Board of Aldermen 2-06-2020 Page 18
Everybody that | talk to, the nice questions that | heard from Alderman Jette, what have we raised at this point?
I’m hearing strategic plan, that we can’t do it, I’m hearing all types of things, but when a big donation such as
the $250,000.00 comes out, that’s quickly acknowledged or the $100,000.00. What else? Are we at
$250,000.00 if we meet a requirement but if you don’t meet that requirement that’s gone? Where are we at?
You are the Aldermen, you are the elected officials that we trust with our purse. You are the people who are
going to put us in this $15 million dollar bond. | am standing here today as one of the largest or as a
representative of one of the largest investors in this project, a taxpayer, $15 million dollars. We deserve to
know, we deserve to know if this is viable, if people are actually contributing. We are being told that it is on-
going and it is moving fast forward and all that, but that’s not what we are seeing, we are not seeing that.
And the math that I’m talking about basically is change of rules plus lack of transparency equals distrust in
Government. And I’ve got to tell you at this point, | really don’t trust what | am seeing until | can see some
numbers. | can have my mind changes, I’ve always been open minded on everything, but | need to see some
numbers, | need to see something. And as an Alderman, when | was sitting in the Ward 5 chair, there’s no way
| would have approved $15 million, $5 million dollars, or even $10.00 without having the facts before me.
Thank you.
Laurie Ortolano 41 Berkeley Street. | think my issue here is similar to the gentleman who just spoke. | think it
is about public trust and transparency. Mr. Clemons brought up the issue which is appreciated but he put it in
terms of “people are curious”. | can tell you my questions were not because | was curious, they were because |
wanted to do a reality check and that’s different. And | do respect that you want to maintain confidentiality, but |
think that there’s got to be a better balance between confidentiality and transparency and public trust. | wrote
my initial question to Mr. Cummings just out of curiosity because | knew this was happening, where can | find
out the money raised? | got the shortest answer, contact you, but by name, the Capital Campaign Person, I’m
no longer involved. | didn’t get a name of a phone number. | didn’t even know who that was. Then there were
other postings on social media on this page where another woman went out and she got a better response.
| think you should have had a better response, the City knowing this was happening. People were going to ask,
| asked. | sent an e-mail out to all of you because | figured you’re coming in here, you guys must know. And |
only got one response from an Alderwoman. So you know, | yeah, | think it is important that we have a different
level of transparency and my concern here is just with the total package, not just this extension. But | happen to
think the New Market Tax Credit, | studied that extensively, that’s a longshot. And | am concerned that we can’t
pull the whole thing off. And | don’t know that | believe that the total cost of $23.8 is fixed, the more time we
take, the higher the costs go. | think when you get into dirt costs and you start digging, you can see some
really big run ups and that’s concerning to me.
| believe your campaign is going well and you believe your campaign is going well, let’s face it the market last
year was hot, the investment market. Last year was a great year for people to come out and donate money. So
you don’t get a lot of years like we had last year; I’d love another one this year. | hope it is that was for us
again, because it would be wonderful from a donating standpoint. But last year was the year to really rip down
some private donations because the market was so good. I’m concerned that we still don’t have enough. The
$294,000.00 that come from the State Credit Program, do we know how many people bought into that
$294,000.00? You know that was a fixed program that went out and people could buy into that, and it was all
done; do we know how many bought into it?
Chairman Dowd
Your time is up, but if you have a question?
Ms. Ortolano | just asked it.
Chairman Dowd
Mr. Cummings, do you have an answer.
