrine versus Beaumont: Did it have to come to that? Despite those late, and new, objections, the commission proceeded to approve the First Reading, as it should have. Question: If Shrine continues its public opposition, should any commissioner who is a Shrine parishioner be asked to withdraw from the debate and from voting? Mayor Ellison again at great length and repetitively explained that no plans for a building exist; that the rezoning must be approved, if appropriate, so that Beaumont may buy the property from the school district; that the parcel of land on Yorba Lynda will remain zoned single-family and that Beaumont will immediately sell that residential parcel, since the hospital does not intend to erect houses; that it will be 3-4-5 years before the commercial building is erected on Thirteen Mile; that Beaumont will plant grass in the field and will maintain the field until the property is developed; that any such development will have to go through the usual mandated public processes which provide residents with repeated opportunity to be heard.
The meeting also saw this commission's first batch of 4-3 votes, mostly on procedural, in-house, matters. [See] Although there apparently haven't been many, or any, problems resulting from a handful of retailers and service facilities offering free champagne and the like to their customers, the city seems to be moving in the direction of seeking formal notification from such retailers for each such occasion. The operating premise is that each such establishment should alert the police department each time alcohol will be flowing. At the very least, some commissioners maintain, the city should demand proof that the retailers have notified their insurers about the free alcohol service. Relatedly, the commission decided not to offer the newly granted State permission for facilities to serve food and non-alcoholic beverages from 2 a.m. to 4. a.m. There was some confusion caused by the fact that Royal Oak already has an establishment or two which serve food and beer and wine 24 hours a day. The eight speakers during Public Comment (there were 12 speakers during the Public Hearing re Beaumont's request for rezoning) touched on such matters as paving Delaware and the MDOT/I-75/Lincoln Bridge controversy. 20 March 2006 There was a pervasive emotional component to this commission meeting. The mood was established quickly when Commissioner Drinkwine commented that Commissioner Ginotti had given another one of his "political dissertations" and had taken "a long time to say nothing." The emotive tone of the night's dialogue was still there near the end when generally mild-mannered Mayor Ellison defended holding public hearings about lot splits and went so far as to threaten a real estate agent to pay attention to neighbors or, 'You'll get a whole lot of grief if you don't." An especially stressful closed session earlier, perhaps, or something in the hvac ductwork. Drinkwine made his comment after Ginotti moved to take the Ice Arena item off the agenda, then took considerable time commenting on the politics of the issue. Ellison, properly cut off Commissioner Lelito, when he wanted to offer comment not actually focused on the motion; unfortunately the mayor did not exercise his parliamentary authority (assert the chair's privilege) to cut Ginotti off after it quickly became obvious that he was expounding off-target and not about the specific motion to hold the matter until the next commission meeting at the request of absent Commissioner Miller.
I'm not sure why the Star Dream maintenance contact was pulled from the Consent Agenda. Didn't seem to matter, though, since it was quickly approved 6-0, Miller absent. And somewhere in there it was noted that construction requirements near Eleven Mile and Main will make it necessary to modify the route of the Memorial Day Parade a bit. Also pulled off the Consent Agenda was the discontinuation of the consulting contract with Sterling Solutions & Systems. Commissioners Andrzejak and Ginotti -- as they have several times in the past -- teamed up to shoot nit-picking questions at City Manager Tom Hoover. The commissioners had already received his written report in which Hoover described the reasons for the city's dissatisfaction and stated that the consulting firm and the city had mutually agreed that no further payment would be made (the contract was for $5,400, of which $4,800 had been paid). Also, well-written articles about the matter had appeared in two issues of the Royal Oak Mirror. The tag- team's theme seemed to be that the city didn't get much for its money, which Hoover had already acknowledged, so -- despite Ginotti's and Andrzejak's demurrals -- their comments seemed very much like an attempt to assign blame. Not sure what purpose was served. When the second reading of Beaumont's request for rezoning on Thirteen Mile was being discussed, Drinkwine didn't comment but his face showed displeasure when Ginotti once more gave a lengthy reprise of all that had gone on before. Even Commissioner Capello chimed in with repetitive assurances, though very much more briefly than Ginotti. And Ellison explained once again that rezoning does not in any way pre-approve whatever Beaumont might decide to build on the property -- after which Drinkwine muttered that Ellison's explanation was "what some of us understood before."
