Valparaiso councilman files complaint over access to housing study
'That study basically prescribes 2,000 affordable housing units in the next five years in Valparaiso,' said Anderson, R-5th.
He wants to know why all council members didn't receive copies at the same time. Anderson didn't see it until three council members met in private with stakeholders, he said.
When Anderson's council committee gets information from groups seeking grants from the opioid lawsuit settlement proceeds, that information is immediately shared with all council members so they can review the raw information before receiving the committee's recommendations, he said.
'While the three-member group may not constitute a quorum under the technical definition of a meeting, the spirit and intent of the Open Door Law appear to have been violated,' he said in his complaint.
'I just felt I was unable to do my job on this particular issue,' and not by his own doing, he said.
Councilman Robert Cotton, D-2nd, who convened a May 29 housing symposium at City Hall to discuss that report and its implications, said Anderson was mistaken in believing the three council members were acting on official business. It wasn't a secret council committee; council President Ellen Kapitan, D-At-large, didn't establish the committee and appoint the members, he said.
Rather, it's an ad-hoc group of people interested in addressing the housing situation in Valparaiso. The likely outcome will be the establishment of a nonprofit to effect change, not a city effort to own and transfer land, Cotton said.
Resident Chris Pupillo put in an Access to Public Records Act request for information about the group led by Cotton. City Attorney Patrick Lyp responded that the request was denied because there weren't any documents to show; it wasn't official city business.
The study wasn't done in secret, Cotton said. Mayor Jon Costas and the Board of Works contracted with Zimmerman Volk & Associates, a nationally recognized firm specializing in housing market analysis, to conduct the study and participate in further consulting services, including public outreach.
Cotton said the results were initially reviewed by an informal steering committee with about 19 members representing housing advocates, nonprofits, the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission, three council members, Costas and Paradise Homes, an affiliated nonprofit organization.
'It is important to clarify that Valparaiso does not have a formal housing policy, nor is the city in the business of building homes,' Cotton said. 'Rather, our objective is to stimulate the market – to spark private and nonprofit activity in segments where housing production has stalled.'
The May 29 symposium, which Anderson attended, examined not only the study's highlights but also ways to address them.
'By identifying where potential exists and forging partnerships with mission-driven organizations, we believe we can lay the groundwork for a sustainable, community-based housing delivery system,' Cotton said.
The missing segment in the housing industry is new housing 'in the income range that has been largely abandoned by the private market, 60% to 120% of area median income,' he said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
4 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Mayor Daniel Lurie's $15.9 billion budget approved amid criticism
After months of difficult negotiations at City Hall, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday gave final approval to Mayor Daniel Lurie's $15.9 billion budget, which closes an $800 million budget deficit by slashing spending. The board, which has a moderate majority since the last election, voted 10 to 1 to approve the budget, with Supervisor Jackie Fielder dissenting. Now the bill goes to Lurie's desk, and per law, he must sign it by Aug. 1. The journey to creating a two-year budget that addresses the city's structural deficit was turbulent, as Lurie faced opposition from unions and community groups that tried to block funding cuts. Ultimately, Lurie, who had campaigned on cutting wasteful spending, reduced funds to nonprofits and departments, made about 40 layoffs and eliminated over a thousand vacant positions. Supervisor Connie Chan, who is the board's budget chair, said she wouldn't celebrate the mayor's budget and warned that the future remains grim as San Francisco continues to deal with threats from the Trump administration of withholding federal funds. Lurie and the board agreed to start a $400 million reserve fund to deal with any potential loss of federal dollars, but even that could be insufficient as San Francisco gets billions from the federal government every year, including in the form of Medicaid reimbursements and FEMA disaster funds. Still, Chan acknowledged that the board 'came together despite our differences to meet this moment,' which she said was key to getting the budget deal done. Lurie's team declined to comment on Tuesday. Last week after the board passed the budget on first reading, the mayor called it the latest in 'a series of major legislative wins.' 'They voted unanimously to cut red tape for small businesses through our PermitSF legislation, and approved a real plan to support families living in RVs,' Lurie said. 'Thank you to the Board, and I look forward to building on what we've accomplished so far.' But not everyone is happy about the budget. Fielder took a page from former Supervisor Dean Preston and voted no on the budget because it included cuts to programs that serve the city's most vulnerable people. Preston, a fellow democratic socialist, voted no on every budget while he was supervisor because they included more money for the San Francisco police department. 'I cannot in good conscience vote in support of this budget,' Fielder said. 'I will be voting no with disappointment, with frustration but also with clarity about the kind of city we are fighting to become. We owe our residents more than austerity.' Throughout the budget negotiations, Fielder criticized the mayor's spending plan, including a last-minute compromise between Lurie and the board that stripped some of its ability to allocate specific funds to fight homelessness. As part of the budget deal, Lurie sought and received more power in determining how to spend revenue from Proposition C, a 2018 tax increase to fund homelessness initiatives. The board agreed to give up its power to oppose mayoral spending under $19 million with a supermajority vote. On the final day of voting, angry homelessness advocates, many from the Coalition on Homelessness, staged a silent protest. They wore black veils and paraded around City Hall with a casket labeled 'democracy.' The group also opposed a recent change to city policy that they say will put RV dwellers at risk of homelessness.
