HomeMy WebLinkAbout6/1/2017 Item 1, Cooper
Christian, Kevin
From:Allan Cooper <allancoope@gmail.com>
Sent:Wednesday,
To:Harmon, Heidi; Pease, Andy; Rivoire, Dan; Christianson, Carlyn; Gomez, Aaron; E-mail
Council Website
Subject:Preliminary 2017-2019 Financial Plan
To: SLO City Council
Re: $900,000 Appropriation Earmarked For Real Property Acquistion
From: Allan Cooper, San Luis Obispo
Date: May 31, 2017
Honorable Mayor and Council Members -
You and the public have access to a video transcript of the June 14, 2016 Council meeting
when deliberations took place on how to appropriate $6.9 million of ‘excess funds’ and
also a video transcript of the Council’s April 18, 2017 meeting. At the June 14, 2016
Council meeting Assistant City Manager Derek Johnson informed the Council that the
proposed set aside for a North Broad Street Park would inform “…Shelly Stanwyck and
the team managing the funding, that the $900,000 would be set aside for real property
acquisition”. This was followed up by a question from Council member Carpenter who
asked if this “…money in the Parkland Fund would be earmarked for this specific
purpose”. Assistant City Manager Derek Johnson answered, yes, this $900,000 would be
earmarked for this purpose. Based on this clarification, the Council voted 3 to 2 to
appropriate this amount of money for real property acquisition. However, at the April 18,
2017 Council meeting, Council member Pease was incorrectly informed by City Manager
Katie Lichtig that the previous Council made the decision that this $900,000 was
characterized as “…general infrastructure”. City Manager Lichtig went on to
mischaracterize the previous Council’s intentions by saying that any future Council could
have complete flexibility on how to spend these dollars. Then at that same fateful April 18,
2017 Council meeting Mayor Harmon asked if the City had been given direction to go look
for a location for the park. Again, City Manager incorrectly answered that no direction was
given when in fact the City Council had adopted on November 1, 2016 a 2020 Parks and
Recreation Strategic Plan calling for the City “pursue a new park located in the North
Broad Street Neighborhood”.
In conclusion, the North Broad Street Neighborhood is appealing to you to abide by the
previous Council’s decision to allocate the full $900,000 for real property acquisition and
to, per the 2020 Park Recreation Strategic Plan, “insert Parks and Recreation more
actively into the planning process for new neighborhood parks”. Thank you.
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