01-10-11 Common Council Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING JANUARY 10, 2011 REQUEST TO PUT ON COUNCIL AGENDA FOR JANUARY 24, 2011 MCCORMICK TAX ABATEMENT (2 CONFIRMING RESOLUTIONS) TO BE PUT ON THE COUNCIL AGENDA FOR JANUARY 24, 2011 Councilmember Oliver Davis made a motion to set two (2) confirming tax abatements for McCormick on January 24, 2011 and send to the Community and Economic Development Committee. Councilmember Puzzello seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of nine (9) ayes. NEW BUSINESS Councilmember Henry Davis, Jr. explained his nay vote regarding Bill No. 04-11 appropriating $60,000 for the removal of two underground storage tanks at Century Center and for Frederickson Park Remediation because there has been no progress at LaSalle Square. He stated that there are tanks that need to be removed from the former Bendix site and that money keeps being appropriate to other projects and nothing has been done at LaSalle Square. He noted that there was $2.5 million dollars that was to be dedicated to LaSalle Square project and this is why he voted nay. Councilmember Henry Davis, Jr. stated that he has received over 100 messages via his facebook and twitter accounts with comments regarding the inconsistency of snow removal between the various districts of the city. He noted that it was a record amount of snow fall in one given time period; however, there were many inconsistency of how snow was being plowed in the various districts. He stated that he drove from one of his district to the other and then drove over to the 5th District and then over to the 4th District and he saw many inconsistencies on how the street were being plowed from one district to another. He stated that just today when he drove over the Meade Street tracks it was like a skating rink. He stated that he understands that a truck got stuck on a set of tracks today, he wasn't sure of the location, but bet it was because of the amount of snow that was still there. He stated that he spoke with Gary Gilot, Director of Public Works just yesterday regarding the CSO Project at Kennedy Park and how the streets were shortened and narrowed by the project and some streets were made dead end streets and they put bump outs on some of the intersections and because of all of this these streets cannot be plowed the way they are supposed to be. He stated that these are some of the issues in the 2"d District and what he is saying is that it is very difficult to serve the constituents of the city when the Council puts themselves in such predicaments like this. He stated that when talking with Mr. Gilot he asked to ride around with one of the street department workers, because he doesn't really know what their job is. He stated that he is not a street department worker and is still waiting for that phone call to ride around with either a street department worker or a supervisor to see what is going on and see how difficult the job may be. He stated that he doesn't know what a firefighter does so it may be a chance for him to experience the hardships of what it takes to be plow a particular area or not. He stated that he is putting these things out there because they need to be taken care of He stated that LaSalle Square is in its eleventh year of nothing being done out there and now this snowplowing thing. Councilmember Oliver Davis advised that he would like to have a report from Mr. Gilot under Item #6 Reports of City Offices regarding snow removal at the next meeting of the Council, January 24, 2011. Councilmember White asked if the Council could get an update on the issue at LaSalle Square. Councilmember Rouse asked if there was a neighborhood plan for the LaSalle Square neighborhood. Councilmember Henry Davis, Jr. stated yes. 18