The Spectator
Peter Ciancone/Tribune-Star

June 13, 2004

Councilman Todd Nation asked the council Thursday to convene a committee of the whole to discuss city code as it pertains to parking.

Council members agreed to meet at 4 p.m. June 21.

The issue is obscure, but apparently there exists a loophole in city code that allows someone to end-run normal zoning requirements to place parking where it might otherwise be inappropriate.

The meeting of the whole comes after the chairman of the zoning committee, Ryan Cummins, decided that the meeting wasn't necessary and besides, he opined, council committees are about as useful as a fifth wheel on a cart.

This is a strange set of circumstances. The chairman of the committee most closely involved won't call a meeting to discuss an issue because he doesn't see the point, and because he generally thinks the city has no business telling property owners what to do with their private stuff.

That's all well and good, but since we can generally agree it would be a bad idea to site an explosives factory next to a school, the discussion is where rules will apply, not whether we need any at all.

The committee meeting, allowing public input into the process of writing code, is the alternative to having one councilman "get with" various unelected staff members in local government, write the ordinance without input from the outside, and present it to the council for discussion at a regular meeting, where it's generally mangled beyond recognition anyway.

Peter Ciancone's weekly column appears on Sunday. He can be reached at (812) 231-4253 or pete.ciancone@tribstar.com.