Remarks by Alison Strange
161 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 5 of 7
- Play at 2:41:39
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 2:43:03
“So you're the one who pulled it from the website.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 2:43:20
“Well, the question was, did someone on council direct staff?”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 2:43:41
“Right. Attorney client. Yeah. Um, is there anyone else on staff that feels the need in full transparency to disclose any information to answer the question of the member of the public?”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 2:44:55
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 2:45:10
“Two months ago, asking if we as council supported this, and I thought there was a general sense of yes.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 2:45:16
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 2:47:56
“Is there staff on the city dedicating time to coordinating it and setting it up?”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 2:48:01
“I thought it was the moderator, Doris. Yes, yes.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 2:53:39
“Yeah, I think that I think that I do feel, you know, Mr. Mayor, if you're not going to be there, it's Unfortunate would be one word to use. I mean, I think the purpose of a town hall is that people can come and they can engage and they can meet the candidates. I remember the meeting that you're talking about. I was running for election and I wasn't invited to that meeting, which was the issue with sunshine. It wasn't an open public meeting, um, back in 2024. So, you know, this one's open to the public. And so it's tough that, um,”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 2:54:23
“Right. We have the problem of, you know, has it been – are people planning on coming? I mean, if people are planning on coming, then it sounds like it's been vetted and it's been – if people are planning on coming and it's been advertised, I think it should move forward. I personally – I think public spaces are for public meetings. I will never oppose any public meeting in a public place ever. So – I'm stunned that there's a problem here. I want to make a just decision if there's a decision to be made, but it sounds like we're moving forward in a direction. And I think the only decision for…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 3:00:06
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 3:00:15
“I move to advertise it on the website and social media. Sorry. Thank you.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 3:00:40
“Yep, so this one is mine, and full disclosure, I think this kind of upcoming year, what you'll be seeing from me is a lot of attempts at policy. Also, full disclosure, I've never written a policy in my life to my recollection, so they're probably really poorly done, but I'll get better, I promise. One of the things I noticed is... Bless his heart. And I don't mean that in the Southern sense. I really mean it. I ran into Brian Foreman at the ARC, and he said, you know, I came to that meeting. Sorry, I'm just calling you out. I come to that meeting, and I asked, like, can I work on the…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 3:24:23
“Well, I can speak to that a little bit. One of the questions that the ABA had when they did the NRPA assessment was how to calculate any lakefront access as park access. And so there's the opportunity to short-come ourselves or oversell parks. I mean, it can get tricky because we do have so many lakefronts. Not in a bad sense tricky, just a little more complex than the average neighborhood or community. So the reason why I've proposed one active park and not treated that as necessarily a lakefront is so that we're actually intentionally creating spaces that the average person in the average…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 3:26:17
“Yeah. So parks are unique, like any piece of real estate and every child, right, is the five minute is actually simply having access to a park of any kind. It can be a private park. It can be what I'm proposing. It could be a private park. It could be a public park. But the point is, everybody who lives in Claremont would be within five minutes of a place they can go. and be connected to nature or play outside in the sun, in the elements. Now, the active park, natural park component of this would be, these are going to be big spaces. You start dealing with a 10 plus acre park and it takes a…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 3:28:48
“So I didn't go that deep into each park's, for example, the basic amenities. I didn't address the basic amenities, so it's actually great that that came up. I would suggest that that could be done later than this. This is more of a 10,000-foot view looking at the city as a whole and first and foremost ensuring safety. And then what happens at each one of those parks and how they look is going to vary greatly. And I think that evolves over time where it becomes more obvious what is necessary. But this policy is I intentionally wrote it so that it would be high level, except where I got into…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 3:30:17
“Yeah, so Meet Me in the Middle would fall under item three, direct staff to pursue options for activation of the waterfront between the boat ramp and Hiawatha, consistent with the adopted plan. And then, you know, that's actually not even at the 10,000 foot. At that point... once we adopt the master plan for downtown, we're getting into kind of the 2,000-foot level. And so it's just executing that plan. But it is actually giving staff instruction and direction to execute the plan so that they know this is something you're going to be measured against, which can be a curse, but I think it's…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 3:30:54
“Yeah, to know what you're going to be measured against.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 3:31:19
“Well, you know, my position on Meet Me in the Middle is it's not funded. And I mean, I'm just going to put that skunk on the table. I don't think that we have the funding for Meet Me in the Middle and we haven't approved the final design or the final drawings. We move forward to get more information. But as I sit here today with what I've seen, which is limited compared to yourself, Mr. Mayor, I would not think the citizens of Claremont would appreciate a concrete-focused park that rips out trees rather than installing new trees. That's my position. I'm only one vote. I have been outvoted on…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 3:32:35
“Yeah, well, that's the law. That's not my opinion.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 3:33:02
“Well, do you think it's just for them to come from other quarters?”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 3:33:45
“I hope so. And I don't really say it to be funny. I think it's a very serious issue that we have over $11 million in our impact fees for parks without a plan. And so look, we're all going to be here in six months. Well, God willing. But in six months, that's a short period of time. If in six months staff has been hustling and they've negotiated deals and, gee, they got $10 million worth of land for $3 million and we've got grants and donations and they've only allocated 30% of the funds – then we can evaluate it then. I mean, these are aspirations and targets so that we can move projects…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 3:36:00
“I am glad you say it that way because it's a fair concern, and I want to address it, is I'm not picking parks. I'm saying staff is directed to go spend money, and they're directed to spend money on parks that meet the following criteria that ensure access for our residents, and that staff would have to come back to us, but they are being directed to spend the money the same way that we tax the taxpayers and say we direct staff to go build fire departments and save lives. We're directing the parks and rec to spend the money that has been paid. I would be very interested in seeing an audit of…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 3:36:55
“They don't have parks they have access to.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026