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Published April 01, 2008

Council OKs street plans, but Westwind contention continues ron christianson steve gardner planny commission gary peterson chat

By By David Little, West Central Tribune

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Michelle H.
04/01/2008 4:21 PM

Maybe we just shouldn't offer low income housing at all. To anyone. Period. Market rate for all. Seriously- the "problem" is that the neighborhood doesn't want "that kind" of housing there. Which, to me, translates to "those kind" of people. If Muslims don't want to pay interest, that's their problem and theirs only. I'm kind of taking a turn on this one- maybe because I don't get any special treatment for working hard and overcoming my personal obstacles. Why should "minorities"? As for the City Council- what happened really was immature and juvenile. Remember it when you vote next time.

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Ben C.
04/01/2008 4:09 PM

Marie, how can a person in a public meeting make a statement and then be asked to explain it only to respond with, "This isn't the time or the place."? If it wasn't the time or the place WHY did he bring it up? Are you saying the Christianson did NOT state that he didn't feel the City Council needed to operate under a set of rules? Because you are clearly wrong on that as he did state that at a meeting this past fall.

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Jerry M.
04/01/2008 4:06 PM

People, please listen to me! The 4 council meembers who didn't walk out, as well as the mayor, had the whole thing planned out too. It's politics collusion or not.

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Marie H.
04/01/2008 4:04 PM

Ben-Apparently you didn't attend this meeting either since your perception regarding the issue of the Robert Rules of Order is mistaken. The Willmar City Council meetings basically follow their guidelines; however, it has not been adopted into the Charter, which is their mandate. Gardner made a motion to consider adopting this practice, which fell on opposition because not all of the council would be included in this committee meeting where Gardner wanted to discuss it. Christianson, wisely, suggested the issue be discussed at a preliminary meeting where all of them would be present. Also, your implication that Chrisitanson "will make outlandish statements but not allow anyone to publicly question them" is also inaccurate. He simply suggested that Gardner refer to his copy of the SWMHP application. There was no apparent reason for Christianson to read it to Gardner.

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Ben C.
04/01/2008 4:02 PM

Why stall street improvements? Passing the street improvements would not have affected the outcome of the the appeal, as that was upheld based on what the board deemed to be a finding of fact, and I applaud their work! There was nothing to gain by walking out of this meeting. Once again when asked questions Mr. Christianson fails to give clear answers, he sits back crosses his arms and says "Wait and see." That statement alone suggests that he knew something was up but he almost sits there as to dare anyone to challenge his authority. As for Mr. Gardner, it sure appears that he checked as to what could be done to get these street projects approved. He seconds Mr. Christianson's motion, (and gets challenged for it by Christianson), and he votes in favor of the motion. Could he not be looking out for the good of the city by finding out how this can be voted on to avoid a possible lawsuit? At least his actions would have allowed for the discussion to occur in public as opposed to walking away.

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Gary P.
Willmar, MN     04/01/2008 3:57 PM

Ben, The open meeting law doesn’t prevent members of the council from talking to each other. It just says that a quorum of a body can’t meet without being open to the public. I have no idea if the four of them talked after my conversations with them. However, even if all four of them met together to discuss this, that is not a quorum and they are within the law to do that.

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Ben C.
04/01/2008 3:30 PM

But Rick what was to be voted on? Not the project itself, but the streets and lighting for the area. Why not vote on that? Now are they going to walk out when the other projects are brought forward for streets and lights? They have no grounds to oppose it.

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Ben C.
04/01/2008 3:17 PM

Jared the twin homes would have been owner occupied NOT rentals! What will now be built will be rentals! Also this project was not ONLY for minorites, it was open for anyone who qualified. What Christianson would not say publicly is that the muslim loans are just one of many different options availble to purchase this kind of property. Who owns the land under existing twin homes now? Not the owner of the twin home, but the association that the twin homes are part of. There exists convenants that don't allow each individual owner to do certain things on their property. Many of these convenants also don't allow the property owner to change the physical structure either.

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Ben C.
04/01/2008 3:11 PM

Rick did you see the council meeting? I watched it, and it was obvious that something had been planned. Christianson barely ends his motion when Swenson quickly seconds it. Very much the same as when they pulled this on the street projects a month ago. All four walk out of the meeting together, not one at a time, but together. Many here have accused the other councilmembers and the mayor of being a backdoor group and a good old boys club. Well what we witnessed yesterday was the perfect example of this but is was done by Christianson, Fagerlie, Dokken and Swenson. And it should be of concern for all of Willmar because this is the same group who are against having the council work under Roberts Rules of order, have spoken out about getting rid of the citizen led planning commission, have threatened taking land by imminant domain, and will make outlandish statements but not allow anyone to publicly question them! They are not wanting a coucil that is a democracy, they want to control the council and have it do what they want.

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Michelle H.
04/01/2008 2:58 PM

Very good point about the land, Rick. As for integration, it seems as though the "minority groups" want to be near each other more than "we" want them to be away from "us." Why wouldn't Somalis want to live near each other? Why wouldn't Latinos? People tend to congregate, so to speak, near like-minded people. We cannot force our idea of integration on people- they have to want to buy or rent a house or apartment in a certain neighborhood. There are parts of this issue I don't agree with (specifiying a "Muslim" neighborhood is one of them). But the bottom line is that the company has said (on the radio this morning) that they will work on building the rentals now. They aren't going away. As far as affordable housing in Willmar, I have yet to see something affordable that isn't a dump. By affordable, you have to look beyond just the rent or purchase price. What are the utilities? What is your proximity to places you want to get to, like the grocery store, schools, etc? There's more to affordability than price.

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