Mayor Henry needs to follow through on staff promises to work with the city council
Tom Didier made the following statement following the public release of Tom Henry’s supplemental funding proposal for tax rebates Fort Wayne received from the State of Indiana:
Last night city council made a bipartisan stand for neighborhoods and dialogue. Prior to the city council meeting last night Mayor Henry issued a long statement blasting Councilman Russ Jehl for suggesting more collaboration between council and the mayor was needed to identify spending priorities. Not a single council member voted against Councilman Jehl’s proposal to fund neighborhood projects and hold spending on downtown, which amounted to almost half of the proposal.
I said, “Mayor Henry frequently ignores the council when it comes to setting priorities, but we always get asked to pick up the bill,” when asked about his proposal last week. I am encouraged that Mayor Henry’s staff made commitments to the city council last night to work with us to identify priorities throughout the city. I hope that Mayor Henry follows through on those commitments. His statement implied he is meeting with council members regularly to put together his budget and I know from first-hand experience that is not true. It’s been over a year since the mayor has taken a meeting with me and I know many other members have not met with him to discuss spending priorities in some time.
One of the biggest changes that has taken place in our city since I was elected is the revitalization of downtown Fort Wayne. I supported Mayor Graham Richard’s vision for Harrison Square and Parkview Field, which local business leaders have credited for initiating revitalization of our downtown. I also supported all the efforts fund improvements to the waterfront area. Now we need to let the private sector take a greater role in developing downtown and focus taxpayer dollars on areas of Fort Wayne where sidewalks and pavement are still cracked and broken. Restoring the promise of what it means to live in Fort Wayne is not myopic, as the mayor suggested – it is about making the people who live in Fort Wayne your top priority.
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