City Council Minutes 1999 11 03 - Laserfiche WebLink

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delivered to the City. He felt that the Mayor also made false and misleading claims about the initiative. Berger stated that the Mayor was quoted as saying 'it is unlawful, it violates our ethics ordinance, will put an end to open space acquisitions in Louisville.' Berger stated that these were tremendous scare tactics. He stated that the Mayor claims that the board 'would participate in land negotiations' however, nothing like that is contained in the initiative. Berger stated that he expects, at some point, to receive a memo from the City Attorney on what is in the initiative; what the initiative says and does not say. He stated that the most startling quote was the Mayor's statement that he 'publicly questions the intelligence of the one thousand and fifty citizens who signed the initiative petition.' Davidson replied that he did not say that. He agreed that it was reported in the Daily Camera. He felt that since Jay Berger did not hear him say these things, he should state 'as reported in the Daily Camera.' Davidson stated that Berger should not imply that he said these things because he has no information to indicate that. He stated that he would appreciate that courtesy. Davidson stated that he does not put words in Berger's mouth and asked that Berger please not put them in his. Berger responded that he did not see any of the comments published in the paper corrected by the Mayor and stated that the Mayor has spoken to representatives of the Daily Camera at least twice since they reported these claims. He stated that he has not received any comment or response to the Mayor's comments from any other Council members. He stated that by not responding to the Mayor's comments, the Council is sitting in silent assent. He questioned whether the Mayor is a self-appointed 'attack dog' or was selected for this role by other Council members. He felt that this was an attack on the process and the signatories of this petition. He asked whether the Mayor' s comments were intended to scare away others who might consider using the initiative process. He asked if this is the message that the City wants to send to citizens who participate in the democratic process. He felt that the message is 'try to participate and face ridicule and public assault.' He questioned what the other Council members thought of the Mayor' s remarks, whether they agreed or disagreed. He asked if Council has the courage to condemn such behavior. Ty Gee, 253 Hoover Court, Louisville, stated that in 1775, the American Colonists circulated a petition asking the British Monarch for relief of taxes or for representation on the British Parliament. King George cast the petition aside with disdain and answered by ordering 25,000 British troops to the American shores. He stated that these are the seeds of representative government. He stated that he is deeply disturbed and saddened that on the eve of the elections, the Mayor of Louisville went out of his way, twice, to attack and ridicule a citizen's petition that is asking for nothing more than a vote on the creation of an advice-giving citizens board. He stated that the Mayor insulted and thumbed his nose at all the citizens of Louisville, including the citizens who drafted, circulated and signed the petition. He stated that the Mayor called the petition, and by extension those who support it, 'idiotic, ridiculous.' He felt that the Mayor is saying that if the voters of Louisville have the audacity to vote in favor of this measure, to enact this ordinance, to create a citizens open space advisory board, he - the Mayor of Louisville - would have it repealed. He stated that the Mayor is not a citizenry and the citizenry speaks louder than 5