Criticism of council 'un-American'
Erik Hjelle
Maplewood City Council member
In the past few months, residents have been inundated with a variety of news stories on Maplewood city government. Many of these stories make for interesting reading, but as an elected official who is charged with carefully analyzing issues I have realized that these stories are many times politically motivated.
Our former Mayor, Bob Cardinal, and City Manager, Richard Fursman, have stated publicly that they were disappointed our city attorney, Patrick Kelly, resigned. While I respect their public and political commentary, I recall their private comments and e-mails that were contrary. Our interim legal counsel is now addressing many past and current issues stemming from and surrounding the performance of our former city attorney. Maplewood taxpayers will be the ones paying to clean up many unresolved issues.
On July 24, KSTP Channel 5 aired a news story that was false. A Maplewood Planning Commission member was interviewed and stated that city projects are not getting done. The report referenced Gladstone as "stalled" and in "limbo." On July 10, the "split" council voted 5-0 to start Phase1 of the Gladstone project. On July 17, city staff submitted a $2.5 million grant request to the Met Council for Gladstone. On July 20, a developer announced a proposal to build a 150+ unit Class A development at the St. Paul Tourist Cabin site with $0 public financing. All of this activity occurred in just 10 days.
Our form of government allows citizens to collectively exercise their voice at the ballot box. In the fall of 2005 and again in February of 2006, the voters spoke decisively for change. The majority of those voters wanted answers to rising property taxes, declining city services, and poor city management. Previously, Maplewood was controlled by a few powerful families that have now lost their control. Attacking our form of government and attempting to negate the will of the people is improper, unjust and un-American.
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