Drinkwine again cast the only vote against an amendment to the Special Event Amendment Ordinance, primarily because he feels the amendment remains too permissive in allowing businesses to give away alcoholic beverages to their customers. He insists that anyone who wants to serve alcohol anytime, anywhere, get a license/permit from the State. The commission's preoccupation/obsession with alcohol is puzzling. Andrzejak is fearful that businesses have been serving alcohol and the Police Department didn't know. That the police didn't know suggests there haven't been any public problems related to the practice. After a quiet public hearing, the commission voted to move forward with the process of paving Delaware Avenue, unless the required public hearing changes things. Reacting to the plight of one unemployed homeowner, who favors paving but is concerned about being able to pay for it, City Engineer Danielson offered to develop a payment schedule showing how the payments would fall over 15 year. Andrzejak recalled other pavings of dusty roads and assured the neighbors that "the quality of life will improve." Then came the legally unnecessary public hearing on a residential lot split. For the umpteenth time, Planning Director Tim Thwing reminded the commission that there is no legal requirement for a public hearing at a city commission meeting on a lot split which has been approved by the administration. Only a commission resolution calls for such a hearing. Nine residents spoke against permitting the split. When the issue returned to the commission table all the usual suspects -- statements of helplessness and expressions of sympathetic concern -- came forth: Thwing had to explain, again, when and how the 50-foot and 40-foot lot widths apply. . . . Andrzejak really stretched logic by trying to drag in the dimensions of adjoining streets to establish a minimum width (not realizing, I must suppose, that such a consideration could be applied in reverse). . . . Ginotti reminded everyone that "our hands are tied" and recalled his earlier "blanket objections" to lot splits, which often resulted in his lone symbolic no-vote. He also asked Ellison to provide an update on some Planning Commission activity addressing the issue of bigfoot houses. . . . Drinkwine wants city counsel to look again at ways to untie the commission's hands.
And so ended the 20 March 2006 meeting of the Royal Oak City Commission. This one almost qualifies as a non-meeting. For one thing, there were only four Public Comment speakers, and two of them were county commissioners taking camera time to make-nice for longer than the substance of their comments justified.. For another, Mayor Ellison pleasantly surprised those residents who had attended intending to comment on the Lincoln Bridge/I-75 mess, by announcing early in the session that they would get their long-hoped for Public Hearing -- indeed, a special hearing night Monday, 10 April, at the Salter Community Center. So the residents saved their comments for next week. The commission again honored the request of the ill Commissioner Miller to postpone the Second Reading of the Ice Arena Ordinance. There's some political maneuvering in the background, including a possible vote-change, having to do with a rival hockey league and with the need or not to re-establish an oversight committee. One Public Comment speaker gave reasons he believes there is no need for an oversight committee. Details will likely emerge when the item is actually addressed at the commission table. The nearest thing to an interesting dialogue was the toing-and-froing over how much it costs the city to subsidize the annual Oak Apple Run by providing in-kind services -- like loss of parking revenue and overtime. After a little rambling, City Manager Hoover was directed to meet with the Oak Apple people to obtain a clearer picture of how much money the event makes or loses each year. A couple of the commissioners expressed concern that the current budget shortfall might cause the city take short-sighted actions about supporting events which bring a lot of people to Royal Oak each year. The commission meeting ended upbeat with the signing of a reasonable negotiated settlement, after arbitration, between the City and the Fire Fighter's union. The whole thing lasted just short of 90 minutes -- 7:40 till 9:00. An avoided
3-4 vote
reveals . . . ?
This public/private endeavor deserves more attention than it has been receiving, and VersagiVoice will explore whether a review in these pages would be helpful. Not quite as lively, but still interesting, was discussion about a portion of Harrison Street being the only street in Royal Oak with no parking at any time. There is a hardship on one resident who has nowhere else to park a second car (one wonders, don't the people on Harrison ever have visitors?). Options being debated include allowing that resident permit parking or removing all the No Parking signs. The Traffic Committee plans to hold a Public Hearing on the matter. Commissioner Andrzejak cast a procedural no-vote. [See] The action plan of the Rehabilitation Board of Appeals was approved as an agenda item for the 01 May meeting of the commission. Three of the ten speakers during Public Comment thanked the commission for having held a Public Hearing re the I-75/Lincoln Bridge controversy. Two speakers charged the Farmers Market Manager with harassment and threatened to go to court if the manager isn't discharged within 30 days.
