The Ward 2 race is important, I hope voters will take the time to learn about these candidates. (Go Jane!)

The committee did, however, have a relatively open process otherwise (with a few burps and skips), including a dedicated web page. It was especially helpful that documents, including proposals, were posted. This was a considerable advance over some earlier RFP adventures.

That’s correct. However, by city policy as enacted by the city council, all city committees are to adhere to the requirements of the Michigan Open Meetings Act to the best of their abilities, and the OMA requires that members of the public be allowed to address the meeting. At a March 2011 meeting, Rapundalo repeatedly denied Tom Wieder an opportunity to address the RFP review committee. I take it this is what Peter Zetlin is thinking of.

In terms of whether or not UM should have built a parking structure on Maiden Lane (which seems to have driven the decision for the current location) or whether everyone should take a step back and look at the best location for the potential for expanded rail access, well, in an ideal world, I would have liked to have seen a more thoughtful process. But when the gorilla is hungry, you either let it eat or offer it different food—but you don’t ask it to wait.

Perhaps the several millions spent to date on the Fuller parking garage without public input or a vote by council to authorize the project, can be considered a benefit for the general public. One could argue the merits of that, but without going into the long list of facts which show this spending to be against the public interest, I believe Rapundalo’s support of this project does little service for the average resident of Ann Arbor.

I’m also interested in more detail about the contention that he’s only looking out for moneyed interests. Rapundalo’s previous support of a more complete discussion about city ventures like Huron Hills (which arguably subsidizes the “more affluent part of society”) and a city-wide income tax (which would arguably prevent further funding losses to human services among others). Is it just the conference center process that seemed skewed toward the affluent?

His performance performance as the chair of the Library Lot Advisory Committee was disgraceful. He pushed for a bad deal for us which would have used taxes to subsidize his desire for a downtown conference center. Even after council resoundingly rejected his plan, he insists to this day it was a good idea and should have been allowed to go forward. As chair of that committee, he suppressed public input. Nobody needs that.

Steve also is a strong supporter of the Fuller parking garage. At least Jane Lumm has doubts about that one.

It’s too bad that I and others have suffered from lack of responsiveness from our public servants, but from my view, Rapundalo has worked more aggressively (and thanklessly) to negotiate savings to the average Ann Arbor taxpayer than all other council people combined. It’s unfortunate that he apparently has rubbed some wealthy folks living near a particular golf course the wrong way.