Neil Bauman Blog Post 6/20/09
Hello All,
The continued battle for fiscal sanity took another turn for the good guys last Thursday afternoon at City Hall. I had the extreme pleasure of watching the RGRTA’s team squirm and fidget, and exchange troubled looks at each other at their first presentation to the Rochester City Council. This was the first meeting, public or private, where the “fix” wasn’t already in! That is right folks, they got some questions that had everybody on the Ren team speechless. For me, it was, well, indescribably wonderful. When the RGRTA team spoke of their very tight timetables, and said the Council “has to” do this and that by certain dates, the Council’s reaction was fantastic! RGRTA seemed shocked when members of the Council told them that their timetable was not the Council’s problem. Finally the Ren team is in front of a group of people who are NOT in the tank for them. Adam McFadden told them they need to start asking the FTA [federal transport authority], for more time. They also told the RGRTA team that they will be hearing from me and other potential private developers, etc, in the same format of a special session. That means that no little lackeys for the Ren team will be yanking my microphone out of my hands after three minutes. Most important is they seem to be honest and forthright. No more false promises of meetings that never take place. No more secret agendas. I will be given the same opportunity as the RGRTA. In my opinion, it is over! If I am really allowed to present my complete plan to an unbiased City Council, and it seems that is the case, the PAC component is doomed. We will have a vibrant and successful downtown in my lifetime.
Unlike the Mayor, and the County Manager, this City Council seems to be fair and unbiased. They also seem to be genuinely interested in doing the best thing for the City and downtown. That is all I ever asked from anybody. Interestingly, the Council asked for exactly what I asked from the County Manager several months ago. The Council told the RGRTA team that they wanted a timetable of exactly when the PAC funds would be raised. If the funds were not raised in the agreed upon time, the properties would be returned to the City. They agreed to that at the meeting. I asked for, and was verbally given that same thing from the County Executive at a private meeting. As a matter of fact, when I suggested a 18 month timetable, Maggie herself instructed the county attorney, who was sitting at the table, to think of something like a right of first refusal, etc. When we asked for verification in writing of those action items that stemmed from a meeting that Maggie had asked for, I got the usual BS, and once again was being “played” by the RenSquare team. At my meeting with Maggie, I was willing to stand down from my efforts of blocking their eminent domain proceeding. They just basically tried to deceive me and keep me engaged while they did the bums rush with their public hearing. If that got through, without objection, we would be finished. Fortunately, their plan did not work. I made my legal objection on April 14. That legal objection set the stage for the Mayor’s legal objection. Thanks to my legal teams research, the Mayor suddenly broke from the evil empire, and supported my plan. He didn’t even thank me for providing him with his current course of action. I forgive him. Obviously, the Mayor has his own agendas. Heaven only knows what those agendas are. Although what he did to Maggie ultimately helped my cause, it does not change his behavior. I would certainly not want to be a partner with the Mayor. After all, how would I know if he was REALLY my partner. I think not.
My agenda has never changed. It never will. I should hopefully have a date for my special session with the City Council this upcoming week. After watching the City Council in action, I have renewed hope that we will soon have the best possible alternative for the people of Rochester coming to Main and Clinton. Talk soon.
Neil
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