ON THE ISSUES...

Highway 40/I-64:

As a member of the Richmond Heights City Council's transportation subcommittee, I worked vigorously to reduce the impact of the I-64 project upon District 3, as well as the entire city. MODOT's original plans called for the complete destruction of several homes and the partial taking of many many more. I supported the City's filing of a lawsuit against MODOT for its taking of historical homes and am thrilled that we were able to reduce the complete takings to three homes and significantly diminish the state's partial takings.

Hadley Neighborhood Redevelopment:

Although this redevelopment is not within District 3's borders, it has significant impact upon all Richmond Heights residents. As taxpayers, residents are effectively financing some of the project via the Tax Increment Financing (or TIF). Also, such a large-scale redevelopment affects the cultural and economic diversity of our city. Because this is such a significant issue, I have created its own page on my website.

Economic/Budget Issues :

Current projections indicate that Richmond Heights will face significant challenges in the coming years to maintain our high level of services WITHOUT RAISING TAXES. Since my election to the Council, I have worked with staff so that councilmembers receive regular budget reports, something that had not been done in the past. Councilmembers must keep abreast of our revenue projections and realization, and act accordingly. It is very important that the city continue to work in partnership with our neighbors to improve efficiency and decrease costs. This does not mean merging with another city - it means working together to get the most for your tax dollars. PARC and the dispatch center are two examples of partnering that works.

Expansion of Public Safety Center :

At the time our Public Safety Center (i.e. police and fire station) was built, our officers voiced concern over having a "sally port", which is a sort of enclosed garage to move detainees from vehicles to the building. At that time, which was before I was on the Council, the property to the east was not available for purchase and the City (rightfully so) was not willing to use eminent domain to take the homes. Last year, three homes to the east of the station did become available for purchase. A motion was made to purchase all three properties in order to build a sally port and expand parking at the site. Because of my concerns about demoloshing homes for parking, I made an amendment to the motion to purchase only the property necessary to build the sally port, and a few additional spaces. Unfortunately, my amendment did not pass and I ultimately voted in favor of the purchase of all three properties.

I cast my vote in favor of this for two reasons. The first is that I agreed with Chief Vilcek and his officers that a sally port was necessary to further protect our officers and residents, and knew that if we did not purchase that property now, it was not likely to ever become available again. The second is that the lack of City Hall parking created a double standard in the parking code which created parking problems in the residential areas near the Center, particularly on Silverton. It did not seem fair to me that the City have stringent requirements that a business have a certain amount of parking per use/square foot, but the city did not impose the same standards upon itself. In other words, if we protect our residents from parking encroachment by local businesses, City Hall should have to provide the same protections. Although I am saddened by the loss of homes and concerned about the costs, I believe our residents will be safer with a sally port and happier that their streets are not over-parked when the City Hall/Public Safety Complex has well-attended functions.

01/01/09 UPDATE on Public Safety Building. Although the City purchased these properties some months ago, they still remain, there has been no expansion of the parking facilities and, more importantly, a sally port has not been built. From my perspective, the reason is simple: we don't have the funds in our budget. The major changes that affect this are the downturn in the economy and the failure of the Hadley project to move forward and generate capital improvement funds from the sale of the northern parcel. I will update the website as more information is obtained.

Truck Parking :

Since my election to the Council, one of the most asked about issues is truck parking. I am regularly contacted by residents on both sides of this issue. I support the council's recent ordinance change that clarifies the definition of truck. I also recognize that some of the logic behind the ordinance may be faulty, in that parking a small open-bed pickup for more than one hour is not allowed, while some very large vehicles - such as cargo vans - may do so without being ticketed.

In November 2008, Richmond Heights voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure asking if the council should allow limited on-street truck parking. I am optimistic that the council will get an ordinance in place in January 2009. See Current Votes for more information.

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