The public hearing for the Downtown Improvement District was held tonight as part of the regular Selectboard Meeting. Speakers were split between those strongly in favor of the DID and BABB (mostly founders and former board members) and those still raising issues about fairness, representation, and gentrification. While the ordinance’s passage was never in doubt — it passed 4-zip with Greg abstaining — there was some interesting discussion during the hearing itself and surrounding the amendment process afterward.
First came the public hearing. During this part of the meeting, people from the audience were allowed to talk. Donna Simons, owner of Candle In The Night, addressed complaints that BABB was not open to public participation. She said that in her opinion, as a founding member, BABB is a very open organization. She acknowledged ‘missteps’ but said that without the special tax assessment, BABB would go bankrupt. In her informal survey of downtown property owners, she said, not one had received questions or complaints from tenants worried about their rents going up. Obviously, no one cares, was her implication.
Donna went on to say that as the sole funders of the DID, the property owners should have the most say in how BABB is run. The people who pay the money should have the right to determine how the money will be spent, she said. That way, as long as the property owners act in their own best interest, everyone will benefit.
Bubbling through the formalities was the issue of the amendments. There were three, until Art Scott of Marlboro College reminded the Board that there had been a fourth — the one filed by Marlboro College pertaining to an exemption for space used by non-profit educational institutions. As it turned out, no one on the Selectboard or in town government seemed to remember the amendment submitted by Marlboro College (although copies were handed out to all at the meeting where it was introduced a few weeks ago). This reporter is not clear on whether the Selectboard considered the Marlboro amendment at all.
There were three amendments that the Board was prepared to consider, two of them proposed by BABB and one by Byron Stookey. Byron’s amendment, which guaranteed a membership in BABB for each non-profit organization serving downtown, passed. A second amendment, which raised the membership cost limit for BABB to $100 while dropping the minimum to $10 for Section 8 tenants, also passed. A third amendment, drafted by BABB which would have made BABB the sole evaluator of its own performance, superceding the influence of the Selectboard, did not pass. Steve Steidle, in a rare break from the DID/BABB party line, stated publicly that he did not support taking the Selectboard out of BABB’s evaluation process, and the amendment was not accepted.
However, the ordinance as amended is a done deal. The final step for the DID is July 7, when Town Meeting reps will vote to approve BABB’s budget for the coming year.
In News From Jerry, the new assessment notices will go out from the Lister’s Office on June 14, 2005, in case anyone’s looking forward to that. And the town’s performance in a recent four-state Nuclear Emergency drill simulating a release of a nuclear plume and the evacuation of two towns (I wonder which ones?) was satisfactory but has yet to be graded by FEMA.
Spoon reminded us that the Putney Road Master Plan is very ambitious and even radical, and suggested that the Selectboard study the growth issues the plan raises (30-50,000 over 50 years). Jerry said that the Selectboard and the Planning Commission could have a joint meeting, and it sounded like Spoon would push for that.
Spoon also brought up the GenPower Incinerator meeting which he attended, stressing that nothing is decided yet as far as that plant is concerned. Audrey Garfield, during Citizen Participation, invited the public as well as the Selectboard to attend an information meeting about the proposed incinerator project to be held on Wed, June 15 from 6:30 - 8:30 pm.