Highlight from the tree ordinance debate

We’ve been meaning to put this up for a while, but have gotten sidetracked. It’s a highlight from last month’s debate about the City’s tree ordinance.

In it, Judy Gund of accounting firm Saltmarsh, Cleaveland & Gund comes before the City Council to stand up for big business and big development, and to call out Council members Diane Mack and Larry B. Johnson for putting forth the crazy idea that big business and big development should follow the same rules as everyone else.

Watch as Councilwoman Mack rebuts her with some of that populist charm we know and love:

I’m sorry that you’re insulted by our tone, but I will tell you, there are always plenty of elected officials to stick up for big business and big development and everything else, but every now and then, you need a couple of people to stick up for the little people, and that’s what we’re doing.

Council members Mack and Johnson lost that battle. Sacred Heart got their way. The current Council continued the previous Council’s habit of granting special exemptions and special privileges to those with access. We appreciate Council members Mack and Johnson, though — because the previous Council would have caved unanimously, without even a question, probably. Sometimes progress is made in baby steps.