Board of Aldermen 2-12-2020 Page 25
| am glad we have non-profits and the charities to work with and collaborate and the City does many things
at once. | think this is a huge opportunity and it could be the cornerstone as Director Cummings said, at
some of the previous meetings, it’s at the 50 yard line of downtown. It’s right where the location should be.
But we need to make sure this project actually moves forward.
President Wilshire
So the Motion is to amend. I’ve been pretty liberal about the discussion on the motion to amend. So
seeing no more discussion on that, roll call please.
A viva voce roll call was taken which resulted as follows:
Yea: Alderman O’Brien, Alderman Klee, Alderwoman Kelly, Alderman Dowd,
Alderman Caron, Alderman Clemons, Alderman Lopez, Alderman Tencza,
Alderman Jette, Alderman Schmidt, Alderman Laws, Alderman Cleaver,
Alderwoman Harriott-Gathright, Alderman Wilshire 14
Nay: Alderwoman Lu, 0
MOTION CARRIED
MOTION BY ALDERMAN SCHMIDT FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-20-001 AS AMENDED BY ROLL
CALL
ON THE QUESTION
Alderman Schmidt
And I'd like to speak to that. | would only like to say one thing, | am getting a lot of messages from people
who are saying, please go ahead with this. What they have been glad about lately is all the information that
they are finally getting. | know when the Committee was working they worked within themselves and you
didn’t hear anything and now we are and thank you. That’s it.
Alderman Tencza
Thank you. So | just want to say too to speak to something Alderman Lopez said before about oversight.
All the work that Alderman Laws has been doing and Alderman Klee and Alderman Kelly and Alderwoman
Melizzi-Golja last term, | don’t think that there hasn’t been oversight. There are people who have been
very, very involved in what is going on. So | think communication is the issue because as you know sitting
on Planning & Economic Development last term, Director Cummings did come and he gave us, told us
what was going on with New Market Tax Credit, how the project was going, we knew that anytime we
asked he would give us all the details. So! hope that this is a lesson for all of us that communication going
forward to be better within the Board.
And then | also just want to say, something that was said earlier today about people supporting the bill, who
will benefit the downtown shop owners. You know downtown shop owners are our small business owners,
it's not easy being a small business owner. Those people work hard, just because they own their business
it doesn’t mean they are, you know, it doesn’t mean they are rich. It makes they are making their way and
they enjoy running their own business. You know, so we need to remember that, they do come out in
support of this because it will benefit them. But those small businesses give the downtown a character that
it has. Any time | travel especially down south and it’s one strip mall after another strip mall and to the next
Chick-fil-A and to the next Chili’s. You realize how much or how special it is in our small town and our
downtown. So yeah they do come out but they are also doing us a service by keeping downtown.
