Whale update

On 9/8 the Assembly reconsidered using sales tax money to fund the whale sculpture. First it considered using marine passenger fees to fund the sculpture, despite the fact that the City Manager and the City Attorney and a Cruise Lines representative said they did not think the fees could be used for that. That vote lost 5-4. Then the Assembly unanimously voted down the original motion to use sales tax for the sculpture.

I voted against using city money for construction of the sculpture both times. The Assembly previously said it would pay for site work and maintenance, but the sponsoring group came back and said their fundraising had not been as successful as expected and they needed money to "jump start" the donations. I did not think that was a good enough reason to change our original commitment (not to mention the legal advice against using marine passenger fees). Most importantly, the feedback I heard from citizens ran 100-1 against funding the sculpture. Citizen preferences should drive Assembly decisions. While I know there were many who did not express their opinions, this response was overwhelming and it came from all sides of the political spectrum.