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JP council will ask Whole Foods for something after all
By adamg on Fri, 09/09/2011 - 7:43am
Exactly what, however, is a secret, the Jamaica Plain Gazette reports:
“We'll certainly share info when we can, but we're concerned that sharing with the public what we’re asking before we ask it could compromise the effort and be perceived as acting in bad faith," said a statement from the JPNC's "Negotiating Team" sent to the Gazette by member and council chair Andrea Howley.
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Seriously? The neighborhood
Seriously? The neighborhood council is an elected body, right? Aren't they subject to open meeting and open records laws?
No actually....
The open meeting law and public records disclosure laws only apply to "governmental bodies" which includes boards, commissions, etc., which are created by either the legislature or established by executive order or municipal order by either a city or town council. I dare say as self important as the Council deems themselves, in the scheme of things they are not all that important - at least when it comes to such open meeting and public record access.
They can't have it both ways
So if they are not a governmental body, officially constituted, then they can have secret meetings. But at the same time, if they aren't a governmental body, then why do we all have to pretend they are one? People who need a zoning variance are required to go before the neighborhood council zoning committee, for example, for a decision, before going down to the Zoning Board of Appeals (the actual, real zoning variance place). And even though it's only an advisory opinion, the fear by the petitioner is that the neighborhood council opinion will nonetheless carry some weight with the ZBA.
And why is the neighborhood council making all these pronouncements about businesses and housing in JP, and having their own meetings with Whole Foods, if they aren't real?
Can't we just stop this charade, and get rid of the neighborhood council? Who do we have to talk to who will end this silliness?
They'll Get what WF usually gives
Then they will crow about it like it was some "negotiated victory" that they had something important to do with, when WF simply has policies about helping with neighborhood stuff and donating food to events and such where ever it lands.
I hope whole foods just says
I hope whole foods just says "you had your chance" byebye.
This is just gone beyond silly now.
I think this is old news.
The mtg already happened.
Andrea Howley doesn't lie very well
I used Google Translate to convert this from Cowmanure to English:
"...we don't want our demands to be public because we're tired of getting laughed at."