Dale Burgdorf
                             

5/18/9    Right here in River City.

Watching the news about former Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill's trial, the irony of Dave Neumann's current meddling with the Board of Adjustment is striking.

The reason Hill and former City Plan Commissioner D'Angelo Lee were able to get themselves in such a mess is directly due to the current configuration and operation of the City Plan Commission.  Well, we can't dismiss their own greed and stupidity as components of their predicament, but ward politics allowed them to coerce developers into giving them bribes to get their projects through the maze that is City Hall zoning.

When one plan commissioner and one council member can block a project with no more rationale than "I don't want that project for my district" and the rest of the plan commissioners and city council members go along to get along, you've got a catastrophe waiting to happen.  Don't tell me that a district's plan commissioner or council member know what is best for their district.  Their district is part of this city.  You and I pay property taxes that get spent all over this city.

In Neil Emmons gets unwanted attention after latest lies. (DallasArena.com, 4/14/8), I wrote about the plan commissioner's game playing with big projects that would have added to the city's tax base.  I included blogs from UnFairPark/DallasObserver.com and FrontBurner/DMagazine.com.  Because the Observer crew loves all things Angela Hunt, they are not allowed to write anything negative about her appointee to the Plan Commission, Lying Neil Emmons.  D Magazine's Trey Garrison does not suffer from those restrictions.

Not everyone on the Plan Commission is like Emmons.  As a matter of fact, no one on the P&Z is like Emmons.  He is abusive to applicants and others who come before the P&Z on matters that are not to his liking.  Councilwoman Hunt knows about his bullying and abuses, but she has chosen not to do anything about him.  He's due to rotate off the P&Z in August, but that doesn't mean he will go.

You tell me why it's worse for D'Angelo Lee and Don Hill to take bribes before they would allow an apartment development to be built in their council district than what Emmons did to the St. Regis people?  He may not have taken money for his actions, but he certainly tried to earn political points by jacking around the St. Regis people. 

Several P&Z commissioners have fought back against Emmons over his reign of terror since Princess Velveeta first appointed him.  It's hard for normal people to deal with Emmons because they can't lower themselves to his substandards.  Normal people have lives and a sense of propriety.  Emmons has nothing but his little seat of power.

If the Plan Commission were divided into 3 panels like the Board of Adjustment, the potential for another Lee/Hill type of bribery or Emmons political games would be greatly diminished if not eliminated.  Cases would be assigned at random and would not be subject to the current ward politics.  Of course, once the case reaches city council, ward politics will prevail.

Since 2005, we have been waiting for this federal lawsuit to be tried, which will further expose the flaws in our zoning process at City Hall.  Everyone knows something needs to be done to change the P&Z so that it can't easily happen again.  So, what does the city council do about it?  Nothing!

Not only is the city council happy with the dangerous status quo of the P&Z, but Councilman Neumann apparently has the votes to screw up the Board of Adjustment so there would be a double risk of corruption at City Hall.

If you are unwilling to fix a serious problem, I guess it makes sense to fix something that's not broke!

No one on the Board of Adjustment has been indicted.  No council member has been indicted for teaming up with a BOA member to influence a variance.

When first advised of Neumann's meddling plan to merge the 3 BOA panels into one, I was adamant in my opposition.  I voiced concern about the potential for members violating the law by discussing cases with council members.  I was told "we can make sure that doesn't happen".  That sounds great, but "we" ain't always going to be members of the BOA.  Future members may not be so concerned about the rules (laws) against conversations and lobbying relating to cases. 

ZOAC heard Neumann's proposition and didn't much like it.  Rather than just leave the BOA alone, ZOAC told staff to develop an amendment to merge the 3 panels into 2 panels of 8.  How dumb is that?  You never have a voting panel with even numbers.  Will the chair have to abstain from voting?  One panel will only hear commercial cases (multi-family, parking, etc.).  The other panel will only hear residential cases.  Talk about setting up an opportunity for problems!

If that's such a good idea for the BOA which has no scandal hanging over its head, why not split the P&Z into 2 panels of 8 with one panel hearing only residential zoning and the other hearing only commercial zoning cases?   Neumann is obsessed with consistency on the BOA.  Let's have consistency between the BOA and the P&Z?

We have so many problems in this city with a $30+ million budget shortage.  Civilian staff are facing pink slips, including assistant city attorneys.  Yet, ZOAC is forcing the City Attorney's office to draft an ordinance that is not needed.

Of course, the P&Z can vote against any BOA changes, and it will take a super majority at council to change the BOA's configuration.  A few months ago, I was optimistic that common sense at city council would prevail.  Now, it looks like Councilman Neumann is not the only control freak on the council who wants to control all things in their council district.  God, I hate being lied to by people I have trusted!

Why are we spending hundreds of thousands, if not millions, to prosecute Don Hill and D'Angelo Lee for official wrong doing when some council members are hell bent on creating another opportunity for corruption waiting to happen?

sb