The Wisconsin State Journal is reporting today that the Joint Finance Committee has voted to kill a six year old program that provides the policy framework and financial aid to help local governments plan where developement should and should not occur.
The Wisconsin State Journal says, " the Joint Finance Committee did not stop with removing funding for the program. Committee members voted to kill the program entirely, indicating that they have looked at a good program and pronounced it bad". You can find the complete article on www. madison.com
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I would call some one other than the local government for a straight answer, seems odd that the Public Hearing for this is not until next month but they have already instituted several of the fantasy findings!
ReplyDeleteThe city already has received a grant for completing the Smart Growth plan, so the action of the legislature has no effect on the city.
ReplyDeleteYes, the city already has started to implement some of the action items in the plan, because they make good sense even if the plan is not adopted.
There, I think I provided accurate facts without calling anyone a name. I wish everyone posting on this site did the same.
Bill Connors
Evansville City Administrator
Has anyone in local government looked into why the Federal Gov. has shut down smart growth? Could it be more than funding. Could it be it was deemd ineffective??Could it be it might be replaced by a better plan? I beleive that before we go touting it's virtues we should know why it is being scrapped. I have not heard of any other community keeping their plan.
ReplyDeleteOnce again we have a case of not being heard.
I do not know why the state legislature's joint finance committee voted to repeal the Smart Growth law. To the best of my knowledge, they did not provide any rationale for that decision (which, by the way, is not binding yet). There have always been some legislators who opposed it because they thought it was an example of state government micro-managing local government (which, from my perspective in local government, is not true). Ironically, most of these legislators also support having the state impose a property tax freeze on local governments, which clearly would be a case of state government micro-managing local government.
ReplyDeleteBill Connors
Evansville City Administrator
I must say that I appreciate Mr. Connors taking the time to answer the questions that are posed to him. I believe there should always be a creative tension between citizens and they're elected officials and staff members.
ReplyDeleteI may not like the answer but I respect some one when they have enough gumption to step up to the plate.
These are not easy issues and the wounds that E Main residents have recieved in the last two years will take a long time to heal.
However it is important that though they may seem like attacks they are not personal.