What a sad and disappointing city commission meeting. Things got so bad that GOPer Mike Andrzejak came to the defense of Democrat Ellison. Talk about a nonpartisan commission! Most disappointing was the behavior of protest leader Dale Savage. Using the Dale Carnegie approach of sandwiching criticism between two layers of praise, Savage stretched the fact that a no-Lincoln-Bridge decision would adversely impact Mohawk and that the mayor lives on Mohawk and repeated charges made by two earlier Public Comment speakers that Ellison has a conflict of interest when the Lincoln Bridge is debated and should withdraw from the dialogue. Mistakenly attempting to defend what needs no defense and should have been ignored, Ellison even had Interim City Attorney Dave Gillam opine that there is no conflict of interest generated by the fact that the mayor lives on Mohawk. (During Ellison's and Andrzejak's comments, it was made clear that many decisions made at the table affect every street in the city and every commissioner lives on one of those streets.) Gillam's comments were weaker than need be, suggesting that future developments might change his decision. The apparently never-to-end dialogue about I-75 widening and MDOT and the Lincoln Bridge was first brought up by Kevin Konczal, who reported he has reached out to MDOT, Oakland County Exec Patterson, and a state legislator or two, apparently with some success, for the MDOT guy is coming to Royal Oak to address a public gathering. Cynics have already suggested that Konczal, former candidate for mayor and now candidate for state rep, "comes late to the I-75 matter" and is simply bringing himself to the public's attention. Even so, if Konczal makes something happen which hasn't happened before, any less-than-pure complementary motivation becomes a non-issue. There was general acknowledgement that the April 10th Special Public Hearing about the Lincoln Bridge provided enough input for the City Commission to demand that MDOT review the tape of that meeting and address the issues raised by the residents. City Manager Hoover was directed to prepare a resolution to that effect for the commission to consider at its next meeting. Still on a disappointing note, one has to wonder whether it is fear of a legal or constitutional challenge which caused the commission to allow the former Farmer's Market tenant again to personally attack the market manager and, essentially, to call Attorney Gillam a liar. There was one bright spot in the
meeting. Almost nothing except routine stuff happened, but our less-than-courageous elected officials seem again ready to avoid making hard decisions about the budget. [Note] Finance Director Don Johnson immediately disagreed with that opening paragraph. I don't agree with the above statement at all Frank. The Commission has already made many hard decisions about the budget that have already had a major impact. The General Fund Budget we are submitting to the Commission exceeds the targets set last December largely because of the decision to automatically remove any positions that become vacant from the budget but also because of the decision to contract with Rehmann Robson to prepare a Cost Allocation Plan and the decision to let me refund existing debt. Nothing happened last Monday (or at any time since I've been here) that suggests any members of the Commission will "punt" when it's time to make more hard decisions. In fact, nothing significant happened last Monday in regard to the budget at all. Nothing significant was supposed to happen. We only asked the Commission to schedule several special budget meetings and our recommendation was approved. We did provide the Commissioners with a draft copy of the budget document, which is still a work in progress. That resulted in couple of questions about our new format. Serious budget discussions start next Monday. Hope to see you there. Donald E. Johnson Three of the seven Public Comments dealt with the I-75/Lincoln Bridge matter, but no new thinking emerged. . . . The complaining couple about the operation of the Farmer's Market repeated their charges against the market manager and the Interim City Attorney. . . . Three representatives from the Royal Oak Historical Society announced the Memorial Day Pancake Breakfast and the construction of a new website now linked to the city's website. . . A fund-raiser for the Animal Shelter was announced. On the I-75 matter, Commissioners Andrzejak and Ginotti came up with an amendment to the resolution directed toward MDOT which Staff had prepared. The amended resolution probably remains not specific enough to satisfy the Lincoln Bridge activists. Concern over possible harm to the granite base of the War Memorials when they are moved as planned led to a bit of "Who's on first" confusion when commissioners reacted to an email from the Memorial Society president. Planning Director Thwing took a minute to put everyone at ease. City Manager Hoover and Finance Director Johnson indicated that the new budget would be forthcoming in time for the necessary group of special meetings which will be needed to address it. Apparently in a more understandable format and with pie charts and bar graphs, the document will review the previous four years and look forward five years. Frustrated at the DDA's lack of movement re the Parking Study, Andrzejak encouraged Hoover to end the DDA's "filibustering," so that the information may be plugged into budget deliberations. There was a disappointing development, really a non-development, about selling Normandy Oaks. NOTE:
