the staff at the city does not have this mentality, because it is absolutely foreign to them. that doesn’t make them evil, anymore than i could be expected to carry on a conversation in japanese. it’s just not how they have lived their lives, and is a very different and foreign culture to them. while i agree that we should make our voices heard, we will get much further if we can engage them in a positive manner rather than if they feel as though they are being attacked.

“the power broker”, by robert caro, is a fastinating read. bob moses loved automobiles (a new thing in his day), and wanted a modern city to be accessible to cars. the problem new york (and virtually every other city) found was that when you build a facility that is attractive to automobiles, YOU WILL GET THEM. unfortunately, no matter how many new highways moses would build, they would never alleviate the problem of car traffic. that is because when you build it, they will use it.

on the other hand, build a city that is truly pedestrian friendly, and you will have pedestrians. cities exist to accumulate people. wherever you have crowds, you will have traffic problems. this is a good problem to have! it’s just like taxes. we hate to pay them, but when you owe taxes it’s because you are making money.

i hope blair’s proposal does not die. it looks like a really good idea.

Also, they keep using revenue shortfalls as an excuse yet in their own presentation to the council last week, they state the original budget was $147 million and they are now showing it at $154 million.

Simply put, it looks they are planning to be at least 50% over budget and will be delivering just over half was promised when these tax dollars were agreed to be diverted via the Devon TIF.