We’re in This Together: Let’s Wrap It Up

Recap:

Issue 9: Article about potential reasons to not always trust Town Council’s ability to do what is best for Springdale, giving ten reasons for that uncertainty

Issue 10: addressed Item 1

Issue 11, addressed item 2:

Issue 12, addressed items 5, 6, and 7

Issue 13, addressed item 9

Issue 14, this issue, the rest of them, 3,4,8,10

Those ten aforementioned reasons were:

1. Workforce housing overlay zone 2. The land-swap proposal for a medical clinic that risked too much of Springdale’s character. 3. The uncertain results of the Red Hawk housing agreement with Stew Ferber. 4. A $1.4 million land purchase. 5. The overpayment for land adjacent to Barker Park. 6. Efforts to “upgrade” Barker Park which would increase its attractiveness to tourists to the detriment of locals. 7. A failed museum proposal that threatened the Barker Park as a local amenity. 8. The questionable handling of what became Town Plaza. 9. Many situations which lacked transparency. 10. “Not-in-my-backyard” inconsistency.

Number 3: The agreement with Stew Ferber was basically intended to increase workforce housing. Roadblocks to this worthy goal, the process of which was imperfectly and incompletely thought out, have been many. At some point an article detailing these roadblocks would be helpful, but, for this discussion, unnecessarily cumbersome. Just know, workforce housing has yet to be realized from this agreement. Hopefully, it may yet materialize and the knowledge acquired from this arduous situation will make similar deals with developers more friendly to the town and the furtherance of its goals. Maybe the real lesson is: don’t make deals with developers.

Number 4: Land was purchased for a new (unessential) town hall, a bigger, better medical center with no stated assurance about its need or that the rent could justify its cost, and a fancier (unnecessary) post office. The land was purchased with funds from floating a bond, so the 1.4 million dollar price tag will in actuality be far greater than that.

Number 8: The land, and the historical structure thereon, where the Town Plaza now sits, was intended for a historical center. Though many unforeseen problems arose (mostly in regards to the viability of the structure due to termites and other fatal issues incident to age), there was still hope that another structure could be built there to house the center. But then it wasn’t, due to lack of parking. The parking situation had not changed since the idea was initially launched so either there was insufficient foresight given to choosing this location in the first place or a deal to share parking was never gotten in writing and failed to materialize. Hopefully, good lessons learned there. Though it is called a Town Plaza, its value to the town remains to be seen, but it is clearly a good amenity for tourists.

Number 10: Really, just one glaring instance: Mayor Bruno voted for increased housing density twice when it applied to other neighborhoods but not when it would apply to hers. I’m sure she could verbalize a reasonable justification, but, her votes speak loudly.

I am very sympathetic to most of these issues (well, not number 10 or number 1). As has been pointed out, Town Council consists of 5 caring individuals who are NOT professionals at this. Make no mistake, however, they did spend time and money to encourage us to vote for them, assuring us of their competence. We did not ask them to do that. They put themselves out there and four of them are right now telling us how they deserve your vote again. We should be both grateful and open-eyed.

In aggregate, (and there are more issues than those enumerated), this list means that if we care, we should be careful. We should pay attention. 100 heads are better than 5. Town Council should remain open to the idea that they can be wrong, that they need us as much as we need them. We owe them respect and gratitude for the time and effort they put in, and it is considerable. But that should be matched by their respect and gratitude for us whose lives they affect and whose votes they curry. It so often feels like it’s us vs them; it should always feel like we’re in this together. Because we are.