Boston Globe
17 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Can the Josh Kraft campaign be saved?
I certainly wasn't surprised to see that Kraft's campaign isn't getting significant traction with voters. But for a candidate with a war chest in the millions of dollars, name recognition, and an attack-dog PAC in his corner to be doing so poorly is shocking. I would have guessed he was down 20 points, not 30. Advertisement Before I get to the underwhelming Kraft campaign, let's give Wu her due. Her She has since moved very effectively to consolidate her support within a broad swath of constituencies. If you heard a few months ago that And her attacks on Kraft as a Advertisement I've never thought of Wu as enjoying Menino-level popularity or popular affection, but maybe that perception is outdated. She's never felt the love she's getting right now. Her campaign could hardly be going any better. Team Kraft responded to the bombshell poll with standard campaign bravado. 'Josh didn't get into the Mayor's race because of what polling says, and nothing has changed his focus on continuing to show up in Boston neighborhoods, talk to residents, and listen to the concerns of many people who are disappointed with this Mayor and the direction the city is going,' his campaign said in a statement. 'The entire campaign team is confident that as residents learn more about Josh, his background of service, and his ideas for the future of Boston, the numbers will move in his direction.' Note that nowhere does this statement dispute the poll's findings. What this poll lays bare is that nothing the Kraft campaign is doing is working. From the outset, it has placed its faith in the belief that Wu is unlikable. And that there is enough disgust around issues like bike lanes and the But they are clearly misreading the moment. Yes, Bostonians hate the city's terrible traffic. But they don't think Michelle Wu invented it, and they are clearly unmoved by Kraft's promise to freeze bike lanes. Along the same lines, Team Kraft has also been unable to whip up hysteria over crime. Wu likes to say we live in the safest big city in the country; experts say the superlative 'safest' is disputable. But what matters in this debate is that voters don't view violent crime as an urgent problem in need of fixing. Advertisement Ultimately, fear of crime isn't statistical; it's something voters feel in their bones. Boston residents don't feel unsafe. So Kraft hasn't found an effective line of attack. It's not that people think Wu is some perfect mayor - of course they don't. But they believe in where she's leading the city, and they don't see why Kraft would be an upgrade. Finally, voters appear to be wary that Kraft is trying to use his wealth to buy his way into office. According to campaign finance records, Kraft has raised well over $3 million for this race, not counting the millions a Super PAC - 'Your City, Your Future' - has raised to blanket the airwaves with anti-Wu ads on Kraft's behalf. Wu has attacked him relentlessly for trying to buy City Hall, and that seems to be effective. I firmly believe Kraft's camp erred by going so negative so early. Aggressively attacking Wu before voters had any sense of Kraft wasn't just ineffective - I think it rallied support for her. That partly explains why his numbers are so remarkably low. His campaign has been great - for Wu. The worst number in this poll for Kraft: Seven. That's the percentage of remaining undecided voters. That is the number that might force him to rethink this entire venture. Because if you're down 30 points and most voters have made up their minds, where do you go for your votes? Advertisement I'm not saying I expect Kraft to drop out. But the questions facing this campaign today are truly existential. Robert Kraft is a man who despises losing and hates throwing away money. He can't relish the prospect of dumping millions of dollars into a blowout loss, and I'm sure he has trusted people on his payroll who know how to analyze a poll. Josh Kraft is a dedicated, well-meaning civic figure. But what he isn't, to date, is much of a mayoral candidate. Yes, he has millions of dollars left to spend on this race. But all his riches haven't bought him much so far. Maybe this would be a good time to ask himself why that's likely to change. Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at
Axios
a day ago
- Axios
Johnston's "dream" meets a $250M reckoning
Mayor Mike Johnston's second State of the City address Monday night brimmed with Mile High optimism — invoking the word "dream" a dozen times and pitching Denver as the "capital of the New West." Yes, but: What the mayor largely skipped in his 38-minute speech was the $250 million budget hole that's about to swallow City Hall — and potentially hundreds of jobs with it. He spent barely a minute on the deficit, pledging to "minimize impact" on city workers and core services while delivering a government that will "work better and cost less." The big picture: Two years into his first term, Johnston touted historic drops in street homelessness and violent crime, downtown revitalization efforts, and a newly overhauled building permitting process. Over the next two years, he's setting his sights on tackling long-term support services for unhoused residents, theft and public drug use, stagnant downtown office demand, and a housing market that's pricing teachers and nurses out. Reality check: How the mayor plans to accomplish his ambitious goals under such severe budget constraints and with staffing slashed is the elephant not just in the room — but squarely in his lap. Between the lines: Johnston also doubled down on plans to put an $800 million "Vibrant Denver" infrastructure bond on November's ballot — a tough sell in a city facing cuts. What's next: A formal budget-balancing plan is expected this fall, likely setting off tense negotiations in City Hall. Layoff announcements could start as soon as Aug. 2. The bottom line: Johnston is urging Denverites to rally around a common vision — but with a quarter-billion-dollar shortfall, it's hard to ignore the realities crowding out the hope.
