Finance Meeting

     Last night's finance committee meeting of the city council was an eye opener for me. It is now clear what is driving councilman Bill Dunne's desire to move city hall to the Dauchy Building. He despises Mayor Tutunjian and the current building's landlord Sam Judge. I don't know all the history which has lead to this, but I know it is NOT how you make important public policy decisions. You should never make an important decision driven by emotion- particulary anger. We need sound judgement, common sense and reason as we make important LONG-TERM decisions.
     I remain opposed to the move, while continuing to acknowledge the obvious short term benefit of the move.  The problem I continue to have is two fold: 1) it is not a building built as an office building and will not work well as a city hall. There is no adequate space for a council chambers and I am sensitive to parking concerns area business owners have expressed. 2) The building will experience a significant increase in property value when the $32 million project on the former city hall site a block away is finished in about five years. This valuable piece of real estate MUST stay on the tax roles. Plopping city hall on this stretch of commercially desirable real estate just as it is about to increase in value is short sighted and could cost the taxpayers millions in tax revenue over the next fifty years.
      This is a mistake and trying to shove it down the citizens throat as this council heads out the door is just plain WRONG.
  

Council For Economic Development

  I attended the public meeting hosted by RPI for the Capital Region Economic Development Council Thursday. It is an impressive group of business, academic and political leaders from the 7 county capital region which is preparing a Comprehensive Funding Application seeking money the Governor has made available to the regions  around the state who have the best ideas on how to attract business and people to their area.
  They have a website  www.capitalregionopenforbusiness.com  which has several surveys on it. I encourage everyone to take the surveys which take about ten minutes each. Public input is being sought so please provide it. I took the surveys and they make you think, which is always a good thing.