Paul Walden, Addison City Council, Post (Facebook)

Paul Walden, Addison City Council, Post (Facebook)

September 26, 2016

When the prior council approved the ill-conceived Addison Groves redevelopment, they included a restriction prohibiting Section 8 low income housing. MAYOR MEIER HAD TO KNOW THAT THIS WOULD NEVER BE ENFORCEABLE. I believe it was included simply to try to placate the many homeowners whose legitimate concerns with this development were ignored. Recently a public interest group from outside Addison raised concern about this restrictive clause in the development agreement. So, we reconsidered the issue. And, by a 6-1 vote, with Meier voting against it, we remedied what should never have been included in the first place.

I was against Addison Groves. I still question a process that concealed from the public the intent to pay $6.5 million of Addison money to make it happen. And I’ve now lived through the budget process and I’ve seen how the strange decision to pay this amount out of our maintenance and operations budget impacted the budget process and the taxes we must now collect in order to move forward in a responsible manner. But then, Meier voted against the budget, too.

By the way, we did add to the Addison Groves deal a mandate for the apartment operator to perform a criminal background check, income verification and credit checks on prospective residents prior to execution of a lease. This is standard practice of all top tier apartment operators and, unlike what the prior council did, does not run afoul of Federal law.

I also find it quite ironic and disingenuous that a political blogger loyal to the Mayor was a signatory on a petition that I circulated opposing the Addison Groves development, but yet would have everyone believe that the prior council did a great job on this issue.

If anyone has any additional questions regarding this matter please feel free to reach out to me.