{"id":2084,"date":"2019-08-29T09:28:35","date_gmt":"2019-08-29T14:28:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/truthinaddison.com\/?page_id=2084"},"modified":"2019-08-29T09:34:46","modified_gmt":"2019-08-29T14:34:46","slug":"good-government-listens","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/truthinaddison.com\/?page_id=2084","title":{"rendered":"Good Government LISTENS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Good Government LISTENS
That\u2019s The Addison Way
By Susan M. Halpern
Former Addison Councilmember (1992-1999)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not easy being a negative\nand a naysayer these days in Addison.  Efforts\nto stir people up by creating false issues and attacking the current Council\ncontinue to fall flat.  No matter how\nhard the negatives try to convince people otherwise, Addison residents\nrecognize this TRUTH: They have elected seven councilmembers who LISTEN.  Seven people who are earnestly committed to a\npositive deliberative process, with no hidden agendas and no thirst for\nattention or power.  A Council working\nhard to do the right thing.  As a result,\nAddison is restoring its reputation and aims to again become the gold standard for\ncities in North Texas.  Claims of the negatives\nand naysayers that the sky is falling are simply not supported by the facts.\nIndeed, the negatives\u2019 model of in-your-face government is a quickly fading sight\nin Addison\u2019s rear-view mirror.  As it\nshould be.  We\u2019re moving on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the negatives and naysayers\npersist, most recently launching a two-pronged attack with unfounded claims\nthat the current Council doesn\u2019t listen to its citizens.  First up was the Village on the Parkway\u2019s request\nfor rezoning to a multi-use development, which would include hundreds of new luxury\napartments.  Oaks North residents\nbristled at the suggestion that their neighborhood needed \u201cconnectivity\u201d with\nthe Village on the Parkway, and they resoundingly opposed new apartments in\ntheir back yard.  They worried about likely\nincreases in traffic, particularly if their neighborhood was connected to the\nproposed development.  On this point, the\ndeveloper brought a traffic engineer who predictably opined about the\nnegligible impact hundreds of new apartments would have on traffic, a conclusion\nthat defied credulity.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The protests were very familiar\nto those of us who opposed the Addison Grove development.  We, too, worried about traffic.  And, we noticed that the traffic engineer\nhired by Village on the Parkway was the very same guy who reached the very same\nridiculous conclusion regarding Addison Grove. \nImagine that.  We, too, did not\nwant \u201cconnectivity\u201d with Belt Line Road, a noisy, crowded east-west\nthoroughfare.  Nor did we want apartments\nat the end of our block.  And, of course,\nAddison Grove was also pitched as a \u201cmixed use\u201d development, but the reality is\nthat retail will comprise about 3% of the total square footage.  Sound \u201cmixed\u201d to you?  All of which is before you get to the\nstaggering $6.5 million of our tax money that the toxic ex-mayor\u2019s council gave\naway to this development, and the inexplicable decision to pay that out of\ncurrent budgets instead of floating bonds or certificates of obligation that\nwould more appropriately share the burden with future residents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addison Grove taught us lots\nabout a government that refused to listen to its citizens.  The toxic ex-mayor and his cadre certainly\ndidn\u2019t listen to us.  After weeks of\nprotests, emails, and countless speakers voicing opposition at multiple\nmeetings, the chosen captive councilmember literally turned the page on a notepad\nand read a pre-prepared motion to approve the project.  Our input didn\u2019t matter for one moment.  The decision was preordained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as the negatives are fond of\nsaying, that was then and this is now.  On\nAugust 20, 2019, Addison\u2019s Planning and Zoning Commission denied Village on the\nParkway\u2019s rezoning request. \nUNANIMOUSLY.  7-0.  That means that the developer must have 6-1\nsupport from a Council that listens, and that appointed P&Z Commissioners\nwho listened.  And that seems unlikely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That brings me to the second\nprong of the negatives\u2019 latest missive, this one regarding Addison\u2019s budget.  Here, they observe that at the Council\u2019s\nAugust 16, 2019 work session, Mayor Joe Chow sought consensus from the Council\nregarding the tax rate.  The negatives\u2019\ndesignated bloggers claim that this was an \u201cunusual demand\u201d and that Mayor Chow\n\u201cforced commitment\u201d from the other councilmembers, neither of which is true.  Nonetheless, the bloggers concluded \u2013 sort of\n\u2013 that this appeared to be improper, \u201cif not illegal.\u201d Except that it wasn\u2019t a\nconclusion and it wasn\u2019t theirs. It was innuendo, and it was based on what they\n\u201cheard\u201d from \u201csome who watched the session.\u201d \nIt\u2019s hard to unpack all that, but it appears that the bloggers were told\nwhat to say.  By someone unnamed.  It\u2019s the \u201cpeople have been saying\u201d nonsense\nagain.  You just can\u2019t make it up. And\nyou sure can\u2019t rely on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This effort to misinform and\ninflame is absurd, ridiculous and irresponsible.  But let\u2019s briefly tackle the substance,\nbecause brief is all we need to debunk such baloney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, I watched the Council\u2019s\nAugust 16th<\/sup> budget work session. \nIt was an ordinary part of Addison\u2019s annual budget process.  During budget work sessions, the Council\nprovides guidance regarding expectations and priorities for the upcoming\nyear.  That allows the City Manager to\nshape and propose a budget, which the Council then reviews and discusses.  The process is fluid, and continues as\nnecessary until the Council becomes satisfied that the proposed budget\nresponsibly meets Addison\u2019s needs and challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, part of the budget\nprocess is analyzing Addison\u2019s tax base (property value) and the tax rate.  The combination of these two figures allows\nthe Council to consider available revenue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third, before adopting the\nbudget, Addison must hold two public hearings on the tax rate proposed for the\nupcoming budget year.  This is simple\nlogic and common sense: To hold public hearings on a proposed tax rate, a tax\nrate must be proposed.  And it should\nreflect the consensus of the Council. \nThat\u2019s how the process works and moves along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of which confirms that Mayor\nJoe Chow did what he was supposed to do at the August 16th<\/sup> work\nsession.  Addison was required to\npublicly propose a tax rate, and the tax rate proposed was based on an informal\nconsensus of the Council.  There was no\n\u201cdemand\u201d or \u201cforced commitment\u201d on anyone\u2019s part, nor did anything\ninappropriate or illegal occur.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first public hearing on the\ntax rate was August 27, 2019, and the second is scheduled after the Labor Day\nholiday.  Once those hearings are\nconcluded, the Council will deliberate further as necessary regarding the\nbudget and the tax rate, neither of which will be final until the budget is\nadopted by vote of the Council.  And,\nthis Council has demonstrated that it LISTENS, so if you have input, please\npass it along or attend the next meeting. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, I think Addison is a\nbeautiful place with extraordinary amenities and wonderful neighbors.  I want Addison to move forward and strive for\nexcellence.  I want it to again be the\ngold standard it was when I was on the Council. \nAnd I\u2019m willing to pay my share of taxes to support these goals.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have come a long way.  The Addison Way is back, and I look forward\nto seeing where it carries Addison next. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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