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Good thing Deb Johnston gaveled the Planning Commission’s Thursday evening meeting to a close when she did. About the only thing left unheard by that time was the “liar, liar, pants on fire” defense.
Consider this exchange between George Martynick and Father James Evans, in regard to Evans’s participation in discussion and votes in Commission sessions on changes the Downtown Commercial District zoning provisions, when his $10 million HUD-financed elderly housing project was in the works but not yet publicly so.
GM: “You broke the [State] Ethics Act.”
JE: “In what way?”
GM: [to the Chair] “The issue is he voted for the D-COMM District changes. He had a conflict of interest. [To Evans] You had a conflict of interest.”
JE: “I don’t think I did.”
GM: “You gotta be kidding me!”
JE: “We had two votes. There was [in January] the proposal for the extension on the District on the West End. I voted ‘no.’” Then the other [in March] I considered to be about density and side yard setbacks.”
GM: “It was also about building coverage and impervious coverage, and your proposal….”
JE: “The parcel would have required a zoning change….It was totally in an office building district…”
GM: “No! No! NO!...”
DJ: [Chair’s gavel: slam, slam, slam, slam.] “I’ll will get in touch with Council, then we can move on. We’re finished with that subject.”
JE: “Some serious accusations have been made. Personal privilege and I have a right to respond…. [If the Ethics Act applies] why were we not given this? All of should have it. How long has it existed?”
Solicitor Kim Venzie: “…I don’t know the date, but for decades…."
JE: “Then I ask at the same time that you [Johnston] talk to council you talk also about the neighbors group you were part of in relation to the Hospital…”
DJ: “I was not a part of that. I never attended a meeting. On purpose. You can ask Bill….”
JE: “That’s not what the community believes….”
GM: “You can’t claim ignorance [of the law]. It’s like telling a police officer that you didn’t know the red light was there. You’re a public official. You can’t claim ignorance.”
Well, that should give you the flavor of it, though any written report just cannot do justice to the odd shouts, the three – and at one time four – Commission members talking over each other’s sentences, the gavel that rarely, in fact, interrupted anything.
And if you liked this from last night, I should tell you some time what it’s taken at some sessions just to get the minutes passed.
Last evening was new appointee Marcia Eldred’s first. What a welcome.
Posted by
G.E. “Skip” Lawrence
Consider this exchange between George Martynick and Father James Evans, in regard to Evans’s participation in discussion and votes in Commission sessions on changes the Downtown Commercial District zoning provisions, when his $10 million HUD-financed elderly housing project was in the works but not yet publicly so.
GM: “You broke the [State] Ethics Act.”
JE: “In what way?”
GM: [to the Chair] “The issue is he voted for the D-COMM District changes. He had a conflict of interest. [To Evans] You had a conflict of interest.”
JE: “I don’t think I did.”
GM: “You gotta be kidding me!”
JE: “We had two votes. There was [in January] the proposal for the extension on the District on the West End. I voted ‘no.’” Then the other [in March] I considered to be about density and side yard setbacks.”
GM: “It was also about building coverage and impervious coverage, and your proposal….”
JE: “The parcel would have required a zoning change….It was totally in an office building district…”
GM: “No! No! NO!...”
DJ: [Chair’s gavel: slam, slam, slam, slam.] “I’ll will get in touch with Council, then we can move on. We’re finished with that subject.”
JE: “Some serious accusations have been made. Personal privilege and I have a right to respond…. [If the Ethics Act applies] why were we not given this? All of should have it. How long has it existed?”
Solicitor Kim Venzie: “…I don’t know the date, but for decades…."
JE: “Then I ask at the same time that you [Johnston] talk to council you talk also about the neighbors group you were part of in relation to the Hospital…”
DJ: “I was not a part of that. I never attended a meeting. On purpose. You can ask Bill….”
JE: “That’s not what the community believes….”
GM: “You can’t claim ignorance [of the law]. It’s like telling a police officer that you didn’t know the red light was there. You’re a public official. You can’t claim ignorance.”
Well, that should give you the flavor of it, though any written report just cannot do justice to the odd shouts, the three – and at one time four – Commission members talking over each other’s sentences, the gavel that rarely, in fact, interrupted anything.
And if you liked this from last night, I should tell you some time what it’s taken at some sessions just to get the minutes passed.
Last evening was new appointee Marcia Eldred’s first. What a welcome.
Posted by
G.E. “Skip” Lawrence
posted by The Phoenix Files at
12:48 PM
7 Comments:
Are you kidding me? You sit through a meeting and the best that you can REPORT ON is liar, liar pants on fire. Here we go again! (Voice from loudspeaker),'Journalist at the Borough Hall, please!'
Since Mr. Evans is so much in the local news lately, why don't we start examining some of his other real estate in town, starting with Jefferson Place? It is listed in various sites as senior housing, apartments, and housing for the mentally ill.
Perhaps Skip or someone else from the Phoenix can report the facts about what is it Mr. Evans is accused of. Maybe, report on the issue.
Hooray for George for having the courage to challenge this guy. Jim Evans, as a Section 8 developer, should never have been appointed to the Planning Commission. He should resign. That very commission's charter is to excersize control over development and having Evans there is like asking the fox to guard the hen house. And for him to pretend to not know that ethics plays a part in the decision process is, may I say.....sinful. Way to go Jim....every time you open your mouth you confirm my opinion of you, which is not most certainly not good.
Is it too much to ask that The Phoenix report on the issue? Explain the conflict of interest instead of the "personalities" invovled?
Based on what I saw of the Council Meeting of 4/15 on Channel 22, Evans should resign immediately from the Planning Commission. I also find it ludicrious, based on what is posted here by Skip, that a developer of so many years and subject to so many government regulations (HUD is all about regulations!) "didn't know" that he had a ethics violation.
If Evans is truely so clueless about his responsibilities as a public official, then he should resign his public position and go back to doing what he appears to like best -- working the HUD regulations to his own benefit.
We've got two great candidates left for the Planning Commission -- Evans should resign immediately and let one of those two have his seat.
Being new in town, I find the local news so titillating...I asked around about "Father Jim" and everyone said the same thing, that for every "good deed" he does, there is something ($$$) in it for him. I don't trust him. And I happen to thing that "liar, liar, pants on fire" is perfectly good reporting It is language we can all understand, even andthetruthshallsetyoufree, who should stay with his alter ego, the chicken man who, if he was more attractive, might be a man I could go for. But,according to my sources, he isn't, so I won't.
I believe that Father Evans should be thanked for the work he does in the community. I have met a number of the people he has worked with on High Street and they all speak highly of him. I am inclined to believe that by publishing the transcript the reporter has provided the most accurate portrayal of what happened. Maybe he should have drawn pictures for some of you.
Shocking!!!
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