Council Meeting 10 June

Just a few notes concerning yesterday’s Council meeting.  During the afternoon session a poll was taken of the Council concerning the narrowing of Abrams street.  Throughout this exercise I have noted a definite bias toward narrowing Abrams to three lanes.  It had been stated that the four lane option was going to be the slowest option due to traffic turning without designated left turn lanes.  Sorry but my engineering background simply couldn’t shake this statement because it defies every law of physics known to man.  I simply couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that having a larger aperture would slow down the flow of anything.  Also, when given the presentation, the four lane option was void of any streetscape like the other two options.  Kinda like those commercials that are in black and white until you own the product, then everything is in color.  So I felt that I was being steered into a certain mindset.  I was the only dissenting vote. 

In the evening session, I was also the only dissenting vote concerning extending the Linebarger contract for another three years.  Linebarger has been the company that the city has employed to collect our delinquent taxes for the last six years.  My reasoning was that I felt that a healthy competition was in order combined with an audit of past accounts.  It would give us a clearer picture of the account and its status.  I requested numbers about the Purdue firm but staff did not provide an apple much less an orange to compare the two companies.  Therefore, not having the proper information, I was not in support of extending the contract on the faith of them doing a good job, in the future.

Of the most interest was the issuing of bonds for the new library, Council chamber, and Center St. Bridge.  This was the most important vote of the evening and I think the best utilization of city funds.  You have to remember that the other options were 40 and 30 million dollars to rebuild on the existing property.  This is a twenty million dollar project with a public private building being built on the old site.  This other building will return the property to the city tax rolls also.   For some reason Councilman Rivera abstained from the four votes taken on this subject.  There was also a resolution voted on relating to a public/private interest concering a new building where the old library stands.  I supported all these votes because I feel that it was the best utilization of citizen’s monies and showed fiscal improvement over the other options considered for the new library.

All in all I think it was a good night for the City of Arlington.  Oh, and I was designated as the new Deputy Mayor Pro Tem.  Maybe not a great night for Arlington after all.