READERS WRITE: Anger over City Hall/home loan story

Mike:  I respect Muckrakers, so long as they have their muck straight in the first place, and respect their contacts.  You have missed the boat on both counts here, and I deeply regret trying to call your attention to a city policy which should be changed. 

 

Most irritating is that you have used my name and situation without my permission to jump to the wacko conclusion that the city is using the Energy Saver Loan  program as a land grab, reminiscent of old practices used against Blacks.  Please. And you even faked a quote you attribute to me.  I never used the word "nightmare." I said "a cluster f%$#."   

 

That being said, had you called me for more information, as I requested in my email to you, I would have told you to stay tuned, that Jerry Wade and Karl Skala acted immediately to get a report from the city on this practice once I contacted them about it. 

 

Moreover, Bill Watkins also acted immediately to produce the report and ask the City Council to change the ordinance to allow subordination of Energy Saver loans. He is bucking the City Attorney and the Finance Department to do this – otherwise would have asked the Council to make the change last night with a simple resolution.

 

If this turns out the way we hope, it is an example of a responsive city council and city manager, acting on important information from a concerned citizen, and that is a very good thing. 

 

Here is a link to the report that explains the history of this change in city ordinances and presents arguments for restoring the practice of allowing subordination of these loans to subsequent deeds of trust.

 

http://gocolumbiamo.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=2&meta_id=10702

 

Finally, rest assured I will never again pass along to you any good government issues that might merit muckraking, and will take with several grains of salt any and all of your reporting.

-- Kay Callison, Columbia

 

[Ed. Note:  Glad to hear this is resolved.  But I couldn't get past the language in the letters Mrs. Callison sent and decided not to run them. There was no hint of resolution in those letters, and only when the issue appeared on the council's pre-meeting agenda did I think it merited attention. And yes, I did substitute the word "nightmare" for the term Callison used about her City Hall experience:  clusterf---.] 

Mike Martin
Editor in Chief
The Columbia Heart Beat