With all the good things happening and being talked about in Auburn, I try not to air the negative side in public, but the Auburn City Council has left me few options.

I was somewhat disappointed when I attended Auburn’s City Council’s Business Meeting and Workshop last Thursday. In our Mayor’s rush to push through city business and keep the meeting short, she deleted the pledge, prayer, and citizen comment from the agenda of both meetings. Since I could not bring up concerns there, let me share some here.

Madam Mayor has asked why we can not get more citizens involved. Let me shed some light.

A while back, a group of concerned citizens researched the history of Auburn’s downtown area, took photos, made maps, and went through the efforts to have the historical district listed on the National Registry.

Others continued the effort gathering items for a museum in one of the historical section houses and a Boy Scout completed his Eagle project by filming, marking, and mapping out a walk of the area.

Your recent plan for the Downtown Overlay District covers this whole area.

When asked about the Historical District, the reply from your Administrator was, "We may be able to save the shell of one of the buildings."

I take that to mean you will continue to bulldoze until all the Historical District is gone. I thank those citizens for their efforts but preserving our history is not in our Mayors plan.

For two years many people have worked on expanding recreation opportunities for our youth, including a skate park.

Four Skatefests were held with ramps loaned to the city from the local skate shop, as many as two hundred people showed up, and a petition with over six hundred names was submitted in favor of the skate park. Money was moved from reserves by our previous Mayor to purchase ten acres for a sport complex, to include a skate park.

When the sports complex came up on the agenda at a workshop, you refused to accept the recommendation of your Park and Leisure Commission to include the skate park, you would not let citizens on the agenda to present their views, and Councilwoman Shackleford was bold enough to tell them "we are not ignoring you, we are denying you."

Reasons I heard for denying the skate park ranged from "we do not want to attract that element to Auburn" and "skate parks attract drug and gang activity".

The element are our youth, who are already here and are skating on make shift ramps in their driveways or streets.

The activity is skating and staying fit instead of sitting in front of a TV and joining the growing overweight population putting the strain on our healthcare system.

I prefer the family activities I see at the Hamilton Mill skate park to the drug and adult activities James Shackleford Park is attracting.

Instead of an additional 10 acre sports complex we are gaining a pony field and a retention pond for the city’s runoff. I thank those people for their efforts to expand our recreational offerings but that is not in our Mayor’s plan.

And last Thursday, the City Charter was on the agenda at the workshop.

For eighteen months I have held meetings, at the City’s request, with other citizens as we researched our current charter and other city charters to help address some of the challenges caused by wording in our charter.

When I brought up at the meeting not to just cross out the section that was put in by referendum following a petition by almost a thousand voters, I was told to be quiet, "this is a meeting of City Council and you can speak at the public hearings".

To those who were appointed with me on the committee, and those who came to give their input, I thank you and again citizen input is not in our Mayor’s plan.

Madam Mayor, instead of force feeding us your plan and touting your Ethics Certificate with t-shirts, pins, and another flag for the great wall, show us you have some by including citizen input into "your plan" and making it "our plan".

Just because you can legally do something doesn’t mean you should. Ethics are similar to porn in that it is hard to define but you know it when you see it.

If you feel you know why the voters voted for the referendum, and debt and utilities are not an issue, do the right thing and hold another referendum and let the citizens be heard. Don’t rush two public hearings between two holidays so only your chosen few show up and say they speak for all.

For the Citizens of Auburn who want to voice your opinion on the Charter changes, the public hearings are December 4th and 18th, 7 pm at City Council/Courtroom.

Paul Brown

Chairman, Charter Review Committee and

President Citizens for a Better Auburn, Inc.