The speech.

As you know the State of the City was last night. I had hoped for a little bit more from the Mayor. I agree in part with both councilor Stauber and council hopeful Scott Keenan. They were asked to comment to the the Duluth News Tribune.

Stauber said this:

“My reaction was, ‘Where’s the meat?’” said Councilor Jim Stauber. “I think the mayor could have made a speech on what direction the city was taking knowing full well he’s going to have a budget shortfall, knowing which services were going to be cut or trimmed. … He’s not a new mayor. He could have been much more specific.”

Keenan said the following:

What I liked about the speech was that there was hope,” said Scott Keenan, a candidate for the vacant City Council seat and president of Grandma’s marathon. “It was a positive, upbeat speech that provided hope of better things ahead.”

I believe the Mayor did lay out some positive direction to take the city. I agree with Mr. Keenan on that. You may not agree with what he said but it is the direction he wishes to carry the city. Now I like a number of thinks he said last night. I like the idea of possible selling the water and gas department. I however agree that we need to take a long hard look if it is the best thing to do. At least he is looking at it. This is positive.

I also like the idea he has had for some time for the zoological society to take over the zoo. This would help save money. He also said we need to look at all things the city provides and look at weather we should be doing it. I could not agree more.

I agree with council Stauber in part as well I had hoped the Mayor would have been much clearer as to how he was going to solve the budget crises facing the city. What are we looking at and what can be done about it. He should have let Duluth know what we could at least have a look out for in 2009. Here I thing he failed.

Now I think many us would look to what was done in 2008 and see that much of the same may be on tap for 2009. Yet many of the departments can not take any more cuts. This leaves many questions. One question is can we expect things to close? Will there be more combining of departments? Lay offs?

Your thoughts on the speech and the questions are more then welcome. Lets discuss.