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I know I owe a bunch of you emails, but I've been swamped so I appreciate your patience! In other news, if you did not get the chance to attend Tuesday's City Council Candidate Forum, I encourage you to watch the recording here. One of the most interesting exchanges of the night came at the 25:16 mark when the candidates were asked for their takes on the fight to preserve the historic home at 751 North Taylor. While candidates Burkett, Arnold, Lavender, all stated their desire to figure out how to preserve such homes, incumbent Council Member Al Rheinnecker stated his primary concern was protecting the property rights of the current homeowners seeking demolition. If Rheinnecker was consistent in his application of that position, I'd at least respect it, but when it comes to other instances of property rights —like a homeowner's ability to add an Accessory Dwelling Unit to their lot— Rheinnecker has taken the opposite approach. As I stated in my piece looking at the partisan nature of the current Council, Kirkwood's current representatives seem to be out of line with the view of the vast majority of its voters and I think it's time for a change.
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- The Budget:
- The big news of the week comes on the budget front. According to tonight's work session minutes, the Council has made $539,300 in budget cuts (the specifics of which you can view here), but then erased half of that progress by approving $272,390 in raises for police and firefighters against the recommendation of the interim City Administrative Officer. As a result, the Council will spend down city reserves another $9.9 million this year, according to pg. 1 of last week's Webster-Kirkwood Times. That's some very questionable decision-making in my opinion.
- One of the items the Council seems to have cut from the budget was $73,500 for a "Leffingwell Sub-area Study" around the pending Grant’s Trail extension which the city says was prioritized for land-use analysis by the comprehensive plan. I've been on the "rezone the industrial are around the Grant's Trail extension"
train for years now, so it's 1) very exciting that this is in the works —it makes no sense why we wouldn't allow beer gardens and townhouses next to the trail to Downtown Kirkwood— and 2) very disappointing that it's being delayed, especially since reaping additional tax revenue from new development in underutilized areas is one of the ways the Council could improve the city's financial standing. I'm torn because delaying this study is penny wise and pound foolish, but also a study is really not necessary! We know what will happen; iust rezone this thing and make me eat crow!
- Also on the agenda for tonight's Council meeting: The "Water Committee" makes its recommendation to the Council. I would bet my life savings that they recommend the city sell the utility. I will have more on the water situation soon, but this thing is being driven by two Council Members who had a predetermined outcome in mind.
- Channel 4's David Amelotti broke the incredibly frustrating news that the county's Big Bend repaving project has been delayed again. Construction was supposed to originally begin in 2024 but has now been pushed back three consecutive years with the new start date now listed for this coming Fall.
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That's it for this week! More soon! Have a great weekend, everyone!
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