Comments on: Column: DDA Pay Increases, Open Meetings

By: Donald Salberg

Donald Salberg — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 05:19:12 +0000

Dave,

Can you report the TOTAL salary that Susan Pollay receives, by which I mean her salary which was just increased and then her fringe benefits that can amount up to 80% of her salary?

Also does Susan Pollay have a Go!Pass card and, if so, why?

By: Steve Bean

Steve Bean — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 23:10:41 +0000

At least the city administrator’s presence has brought a new perspective to the room. I wonder if the mayor realized that that might happen.

By: Jeff Hayner

Jeff Hayner — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 16:41:40 +0000

The most dangerous people in the city of Ann Arbor are those appointed to positions of power. Appointed taxing authorities like the DDA and AAATA have for years run roughshod over public opinion, city charter requirements, and state law. They give already overpaid executives raises, make decisions out of the public eye (no surprise there), and spend public money like drunken sailors. Who on City Council has the leadership to reign in these out-of-control organizations?

By: Fuzzbollah

Fuzzbollah — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 11:46:35 +0000

August 6th, isn’t that when all the Republicans are supposed to vote?

By: John Floyd

John Floyd — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 19:13:24 +0000

It is articles such as this one that remind us that robust journalism – annoyingly robust journalism – is an essential part of democracy. Without casting aspersions on anyone’s motives, character or integrity, The Chron has documented well that Ann Arbor government is full of the most common, and most pernicious, vice known to man: moral laziness.

Democracy live and dies on public accountability. Robust journalism is the foundation of accountability. While to some, DDA pay may seem like a tempest in a teapot, if we cannot hold city council accountable for performing its oversight job, and we cannot hold the DDA accountable for following the law, don’t expect to hold anyone accountable for “Extraordinary Renditions”, not-tourture in Gitmo, or phantom weapons of mass destruction. We really do set the duck for government in general, at the local level. It is human nature to try to get away with whatever those around us will allow.

Kudos to The Chron for its usual excellence.

The issues raised here would make excellent questions for the four mayoral candidates, and for those running for council, between now and the primary on August 6th. For that matter, they would make great questions for elected officials after August 6, as well.

If we want this kind of journalism in Ann Arbor, we have to subscribe to the paper that delivers it.