Wal-Mart railroad coming down the track
The Jefferson city government appears hell-bent on getting a new Wal-Mart superstore and, in the process, resisting any efforts to tighten the annexation process for this or future developments.
To recap: The Jefferson City Council rejected the annexation Wal-Mart wanted awhile back, which prompted the successful recall of one of the aldermen, Dave Olsen.
Once Olsen was gone, the annexation was re-introduced.
Then a citizen group, using the state's direct legislation law, filed enough signatures to require the council to either adopt a new ordinance regulating annexation, or put it on the ballot for a referendum.
The council decided Tuesday night not to do either,claiming the proposed change was "administrative" and therefore didn't qualify. See a court fight coming?
For details, see The Watertown Daily Times and The Daily Jefferson County Union.
posted by xoff @ 4:12 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
The full text of Ald. Coffman's reasoning for opposing the petition ordinance is available on my web at www.goJefferson.com.
You do not mention how the Coalition asked the court for a temporary restraining order against the City, the afternoon before this decision. The judge denied the request, saying there was no imminent harm if the Council was only performing the first reading of the renewed annexation request.
The Coalition was represented by Atty. David Halbrooks. Was this the Milwaukee fellow whose failed judicial campaign you managed in 2004? Like Olsen, Halbrooks out-spent his opponent and lost.
In a blogger-related angle, I'd asked for prior approval to be able to record and photograph the proceedings. The judge spent 25 minutes of the hour allotted for the hearing by rambling about whether he should allow me and/or the reporter from the local newspaper to make recordings or take pictures of the event. Neither the plaintiff or the defense objected.
He denied my request, fearing that by allowing a web-based writer, he'd be opening the floodgates to any member of the public who claimed to be "news media" because they had a blog.
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