..As noted here last week. The Rhino’s John Hammer –who coined the group moniker ‘Perkinettes’—- writes:
The Perkinettes have left the building and have left Mayor Robbie Perkins behind.
Perkins is still mayor, but he no longer has the support of the majority of the city councilmembers – the group we dubbed the Perkinettes. In fact, it would be safe to say that the majority of the City Council is pretty upset with Perkins and, right now, are more inclined to vote against him rather than with him.
…Perkins’ tactics of strong-arming and lying to his fellow councilmembers have caught up with him. People around here are pretty trusting and they like to think their mayor has the best interest of the city at heart, but councilmembers now say Perkins is obsessed with the performing arts center and has been using deceit and threats to try and get it passed.
Meanwhile, council members Zack Matheny and Nancy Vaughan have spoken out against the proposed bond to help pay for the performing arts center (emphasis mine):
Their biggest concern: Although the city could do the project without raising taxes, the project would limit the city’s ability to take on new, unplanned projects.
For instance, they said the city couldn’t borrow to pay for the $2 million downtown police department redevelopment or build a parking garage for a proposed downtown university campus, two projects council members discussed in recent weeks.
“There is some misinformation out there that this $20 million bond wouldn’t cost anything,” Vaughan said.
It leaves the city with “no buying power,” Vaughan said.
Thank you, council member Vaughan. By the same token, both Matheny and Vaughan say they support GPAC. So they’re against Perkins’ attempts to ram it without consent of the voters, but they say the city can’t afford a bond, either. Not sure what options are left, though.
