Naked City
Neighborhood Plan Watch
By Mike Clark-Madison, Fri., Oct. 19, 2001
On first and second readings (back in mid-July and late August, respectively), the City Council unanimously approved the Dawson rezonings, which would override the valid petitions of objecting property owners. Council's decision came after much tinkering from the dais, and postponements to gain additional neighborhood input. Property owners claimed (as they always do) that nobody told them they were to be rezoned. The third and final reading was supposed to take place at last week's council meeting, but was again postponed and rescheduled for Nov. 1.
Some longtime Dawson leaders wonder if being the city's neighborhood-planning guinea pig was worth the trouble. In a letter to the City Council, Dawson Neighborhood Association founding President Donald Dodson complains that every delay legitimizes opposition to the plan, which he and other neighbors feel is both misguided and underhanded. "There apparently is no reward for participating in initiatives passed by the Council," he writes. "Council has shown that lies and deceit can win over hard work and diligence." Dawson's alienation from city government is not complete, though: Planning team chair Cynthia Medlin now sits on the Planning Commission and will, one imagines, listen to residents in other neighborhoods who have the same arguments about their neighborhood plans.
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