In our private affairs most of us want to be private and “not air out our dirty linen in public.”
Government on the other is a public process and needs ultimate airing and transparency. Public linen whether clean or dirty usually takes on a soiled appearance if it's not in the sunlight. Sunlight is in the interest of community.
It has become apparent that in early workings of our local government that what we wanted done at our river's edge in Shorewood,was not considered, because the Board didn't know what was being considered, nor did we the citizens know.
We must remedy this disability immediately. We must stop this project now. The Board knows that we have taken a wrong turn, we must stop and get new directions. This proposal is not for us.
We have then two serious questions to consider, what to do with this river oriented land and how to get the public involved in these projects from the early stages?
On the first question, I believe that we must put this land in the positive control of the community and not be in position of waiting for hit and miss proposals.
On the second question, the Village Board must as soon as possible hold a public hearing to deal with the manner in which we will handle these situations in the future, as how to keep the public informed and involved from the early stages of these projects.
We must limit or eliminate behind-the-scene manipulations. Government is a public business. It is not a secret agency; therefore requires plenty of sunlight.
This situation as it has developed summarizes real concerns and my suggestions are constructively intended. This is not going to go away until we attend to it properly. Let's stop and revise the process.
Obviously, if we had a town meeting situation, all of us would be in the know, including the Board members. Town meeting situations would not allow these silent prelimanry operations, out of sight of the citizens and perhaps unknown to some members of the Board. I don't believe these concerns are going to go away.