Probably none of those speculations matters, because among these otherwise admirable and dedicated elected officials not one is brave enough to bring the matter to the table. Cowed by the apparent crescendo of "don't you dare" public comment, our commissioners are unwilling to give the full electorate something tangible to look at and to decide about. Instead, they are once again going to punt and take money from an enterprise fund or two to balance the budget. How disappointing. 05
June 2006 Fences, Angle Parking, and Liquor Licenses were among the topics of substantive decisions made after sometimes good-naturedly silly, rather than angry, debate by very tired city officials. The matters were addressed during a long commission meeting following an almost 2-hour budget session, and all of the elected officials participated more energetically than has been characteristic of this commission. As the clock approached eleven, the commissioners and the mayor may safely be described as slap-happy or punch-drunk. But they did good work:
The commission agreed that the sidewalk cafe request of Vinotecca will be treated separately from that for Bastone. Planning Director Tim Thwing has suggested a single permit such as that granted Mr. B's when that entity expanded, but the commissioners contend that there are separate doors and separate serving staffs for Bastone and Vinotecca. On a motion by Commissioner Lelito, the Traffic Committee will be asked to study the feasibility of a traffic light at Sixth and Main. The city commission meeting followed a budget meeting during which the Police Department, Engineering Department, and Library budgets were addressed. 19 June 2006 Representative democracy
display its merits At issue was the request of the resident on West Harrison, between Lafayette and Woodward, to have the signs removed after she had been ticketed many times for parking in front of her house. Opposed were neighbors, including one highly respected long-time civic activist, who maintained that there should be no parking at all on the street. In the crossfire was the Traffic Committee. The drama began during Public Comment, when 12 of 15 speakers addressed the issue. Opposed to removing the signs are a majority of the residents on W Harrison; in favor are the petitioner and many from her large family who have no place to park when they visit. The "No Parking" signs were installed many years ago as one factor in protecting the street from uncontrolled parking by visitors to the Japanese Sauna then at the Woodward end of Harrison. . . . The sauna is long gone, but the signs stayed. . . . The petitioner's situation is made more burdensome by the configuration of her property and an adjoining alley. . . . The neighbors contend she should install another driveway., that her petition is poisoned by the fact that she is thinking of selling the property. . . . The neighbors acknowledge that on those occasions when they have guests there is some parking on the street. . . . She says she has pictures showing cars parked on 40 different days. . . Safety and quality of life dimensions entered the dialogue. . . . Proponents of removing the signs contend that that strip of W Harrison has been improperly converted into a private drive, but must be treated as a public street. The drama resumed at the end of the meeting after six other resolutions proposed by the Traffic Committee had been approved by the commission. Traffic Committee Chairman Michael Melville reminded those commissioners who were concerned at overriding the majority opinion that it often happens that "100% of the residents affected by an intersection" insist that the intersection be fitted with four Stop Signs. But, because there is long-established proof that 4-way stop intersections wouldn't benefit the area, the Traffic Committee rejects the unanimous wishes of the residents. Melville also said that the situation doesn't meet the criteria to justify permit parking. Further dialogue showed that when the clock tower was erected where the sauna had been, all traffic onto Harrison from Woodward was eliminated. The dominant safety concern was whether emergency vehicles can operate if parking is permitted on the south side of Harrison. The City Engineer pointed out that other streets of the same width and with one end closed allow parking on both sides. The Fire Department said it would prefer no parking on Harrison but can comfortably live with parking on the south side. The vote was 4-3 in favor of removing the "No parking" signs. Commissioners Lelito, Miller, and Ellison voted no. [See] Other business conducted
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