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Posted on Mon, Oct 5, 2009 : 2:56 p.m.

Frisinger Park football parking on the City Council agenda? Hard to know until the last minute

By Edward Vielmetti

I went to the second floor of Ann Arbor City Hall today at about 2:45 p.m. and looked at the printed agenda for the City Council meeting tonight at 7 p.m.  It included two resolutions:

DC-4 09-0981 

Resolution to continue the Moratorium on the Installation of New Parking Meters 
(City Council) 
Sponsors: Smith, Hohnke and Briere (Added 10/2/09)


DC-5 09-0982 

Resolution to Permit Home Football Game Parking in Frisinger Park
(City Council)
Sponsors: Smith, Hohnke and Briere (Added 10/2/09)

However, if you go to the city web site (Legistar), you will see that this resolution is not on the agenda, which has as its label "Agenda status: Final-revised".


City Council rules allow for agenda changes up until the very last possible minute; you'll have to count on reporting from our government reporter, Ryan Stanton, to see what is actually discussed at council tonight.

Why is this important?  For several reasons. 

First, council members themselves have complained about last minute additions of complex issues to the agenda, which make it difficult for them to communicate with their constituents in a timely way.

Second, a lot of people enjoy Frisinger Park as a tailgate location during football games, and any changes to that site that would involve parking cars on a field that is also used for recreational sports and as a playground for neighborhood children is worthy of some discussion.

Third, when there was a similar proposal to park cars in Allmendinger Park, neighbors there made their wishes to preserve that park for recreation during games abundantly clear.

That's all I know now; film at 11.

Comments

Ryan J. Stanton

Tue, Oct 6, 2009 : 10:45 a.m.

Just so everyone knows, the parking resolution was pulled -- partly to get more input from the community. Council member Margie Teall said Monday night she would oppose it. Council member Sandi Smith is proposing it as a way to generate new revenues as part of making up for revenues lost from not installing new parking meters. http://www.annarbor.com/news/ann-arbor-city-council-extends-moratorium-on-parking-meters-in-residential-neighborhoods/