The Neighborhood News Online

If You Call, Will He Be There?

Details

Category: Eye On Wesson

Published on Tuesday, 06 October 2009 09:12

Written by Dianne Lawrence

In an effort to rectify the chill that has set in between his office and some of District 10’s Neighborhood Councils (NC’s), Councilman Wesson has agreed to meet with individual councils for some fence mending. While his offer to provide food has been gladly accepted by some, Mid City Neighborhood Council (MINC) preferred to meet in a more business like setting to stay focused on the meetings purpose; ask questions, get answers. Councilman Wesson showed up with a strong contingent from his office but bravely faced the fairly friendly MINC Board alone.

He began with the admission that his efforts to stay connected with the Neighborhood Councils by providing dinner and a chat twice a year wasn’t as effective as he hoped it would be. He claimed he wanted to get better input and thoughts from the Councils but also warned at the end of the day the decisions were his to make. President Allan DiCastro read from a list of 5 submitted questions and the

floor was then open to questions. One question wondered if there was a way for the Council Office to provide space in his glossy report “Eye on the 10th”, to allow Neighborhood Councils to present their activities or accomplishments. Councilman Wesson replied that he looked forward to finding a way to do so. Was there a way for his office to make more information available regarding his positions on local issues and concerns? He said he was looking at ways to do this. Somebody brought up the fact that the purpose of the NC’s was to work in partnership with the Council Office, but it did not seem to be happening. Councilman Wesson said he was searching for a mechanism that would facilitate this.  Allan mentioned that the Neighborhood Councils were that mechanism. Coucilman Wesson  suggested they come up with some process, perhaps specific scheduled meetings and encouraged MINC to come up with ideas.  He was asked what residents should do when questions about his decisions impacting our communities…were met with silence from the Council Office. The Councilman asked for an example and was told that questions regarding the design decisions for the tree cages on Washington Blvd. were never answered. Councilman Wesson said that information should have been forthcoming but continued his response by discussing the barriers in Western Heights (he has instructed his office to respond to any inquiries about the barriers by saying “The Councilman has already made his decisions known”). Chairman Allan interjected making the point that this was an issue affecting a community outside of MINC’s boundaries and didn’t want it discussed at their meeting but did emphasize that the issue of the Council Office refusing to answer questions about any of their activities was a concern to all communities.  Councilman Wesson generously stayed until all concerns and questions were addressed.  At the end he promised to set up an email address that would serve the purpose of allowing the NC members to contact him directly, these emails would be answered within 48 hours and Councilman Wesson’s personal cell phone number would be made available to all Neighborhood Council Presidents. We will keep you informed and let you know if and when any of these actions are implemented.
contact for Councilman Wesson:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Share

Tweet

• < Prev
• Next >