Besides all the moaning and groaning from a few Board members regarding the very probable loss of money next year, seven items of give-aways were on the Consent Agenda. Yes, I call them give-aways. That is what they are.
I am writing on this again as there is actually one person in this City (and his sidekick from whom I did not hear) who felt that I was not writing fairly as to what happened last night. Gee.
In my opinion, the eradication of slum and blight is the objective of the CRA, not paying for air conditioning units, pavers, irrigation systems, a parking lot repair for a millionaire, etc. All of the Grant programs need to be workshopped and/or eliminated.
If it were not for the fact that one Board member pulled two of the items for discussion, all of them would have passed, in a flash, just like snapping your fingers. And that would have meant another $22,619.82 (the Board voted to table it) on top of the $71 thousand they approved. They will now revisit the property at 501 S. B St at its next scheduled meeting and make a decision. The Chair gave all of the members an opportunity to pull more. They did not.
One item was pulled from Consent because the owner needed to make a change on her application. This we will see again at the next Board meeting.
I would have liked to have heard discussion on all of them. This was not to be and the Board approved four items with no discussion. These items totaled $71,286 which included the one at 119 S. J St that was discussed where the owner wanted energy efficient windows and a new roof—
Wish list fulfilled.
