Last night at city council after we passed a bipartisan budget that implemented cuts designed to increase government transparency and finalize budget figures that reflected city council’s priorities, concerned residents who live near Packard Park addressed the city council during the public comment period. They were concerned about difficulty they had accessing surveys of local residents that they were told had been used when the Parks Department decided to remove the softball diamond from their local park due to “overwhelming public support.”
When the issue of removing the softball diamond at Packard Park came up at the council table, I asked directly about its removal. The City Council was told by the administration a survey was taken and that there was public support for the city’s decision to remove the diamond. Based on their decision, I voted to support the city’s position.
After being told by many city departments that no one knew where the survey data was located, they were forced to make a public records request. When they received the data from that request, they realized that in fact there was overwhelming public support – for keeping the softball diamond where it was! They stopped counting surveys when for every person in favor removing the diamond there were twelve others who wanted it to stay.
This incident is just the latest example of the city trying to keep information from the public. In this case, their lack of transparency actually impacted my vote on the matter before the council, and it clearly could have changed the character of the neighborhoods surrounding Packard Park.
This is not hard – you talk to residents and use their input to make better policy decisions. When they have questions, you answer them, you don’t force them to make a public information request to get the answers. Fort Wayne residents are tired of the city government asking them for their opinion when the administration clearly doesn’t care about what they have to say.
I have a plan to make city government more responsive to Fort Wayne residents if I am elected our next mayor. You can read my plan at this link.
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