Tag Archives: WBAA

Education, Participatory Culture, Politics

Ask the Mayor – John Dennis – 2015-03-05 – Citizen Watchdogs

Another week and another Ask the Mayor is in the can.  So happy that this show exists.  This past week was the 7th installment of Mayor John Dennis of West Lafayette.

You can listen to the entire episode here  on WBAA’s web site or download the MP3.

This week, I wrote in with the following question:

In the latest issue of the City’s newsletter, West Lafayette Connection, there was a small blurb about updating our 2010 Strategic Plan.  In looking at our previous Strategic Plans, there used to be a committee, The West Lafayette Forum who met regularly, appointed by the Mayor and the Council, whose charge was to oversee the execution of the City’s Strategic Plan and report back success and failures to the City.

What Public, Citizen-based group currently oversees the achievement of the stated goals in our many Strategic Plans and how can we reconstitute the West Lafayette Forum?

I am honored to have had my question read during the show.  Even more to my delight was to hear the subsequent conversations about transparency, my involvement in the local political scene in Greater Lafayette, and Citizen input in the political process.

Mayor Dennis stated:

Well, the Strategic Plan is based on Citizen input.  Ummm.  You know, we don’t sit in a room with the doors closed and the lights on low, trying to craft our, I love the term Master Plan, our Master Plan for the future of the City.  It’s a Citizens driven plan.

[…]

I understand where he is coming from.  It is, you know, Zach is very passionate about having the Citizen Watchdog approach to how we provide services here in West Lafayette.  And we feel that we’re very transparent.  We feel that we do as much as we possibly can to make sure what we do is in the best interest of our Citizens and in our Community.  And like I said before, I think we are doing a pretty good job with that.

I, too, am extremely happy with the transparency level I and others enjoy with the City of West Lafayette (some other areas of Tippecanoe County a little less so, but that is another post).  Mayor Dennis has done a pretty good job in making information open and accessible to those who seek it.  Clerk-Treasurer Judy Rhodes does an amazing job at keeping the City Council Agenda up-to-date with the latest supplemental material, frequently updating throughout the cycle of pre-Council to Monday night’s official meeting and beyond.

Some other boards or committees are less proactive and open without being asked officially in the form of a Public Records Request.  I understand and am happy to oblige.

Stan Jastrzebski continued:

Let me ask at the risk of honking Zach off a little bit, let me ask the other side of it, which is, Citizens generally are not people who are given to any sort of special training that would allow them to be City Planners or to know how to use City resources.  Don’t you have to be somewhat careful how much input you take from people who have their own axe to grind, for lack of a better way to put it.

This particular question did honk me a little bit (nice work Stan!  I heard you chuckle Mr. Mayor ;-).

I quickly asked my computer (which was playing the show), “What about City Councilors?  Most, if not all,  lack special training regarding the issues they are voting on.”  Afterwards, I calmed down.

Or if you look at our Mayors in Lafayette and West Lafayette, both are former police officers.  I am sure people do not discredit their contributions of input regarding issues under the purview of the various departments in the City that they lack special training in.  They may have to be brought up to speed on the particular nuances of problem, decision, or plan, but their input is still valued.

The Mayor continued later:

A lot of folks ask, you know, “Why can’t you do this?” or “How come this doesn’t happen?” or “What’s wrong with this process or product?”  It gives us an opportunity to explain to them specifically how the process works and why some of those things really aren’t that practical for local government to try and accomplish.

Following this train of thought, since education, special training, or whatever you would like to call it, seems to be the missing component from constructive input from Citizenry, how can we most effectively bridge that gap?

My current contribution to this effort is The Exploratory Committee.  A civic minded Citizens group whose goal is to:

Bring a diverse group of people together to present a variety of engagement opportunities: both at the ballot box and beyond.

Education is a key component of our engagement process.  We’ll see what the future brings.

For now, I will continue doing what I have done for most of my life; building my own bridges and educating myself.  Not in isolation, but with the Community.  I am ever so thankful for our library systems in Tippecanoe County (TCPL, WLPL, & Purdue University).   See you in the stacks, online, or in the streets.

