Thinking about going to see city hall?
Why?
Most citizen contact with city officials will be in buildings other than city hall.
- Police and fire have long been in buildings other than city hall even though they are the largest part of our budget and thus bear closer scrutiny
- The parks and recreation department has recently displaced citizens in a recreation center
- Permits and licensing are not to be had at city hall
- Food handlers need to go to a different building
- Museums, cultural affairs and pension issues are going to be handled somewhere else
With the exception of the mayor and city representatives most of the functions at the new city hall are internal in nature. Departments will include:
- Internal audit
- Employee wellness center
- Human resources
- Purchasing
- Financial services
- City attorneys
- Municipal clerk
The new city council chambers that they have not told us about will be in the new city hall. We will have to wait to find out how much they are spending for it, but I feel certain it will be expensive.
So if you think you might bump into an elected official while you are doing your business with the city, think again.
It looks like they have deliberately banished you to the hinterlands so that they do not have to brush shoulders with the unwashed masses.
I’ll bet they even have a private entrance to council chambers.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
They’ve lost “touch” in more ways than one, and they like it that way.
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I have been to city hall many, many times in the last 10-12 years and you never saw a city rep on the 4th, 5th or 6th floor – for engineering, permits and parks & rec or 3rd floor HR. Never saw one in Community Development. They stayed on the 10th floor.
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Perhaps this is why we’ve heard murmurings about some sort of light rail in that area. We could use the light rail to travel to the many different parts that will make-up our new City Hall(s)! Heck, we could pack a large lunch and make a day out of it! l know what you’re thinking,”But how can we make this even more progressive?” The light rail will be powered with solar panels and a few hundred miniature windmills on the roof! We’ll call it “The Progressive Express!” This is obviously a brilliant idea, otherwise l wouldn’t have used so many exclamation points!!!
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