What Time Is It?
Cincinnati City Council received a lecture Wednesday, after the public comment portion of the meeting started 15 minutes late -- at 1:45 p.m., instead of the scheduled 1:30 p .m.
Monica Williams, owner of a small business called PFS, Inc., came down to City Hall to complain about the city's appointment of Tim Riordan to a board that will make important decisions related to the $600 million riverfront development known as The Banks.
Williams said it's unfair that the working group, which will write a policy for inclusion of minorities and small business on the project, is made up of five white males. But before telling council that the board needed diversity, she lambasted council for its tardiness.
"I took off work to come down here and at 1:30, the only member here was David Crowley," said Williams, who started her remarks at 2 p.m., the time council was to begin its session. "I think that shows great disdain for citizens. At least be here on time. You work in the building, don't you?
"If I was five minutes late, I wouldn't be allowed to speak."
No one on council apologized for being late. Williams owns a financial services consulting business.
7 Comments:
at 8:25 PM, May 17, 2006 
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at 7:28 AM, May 18, 2006 
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at 8:11 AM, May 18, 2006 
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at 11:31 AM, May 18, 2006 
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at 12:20 PM, May 18, 2006 
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at 10:43 PM, May 18, 2006 
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at 11:05 AM, May 22, 2006 
Shannon J. said...
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Post a Comment*amen
Starting late is a bad sign. That was a hallmark of the old COuncils.
please......is this really an issue?
Is it an issue? Let me guess, is that the perspective of a staffer?
If you can't understand why a citizen would be furious while 1) council members talk amongst themselves, 2) do other work while citizens speak, 3) or just show up late as in this instance, you are out of touch.
I don't think it is an issue because there's really no good excuse Council can give. Public meetings need to start on time for the very reason Mrs. Williams stated.
That being said, while I agree completely with Mrs. Williams complaints that the Banks working group should have minority representation, I think she is mistaken in complaining to council about it. Who were chosen for the five member board, and how?:
1) Tom Gabelman, chosen by the County;
2) Tim Riordan, chosen by the City;
3) Steve Leeper, chosen by 3CDC;
4) Robert Rhein, chose by Castellini with County approval;
5) Bob Castellini, chair.
Now, of all the entities concerned, who had the most picks? Clearly it was Castellini and the County. The City only had one pick. The county chose county attorney Gabelman to look out for its interests, the City chose Riordan. Since a resident of the City is also always a resident of the county, the County has just as much of a responsibility to minority inclusion as the city does. And seeing as they had more picks, they certainly could have made a greater effort. The choice of Robert Rhein, former president of the Home Builders Association of Greater Cincinnati and resident of Indian Hill is certainly a poorer choice for the task at hand than Tim Riordan, retired city admnistrator and downtown resident.
Monica Williams did a good thing addressing her concerns about minority exclusion to her elected officials. The only problem is she addressed the wrong officials. She should have gone to a meeting of the county commission to make her complaints.
Damn right it's an issue! This clowncil does have great disdain for the citizens that pay them $60,000 for a part time job, not only should they show up on time, they should listen to the public they are supposed to represent. They don't seem to think that's part of their job.
Monica Williams should've addressed her representatives on council and at the County. The commissioners are even worse about being tardy and not listening. I hope everyone remebers that election time.
5 white guys getting to decide how our $600,000,000+ is spent? That's taxation without representation and politics as usual.
Not only should they be there on time, they should be there later, at least every now and then. Come on, you say you want public input and then hold the meetings in the middle of the day when the public's at work! The speaker is owed an apology, and so are the rest of us who aren't likely to get our voices heard on this project. The only reason I've talked to any city leaders on this is because my professor brought them to class.
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