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3/7/84 Page -2- <br />it.. A generation ago this City was threatened <br />by a social and economic demise. Sufficient <br />monies were not available for any but the <br />most urgent of municipal repairs. The lack <br />of sufficient housing and jobs forced younger <br />people to relocate to areas offering desirable <br />housing and needed jobs. Such luxuries as <br />open space, recreational programs, a City <br />Engineer with. a college degree, storm sewers, <br />paved alleys, and side streets were but unob- <br />tainable dreams. The depression era graduates <br />wh.o were city leaders of 25 years ago, sought <br />growth to insure the City's vitality; sought <br />growth to keep their extended families in <br />town; sought growth to protect their com- <br />mercial businesses and to thereby protect <br />their sales and property tax revenues and <br />sought growth to protect the economic value <br />of their homes. Those City leaders performed <br />their job well. The City grew. If the <br />growth is somewhat more sporadic or somewhat <br />more random than ideal, at least the City is <br />now viable. Property values are secure. <br />Th.e tax base is coming into place. Jobs, <br />or a reasonable commute to jobs, are now <br />available. Sometime between the Centennial <br />Valley Mall election, and the most recent <br />Council election, the citizens decided that <br />Lc>uisville's vitality was no longer in doubt; <br />ways no longer the overwhelming municipal <br />i~;sue. The victors in the mall election <br />pz•obably read a little too much into their <br />a~>parently overwhelming mandate in the mall <br />election. Just as Richard Nixon definitely <br />read too much into his mandate in 1972. <br />Fz•om published accounts, this Council was to <br />a man and woman universally euphoric in <br />each member's interpretation of their man- <br />date. A mandate is pretty heavy stuff. It <br />tends to encourage a philosophy of ends over <br />mE~ans. It tends to instill an unattractive <br />inflexibility in dogma. As Council ponders <br />our fate, Mr. Brooks asked that Council <br />maiintain an open discussion, which includes <br />nc>t just the pass of motion of politely <br />listening to him or persons such as he, but <br />to seriously seek a common ground in equitable <br />sc>lutions. The Council must act prudently <br />to allow time for people to adjust their <br />business and personal affairs through a new <br />reality. Stated that as he spoke, people <br />