Fresh Air, New Hope

The City's Pulse Issue #5 April 2007 by Mary Souza
Fresh Air, New Hope (newsprint title: LCDC says it wants to be transparent...we'll see) It's not just Spring in the air. What's that scent? Is the door opening just a crack... is that the lovely smell of transparency wafting in? When I started writing this column a month ago, my goal was to keep a finger on the pulse of important issues here in Coeur d'Alene. We've been discussing our urban renewal agency, LCDC, for the past few weeks, and now the winds of change may be starting to blow. Late last week, our Mayor and City Council met with LCDC in a televised public relations piece on Channel 19, our local government access channel. Sure it was an infomercial for LCDC. Sure there were no hardball questions, but at least LCDC, as a group, was finally in the public eye. That brings a whiff of hope! And the Chairperson of LCDC, Charlie Nipp, asked for our help. Charlie said "We are as transparent as we possibly can be. We don't know how to be more transparent.” He went on to invite the public to offer ideas. That's a great opportunity for participation. Charlie may sincerely think LCDC is already transparent. Let's see, its meetings are held at 3:00 p.m. on a weekday. That makes it pretty tough for working folks to attend. LCDC meetings are not on TV. Its meeting minutes, while available online (good), are lacking in description or detail (not good). LCDC uses incredibly complex terms to describe their methods of operation and financing: OPA? DDA? Increment? LCDC is so deficient in transparency that it has no consistent method for making its project approvals or denials. As well, these important decisions are made behind closed doors in Executive Session. The essential conflict of interest disclosures for individual board members, required by state law "immediately" after LCDC formed in 1997, were not filled out until November 2006 when a citizen requested a copy. LCDC is so non-transparent that one CdA City Councilman has said state legislators don't even understand what LCDC does. Sadly, even some of our City Council members don't seem to understand how this city's urban renewal board actually works, and the City Council is in charge of public oversight. So, yes, Mr. Nipp, we, the public, would love to give you some ideas about transparency. Thanks for asking. You handle millions of dollars of taxpayer money. You make critical decisions about growth that will affect Coeur d'Alene for generations to come. With your new interest in transparency, we can all catch that sweet scent of hope in the air. Let's have an open conversation about this issue. Please join us for the public forum on urban renewal at the CdA Senior Center on Monday, April 9, 2007 at 6:30pm. The winds of change can bring a positive outlook for our great community.

Fresh Air, New Hope
(newsprint title: LCDC says it wants to be transparent...we'll see)

It's not just Spring in the air. What's that scent? Is the door opening just a crack... is that the lovely smell of transparency wafting in?

When I started writing this column a month ago, my goal was to keep a finger on the pulse of important issues here in Coeur d'Alene. We've been discussing our urban renewal agency, LCDC, for the past few weeks, and now the winds of change may be starting to blow.

Late last week, our Mayor and City Council met with LCDC in a televised public relations piece on Channel 19, our local government access channel. Sure it was an infomercial for LCDC. Sure there were no hardball questions, but at least LCDC, as a group, was finally in the public eye. That brings a whiff of hope! And the Chairperson of LCDC, Charlie Nipp, asked for our help.

Charlie said "We are as transparent as we possibly can be. We don't know how to be more transparent.” He went on to invite the public to offer ideas. That's a great opportunity for participation.

Charlie may sincerely think LCDC is already transparent. Let's see, its meetings are held at 3:00 p.m. on a weekday. That makes it pretty tough for working folks to attend. LCDC meetings are not on TV. Its meeting minutes, while available online (good), are lacking in description or detail (not good). LCDC uses incredibly complex terms to describe their methods of operation and financing: OPA? DDA? Increment? LCDC is so deficient in transparency that it has no consistent method for making its project approvals or denials. As well, these important decisions are made behind closed doors in Executive Session. The essential conflict of interest disclosures for individual board members, required by state law "immediately" after LCDC formed in 1997, were not filled out until November 2006 when a citizen requested a copy. LCDC is so non-transparent that one CdA City Councilman has said state legislators don't even understand what LCDC does. Sadly, even some of our City Council members don't seem to understand how this city's urban renewal board actually works, and the City Council is in charge of public oversight.

So, yes, Mr. Nipp, we, the public, would love to give you some ideas about transparency. Thanks for asking. You handle millions of dollars of taxpayer money. You make critical decisions about growth that will affect Coeur d'Alene for generations to come. With your new interest in transparency, we can all catch that sweet scent of hope in the air. Let's have an open conversation about this issue. Please join us for the public forum on urban renewal at the CdA Senior Center on Monday, April 9, 2007 at 6:30pm. The winds of change can bring a positive outlook for our great community.