Loveland’s City Council capitulated Tuesday night to McWhinney’s demands to gut the promised improvements to the I-25/U.S. 34 interchange as promised.
By a 7-2 vote, Loveland City Council approved a change to the terms of the Centerra Metro District’s agreement with Loveland. The newest change essentially allows the Metro District to reduce by $2.5 million the amount it received from public bond proceeds to fund the interim improvements to I-25 / US-34 interchange.
As a result, Loveland’s gateway interchange will receive only road enhancements with no landscaping, bridge improvements, or proper signage. Ironically, Loveland’s council rushed to annex property bordering Johnstown three years ago to prevent “low-quality” development. It appears as though “low-quality” is OK if it allows McWhinney off the hook for their commitments.
It appears that McWhinney already was counting on those funds to subsidize their new office complex to accommodate Agrium moving to Centerra from just 9 miles east on Highway 34. In a poorly orchestrated attempt to confuse the public, those on council really only representing McWhinney’s interest used a smoke and mirrors argument that they were voting for jobs. The assumption being that diverting tax dollars away from transportation improvements and into improving McWhinney’s private property creates jobs.
As is now almost routine, the McWhinneycrats on Loveland’s council (Pielin, Clark, Skowron, Klassen, Johnson and Heckle) all voted as they apparently agreed in advance with McWhinney. Therefore, they appeared very impatient with the 12 members of the public who spoke in favor of the seven getting-up on their hind legs and standing for the rights of Loveland’s taxpayers.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark could be heard whispering to his mentor, Mayor Gene Pielin, to let McWhinney rebut the public speakers. Clark than received boos from the audience later for his own comments while Rousey announced he would vote in favor of the McWhinney request because he didn’t like the way the angry audience was reacting to their comments.
Glenn Rousey doesn’t appear to understand he is not royalty deserving a special courtesy or bow from the public before they receive his consideration on an issue. How a councilman votes should relate to the merits of the issue instead of his perception of how a particular advocate of the issue acts towards him. Imagine a Mayor Rousey? Any public speaker who dares shows his back after speaking may find themselves on the wrong side of his highness.
In another sad day for the 1st Amendment, The Coloradoan’s Loveland Connection first reported online the fact Mayor Pro Tem Clark received boos from the audience for his insulting comments. Within hours the story was amended and the news censored to provide a more positive appearance for McWhinney and their 1st choice for Mayor, David Clark.
LovelandPolitics will no longer carry the RSS feed to the online version of The Loveland Connection until the newspaper allows its reporters the freedom to accurately report on public events in Loveland. A common problem reported by former reporters now of both the Loveland Connection and Repertor-Herald has been the heavy hand McWhinney uses in manipulating the news coverage by complaining to their editors.
By Friday LovelandPolitics will post various video clips of the meeting for the public to see exactly what occurred. In the meantime, if you missed the meeting — look for the re-broadcsats on Loveland’s cable channel 16.
Any comments on the meeting?
