Happy Holidays!

Last Monday 11/29 the Assembly re-considered the issue of removing the sales tax cap for jewelry purchases and referred it back to Finance Committee for future discussions. This has the potential to expand discussions to issues of a seasonal sales tax or other broader adjustments.

On Wednesday 12/1 Assembly Finance Committee had its first presentation on setting the FY11-12 budget. The Manager states we should be able to balance the budget without making cuts or taking dollars from the reserve. The article in the Empire Thursday made it sound like things were rosy, but I don’t think that is the case. They are very tight and future years are estimated to have real problems.

The Assembly has heard a lot of complaints about Docks and Harbors and particularly the plan for Statter Harbor (Auke Bay). So we have set up a special Assembly meeting with Docks and Harbors Wednesday December 8 at 6pm. If anybody has issues about D&H, this would be a meeting to attend. Since it is an Assembly meeting, public testimony should be allowed. I’ll certainly ask for it to be if anyone has issues they would like to raise.

On Monday December 13 the Assembly will have a Committee of the Whole meeting to discuss the area under the downtown bridge where the City Shops were located. There is a proposal for a Bridge Park to be located there, but Docks and Harbors has other proposals. We will hopefully decide on a way forward. This meeting is open but will not take public testimony.

Those who are interested in skiing probably already know that Eaglecrest will not open this weekend

The city, state and Mental Health Trust have been meeting regularly to devise a master plan for the development of the downtown Willoughby District. As part of that the city is doing an online Survey on Willoughby District. I encourage all of you to fill it out.

The new parking garage is open and there will be free parking in both garages for the month of December

And finally - Santa Clause arriving Friday December 10th

Happy Holidays to all.