Mayor Friedberg’s latest blog post details the steps necessary to hold a Special Election dealing with sidewalks.
A group of Bellaire citizens turned in a petition to City Council calling for “three charter amendments to be submitted to the voters concerning sidewalks”.
Here are the amendments outlined in the petition according to a website set up to promote it.
1) If Bellaire wants to add sidewalks, they need to put in drainage to offset the associated increase in water discharge
2) If Bellaire wants to add sidewalks to a block, the City needs to obtain the approval of ~50% of residences on a block in signature
3) Prior to asking for resident’s signatures, the City must provide a detailed plan of trees to be removed and how far the sidewalks will encroach on folks’ property
The Mayor explains that a city charter can not be altered, amended, or repealed more often than every two years. Since the Bellaire City Charter was last amended on November 7, 2017 and the next general election is November 5, 2019, these amendments cannot be on the ballot this November. A special election must be held for a vote on this matter and the next available date for an election is Saturday, May 2, 2020.
The Mayor points out that the estimated cost of such a special election will be “upwards of $50,000, and could even be much more, if there are no voting machines available for lease (as opposed to purchase) at that time.”
See the Mayor’s full blog post HERE.
Seriously? What a ridiculous waste of money!
Hmmm they are pretty much trying to make it impossible for anyone to have a sidewalk. I voted for sidewalks in 2016 and was very happy that Bellaire would be adding more sidewalks. And no I was not “tricked” into it. To have a special election at a cost of 50K to prevent the city from adding sidewalks is absurd, especially when council already ended the project because of all the complaining.
I can’t believe this is being rehashed, and in this manner. Cities need sidewalks. End of story!
It’s telling that they won’t publicly share this petition, even on their own website. Makes me wonder if they informed people a significant cost would be incurred to the city to hold such an election–and worse, that it’s on the false premise the city “isn’t listening” after the city removed most of the sidewalk projects.