Public Safety Commissioner Ron Kim protested his City Council colleagues' unwillingness to go forward with a lease buyback plan which would give the city a new police station and 500 space parking garage at Woodlawn Avenue for $1.4 million a year over 30 years by up and leaving the council table after the 3-2 vote, pulling the remaining five items on his agenda. About half the crowd in the room left with him.
With the council proceedings now streamed online, the meeting may have reached a new peak in audience last night. One caller to the newsroom asked if Kim had resigned.
John Herrick, chairman of the city Republican Committee, wrote me:
"I was watching the webcast of the City Council meeting tonight and was astonished that Ron Kim walked out of the meeting after his proposal to build the $17 million dollar Public Safety building was defeated. His behavior was childish and unprofessional. The City Council needs someone that will work with the other Council members to accomplish the people's business. Commissioner Kim acted like a little kid who did not get his way so he took his bat and ball and went home. I doing so, he has neglected to fulfill his duties and obligations as a Council member. The remaining items that were on his Agenda, which must have some importance, were not acted upon. The taxpayers and citizens of Saratoga Springs deserve better from their elected officials."
Kim's GOP challenger, Rick Wirth, said he would never walk out on a meeting.
"I worked for government for over 35 years," he said. "I had a lot of complex issues. I was always able to work it out. I could work with any council. You have to be open-minded."
So what's next for the public safety station?
Kim and Keehn appear not to have a third vote to go forward with the $17 million price tag through bonding either. Finance Commissioner Matt McCabe said the city could begin building a scaled down facility next year if it could come up with a new revenue stream, such as paid parking.
The next weeks will see if the council can come to any agreement on how to go forward on the station, with a slightly smaller station or with the full 47,000 square foot version, and what the best method to pay for it is. Or, if deadlock continues, there will be at least one change on the council with McCabe stepping down.
Republican mayoral candidate Scott Johnson said in a release before the vote that he was glad Kim had agreed with him about using the private sector to build the station and parking garage rather than saddling the city with bonded debt. Kim had been enthusiastic about the Woodlawn proposal when it was received by the city in early summer, but it had not been voted upon until last night. Johnson did not agree with Kim's plan to set aside Video Lottery Terminal money, saying there were more reliable ways to fund the project while still staying out of debt.
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1 comments:
I have had the dubitable pleasure of Ron Kim's acquaintance in the past, and I have to say that this kind of behavior does not surprise me. I think we are simply seeing the true colors of this man, as well as others like Tom McTygue. Mr. Kim really does not have the time for anything other than his own agenda, something I have experienced firsthand. When you have something he wants(i.e. votes, money), he will attempt a sense of familiarity and friendliness that is almost unabashed in its transparency. Unfortunately for Mr. Kim, his behavior swings so much so to the other end of the pole in his daily life that one can't help but see him as someone who is very self centered and entitled which leads to public displays of behavior such as what we have seen here.
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