Peanut Gallery (One on one with The Duane)

I’m interested to see more of the details of the Hagadone’s proposal for Sherman Avenue before getting too worked up about the project.

However, I am once again disgusted by our mayor’s and city council’s disdain and disregard for the purpose and integrity of the public hearing/public meeting process. Though Haga-Press editor Mike Patrick didn’t mention it in the article he penned, Erica Curless from the Spokesman-Review said, “Hagadone spent the day meeting individually with each of the City Council members, the mayor and other community leaders. None of the city officials wanted to comment on Hagadone’s proposal until he made the formal announcement.”

While the elected officials’ meetings with him may not have violated the state’s open meeting law, they diminish the value of any public comment when and if this is discussed at the city council meeting. Why should the public even bother preparing their five-minute statements when we now know the mayor and city council are willing to listen to a proponent in private for a much greater length of time? We have no way of knowing what pressures may have been brought to bear on them in order to get their cooperation. While the letter of the public meeting law may (I emphasize “may”) not have been violated, its spirit most certainly was.

Bill McCrory
Coeur d’Alene