Village Council is on the move again

The City allowed the Village Council to have their last meeting at City Hall, on April 15, which was the right thing to do. Residents could watch the proceedings on tv and the internet and the Village Council members could actually have a dais with lights and mics and be professional. After all, this is where they met for so many years without incident.

Now the Nomadic Group is on the move again.

It's been six months now since Mayor Tomas Regalado stated that he would like to have all neighborhood groups take part in the City Hall process by allowing various groups to use the chambers and be on tv and internet.

So far nothing has changed, no neighborhood groups have met in the chambers and the Village Council was thrown a bone and allowed to have one meeting and now is out again for another year according to a letter sent by Patrick Sessions, Chair of the Village Council. The new rule is once a year meetings by each group.

Open government would be nice. Why not let the Cocoanut Grove Village Council use the facilities on an odd Thursday night once a month? You would think that in the 21st Century, in the digital age, government would be wide open for all residents. The City has the facilities, it should make them available to everyone.

We still cannot get an answer from anyone at City Hall about this but someone who works for the City did ask me why the Village Council should receive special privileges. He asked, why not the BID or the Treeman Trust of the Merchants Group. And why not? Why not put everyone on tv and the internet? What is the Village Council doing and saying that City Hall doesn't want the public to see?