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Subject
Input from an Urban Conservancy Reader

Message
Dear Mayor and Councilmembers, I am writing to express my concern at the 5-1 vote on February 23 by the City Planning Commission for street closures in the footprint of the proposed VA hospital site. The decision to approve street closures is premature and procedurally flawed. Please reverse the decision for the following reasons: *The period to submit written comments was first advertised to the public the Friday before Mardi Gras (Feb. 12), and Ash Wednesday (Feb. 17) was the deadline to submit written comments. *The staff report was not available until Monday, Feb. 22- 5 days _after_ the close of the comment period and one day before the hearing. *With a limit of 2 minutes per speaker, and with the period to submit written responses closed, the staff report was shielded from any meaningful scrutiny or comment regarding inaccurate, incomplete or otherwise misleading details, yet was the document that the CPC relied on to make their decision. *According to the hearing minutes, of the 35 people who signed up to speak in opposition to the closures, 20 were able to speak with within the allotted 40 minute time frame and 15 people were denied the right to speak, despite the hearing's advertisement which stated that "All interested parties will be given the opportunity to be heard in reference to this request." Moving forward on projects promising public benefit before legitimate questions from the public are answered won't make the questions go away. Please reverse the CPC's decision until such time that adequate public input on this very important matter can be considered. Sincerely,

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