City Council Preview – August 21, 2012
Did you know that serving on the Denton City Council is a volunteer position? We don’t get paid a cent for this and the supposed financial perks I keep reading about in the enlightened comment section of the local newspaper have yet to materialize for me. Therefore, I continue in my day job working for the prestigious Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science. And this time of year is particularly busy as we work to train our staff and prepare for the arrival of our students next week. Consequently, I’m writing this at 12:30am and will most likely be brief…
Today’s meeting begins in a Work Session at 3pm and continues as a Regular Session at 6:30pm at City Hall on East McKinney Street. Come on down and bring me a strong cup a coffee. Click here for the entire agenda and back-up material for the meeting. Here are some things you might find interesting from our agenda…
FOOD TRUCKS!
If you have followed my comments for a while, you know that I am a fan of creating a welcoming environment for this type of business. Not only do they offer the chance to augment our culinary choices, their mobile nature provides a unique opportunity to bring street life to areas of town in need of revitalization and provide a platform for small businesses.
We will be seeing another draft ordinance relating to this issue and other food-related topics (temporary food permits, Community Market permits, etc.). Click here to see my comments from the last time we discussed this issue in April and click here to see the latest draft ordinance from the city website.
Speaking of food trucks in Denton, you might pay attention for an upcoming announcement celebrating both the opening of Denton to food trucks and the return and expansion of the DCTA A-Train service on Friday Nights – you might want to reserve your calendar for a certain Friday at the end of October…
NEIGHBORHOOD INCENTIVE GRANT
As part of our continuing discussions on the upcoming budget, we will be discussing a plan to create a neighborhood incentive grant for neighborhoods interested in bettering their immediate community. This is something I have advocated for and have specifically requested to be a part of this year’s budget. I look forward to hearing more about how to better involve our neighborhoods in making this a better city to live, learn, work, and play! Who are the people in your neighborhood???
COMMITTEE ON CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT
Recently, I recommended to the City Council and city management that we institute a new Council Committee aimed at advising the council and staff on ways to best involve citizens into the direction and policy decisions of the city. We will look at a resolution creating such a committee and discuss the topic as needed.
It is in the best interest and necessary for the long-term health of our city to continually examine the ways by which our citizens can influence the direction of Denton. We are blessed with a more educated, more imaginative, more creative, and more ambitious citizenry than most – how we best capitalize on this, our best asset as a city, is the intended goal of this committee.
FAIRHAVEN REZONING, AGAIN
I think it might be the 4th time we have heard this issue – I’m beginning to lose count… The rezoning request of the old Fairhaven Retirement Community (near the corner of Bell and Sherman) is once again before us. You might recall this is a building that bears the name of famed Denton architect, O’Neil Ford. Several concessions/conditions have been recommended by the applicant, including the preservation of the exterior of the building (in order to ensure the preservation of the structure). We’ll see if we are able to find a path forward tonight.
PUBLIC HEARING ON THE PROPOSED BUDGET
This is your chance to chime in on the budgetary direction of the city. Click here to learn more. We will adopt the budget at the September 11 meeting.