Where there's a Will, there's a way

A SJ-R story today covered the announcement of Gail Simpson for Ward 2 Alderman. She's backed by current Alderman Frank McNeil but made some comments about community policing that suggest she isn't too timid to criticize the leadership of either party.

I thought she made an excellent comment about the Sierra Club agreement with CWLP.

"I believe that that agreement was good for the city. However, it was unfortunate that it's been clouded in what some have said were back-room deals, and we've kind of lost sight of the real good that this deal will provide for the city."

Now that the plan is in place, we should be focusing on what it does for the city and where to go from here. Negotiations for the agreement were done confidentially in the same way that labor contracts are negotiated. Calling it a back room deal is a pretty negative way of portraying it, but I don't see any reason to argue that point anymore when there are so many issues facing the city.