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| Covington East Ward Councilman, Josh McKelvey |
As this publication wrote about a few weeks ago, it seems as if there is a certain level of discord & dissonance in the home city. A lot of different folks are unhappy about a lot of different things, and in the case of at least some of these issues - very rightly so.
The TPC readership knows that your semi-esteemed Editor - Yours Truly - is plugged into the local scene of #COV Real Politick as much as anyone, and a lot of those readers know that I'm a particularly big fan of Covington Council East Ward Councilman, Josh McKelvey. I sometimes think that some people think I try to help build him up, and perhaps occasionally this is true, but anyone could read this article at fellow newssite, The Newton Citizen, and see that McKelvey is indeed walking the walk in addition to talking the talk.
Here is what he had to say on the record regarding the hot-button issue of multifamily zoning:
“We need to look at putting a hold on multifamily, another moratorium like we did before, until we can identify what areas of town can handle it,” he said. “What we’re seeing are a massive amount of applications coming in and if you talk to public safety, they say this can create a key change in the city of Covington. It can bring in a bunch of people, and we’re not ready to handle it with our infrastructure and all that. When I hear that from public safety, I’m like, all right, let’s take a look at this and maybe put the brakes on for just a second. For example, we have 55 and older (apartments) coming in. Maybe we say they would work well over here, but not over there. Maybe we have a conversation about fine tuning our ordinances for multifamily.”
Now, this fella speaks my language! Well done, Mr. Councilman.
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| Councilman McKelvey |
And according to my sources, there was at least one West Ward representative that would have voted for this as well but apparently no one else would, OED & "Staff" having advised against it & all, making it a moot point as at least three votes would've been needed for it to have a chance. So...
Question.
Do OED & "Staff" run our city? Do they make all the decisions? Well, gee whiz, I kind of thought that's what the Council was there for. But Covington is not alone is this situation - numerous governing boards, commissions & councils, at all levels of government, continue to cede more & more power & decision making to un-elected bureaucrats & administrators. And frankly, I think that's a problem.
And this is without even touching the subject of how our top-notch Citizen-comprised Planning Commission continues to get ignored over & over again. It'd be one thing if they were incompetent & wrong, but they are not. These folks know what they're doing & are aware of the potential legalities and time & time again make sound & legal-challenge-withstanding decisions just to see "Staff" go against them every, single time & then see the Council side with "Staff" almost every, single time. Like one person told me, "why the hell are we even here...why even hold meetings anymore?"
Fair point...
Dear Readers, I, and many others, think there's a better way of doing things in our beloved home city, and so does East Ward Councilman Josh McKelvey.
With the current dynamics of this governmental entity, the upcoming municipal elections will be all-too-vital to the long-term path to prosperity that this wonderful city & most of her wonderful Citizens are striving for.
And that's a memo & moment from...
- M.B. McCart, TPC Ed.
As always, we appreciate you reading. Til next time...
