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Commissions - Do the trustees care???

(8 posts)

  1. KimJ
    Member

    It has recently come to my attention that there are positions on the Planning, Preservation, (and I think Zoning) Commissions.

    It is supposedly the best way to get your feet wet in village government, see how it works.

    As I was very seriously considering throwing my name in the hat, esp. Planning, as I thought they possibly could use some help, it came to my attention that they, as well as the other commissions, (sans edc) need the trustees support, they need their ear, they need their respect.

    Are you aware that the Planning Commission discussed the TIF for the first time the evening before the very last workshop, 2/26. They were in no way a part of the planning process whatsoever.

    Are you aware that the metal doors on Village Hall were voted down by Preservation, and they went up anyway?

    Landscape and Preservation voted against the concrete reading circle in front of the library, (thus being poured without a permit.)

    I often wondered why it is so difficult to fill these positions. It is becoming clear.

    Posted Monday Mar 26, 2007 16:38 #

  2. MDS
    Member

    Gosh, it sounds like nobody "gives a rip" about the commissions, doesn't it?

    Too bad. There are a lot of talented people who are giving their time to those commissions.

    Posted Monday Mar 26, 2007 17:06 #

  3. spatny
    Member

    The Board didn't want Planning or Preservation at the front end because they knew they were not pro-TIF. Now they will take whatever they can get. They are only praised when they support Board Policy. When they don't, they are treated as Landscape was at the last one. In a normal place, one would think Planning would be the first to be brought into the process, and their input would direct the Board, not vice-versa. In a Village where it is the Landscape that is the valuable part one would think the Board owuld want their ideas first - but that doesn't suit the lawyers, bean counters, insurance peddlars and real estate agents who have so much sway.

    Posted Monday Mar 26, 2007 19:56 #

  4. Tim
    Member

    Kim J...

    ...the metal doors were actually purchased BEFORE the Preservation Commission even got the chance to vote on them...

    ...now that's respect.

    Posted Monday Mar 26, 2007 21:34 #

  5. spatny
    Member

    I was just driving around with Revee and at Bloomingbank and Scottswood the home that was being worked on for so long and had the large builders sign in the yard - between the bronze horses - has some "unusual" lamp standards out near the sidewalk I never noticed before. Anyone seen those? These things have five little lanterns on each one and seem to be very bright. Are they code conforming? Does Preservation get involved with things like that?

    Posted Monday Mar 26, 2007 21:49 #

  6. MikeT
    Member

    spatnysaid --
    In a Village where it is the Landscape that is the valuable part one would think the Board owuld want their ideas first

    Recall that Riverside is a National Historic Landmark due to both the landscape as well as the fact that it was one of the first planned suburbs. So Landscape and Planning are both pretty important in the essence of Riverside, i think.

    Ironic, inversely poetic, and significant, that for the TIF, the admin jumped over these two entities.

    On April17, vote No for the TIF - 1st question - in order to retain the essence of the town we live in.

    Now, to only get this msg across to the other 8,500 people in town.
    .

    Posted Tuesday Mar 27, 2007 00:46 #

  7. Catherine
    Member

    The concrete reading circle looks like a "rap session" circle in the yard at the Big House.

    Could they at least put a woody brown concrete stain on it?

    The Township owns the hall. I would say this might account for the doors, but perhaps it makes no difference.

    It would take a certain constitution to spend one's time on a commission only to be insulted and ignored by certain tasteless philistines.

    Posted Tuesday Mar 27, 2007 09:48 #

  8. spatny
    Member

    If you think it's bad in the daytime, you have to walk around at night and look at the casino-like lighting that is starting to sprout everywhere. I once asked about lighting control and they told me some gobbledegook about "so many lumens" measured at the sidewalk - well I know dozens of places that wouldn't pass. Now we're getting fake light standards and wall washers and lights high up in the trees - real gen-u-ine kitsch as opposed to just trash.

    Posted Tuesday Mar 27, 2007 09:56 #

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