You can listen to the clip of the question and subsequent conversation:

 

Politics

Ask the Mayor – 2015-01-08 – John Dennis

I am really enjoying the expansion of WBAA’s local news and information, especially the Ask the Mayor series.  I listened to Mayor John Dennis’ from January 8th, 2015 and took some notes about the topics discussed with

NOTE:  These are crude notes and not a transcription.  The items should, however, be in the order they were discussed however.

  • Are you running for Mayor again?
    • Yes. Low key filing. We have had a lot of encouragement and enthusiasm. It would be somewhat incomplete to leave right now. Want to make sure the transition from a Class 3 to a Class 2 City goes smoothly.
  • How are you handling the recent cold weather with ice and snow?
    • Transition went well to new Street Department Director.
    • Did you purchase salt ahead of the curve?
        • Yes.
        • The State (INDOT) also did donate some used blades and equipment to the WL Street Department.
  • New natural gas trash trucks, any problems?
    • No, not that the Mayor is aware of.
  • Citizen Question: Why was there such a delay on the Cumberland construction? It has been hard to navigate in certain areas due to inadequate signs.
    • A lot was going wrong in this area, both on the surface and underneath the ground. Realigning the utilities is taking a tremendous amount of time. Appreciate the patience.
    • Is it at a stand still?
      • Not a whole lot will be done until the next construction season.
      • Special needs for plowing the road.
      • Some times things beyond our scope forces sign issues. Contact the Mayor’s office and he will address the issues.
  • Old CVS Building what are the plans at US 52?
    • City has no control or authority to remedy the issue at US 52.
    • Some times national and international companies buy and squat on land to stop competition.
    • We want to make sure West Lafayette has the right taste, feel, and appearance that fits our personality.
    • Create a sense of activism on their part to help shape the landscape.
  • Where does the development at the Levee stand? Does the State Street Master Plan have a role in this?
    • Late 70s and early 80s, strip malls popped up all over the place.
    • The strip mall concept has run its course.
    • You are not going to see the same quality of businesses that you saw 10 to 15 years ago. Retail in general is changing.
    • How much do you spend in the store vs. online this holiday season?
    • We as City leaders need to be agile enough to respond to that. When we do City Planning, those are things we consider. What is the future of the market place? What is the draw? What types of businesses generate this pedestrian traffic in and out of the business. If we had crystal balls, we could predict that.
  • Body cameras for the WL PD, how have they played out, resident response?
    • We started getting more technology in policing.
    • The body cams are the primary tool for having accountability.
    • Documents the event, should there be some sort of issue in the future.
    • WL PD is also serving as a reference point for other police departments.
    • A lot of technology to purchase to support these recordings on the back end.
  • Lafayette and Tippecanoe recently redid their animal control ordinances. Will West Lafayette update their code?
    • We have had individual conversations with the Council. Might be something we are going to visit in the near future.
    • We have over 127 different countries represented in West Lafayette. A lot of different cultures. Certain behaviors that might work well in other communities, but now here. We need to be sensitive to that.
Participatory Culture, Politics

Student Districts in West Lafayette post-2014 Redistricting

There was a recent WBAA news article that talked about the recent redistricting (but failed to link to the map) and the opportunities for a student-only district.  According to the article, Purdue student Vice President Caroline McKinney spoke with the City, inquiring about the possibility of allowing a student as a non-voting member of the Council to give a student’s perspective to City issues.

As an aside, I will remind everyone that City Council meetings (among many others) are public meetings, providing a multitude of opportunities for engagement on an official and unofficial level.  No need to get a non-voting seat to participate.  In fact, I would argue, as citizens, we yield more power in certain contexts than elected officials.  We will explore this further in our TEDxLafayette talk.

With all of this interest and change in the City over recent months, I am still unsure how the new district map will play out in the election cycles to come.  The first test being the 2015 municipal elections.

If you look at the redistricting map as of 2014-10-06, you can see a decent amount of student population in Districts 1, 2, 3, 6.  There are a lot of opportunities for students to live in District 4, and even less in in District 5.  A precise number has not been calculated (I haven’t had the time), and I did ask the Council if they would provide such a spread.  Nothing has been provided yet.

If the students get their act together, they could easily gain a majority of seats with Districts 1, 2, 3, 6 and the three at-large seats available on the Council.  They only need 5 seats to be in the majority.

This next election cycle is going to be fascinating.  😉

UPDATE:  How can we get community members involved in Purdue Student Government?