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A New Way Forward?

By Jeffrey B. Cohen

August 12, 2009

Few on the city council seemed to believe Council President Calixto Torres Monday night when he told them that the mayor's office had assured him that it would be more cooperative.

Guess he wasn't kidding.

In a letter sent to the council today, Perez spoke of a "spirit of cooperation" before outlining a process by which the council could request the presence of city staff at its meetings. On Monday, despite assurances from Torres that the mayor's office would do better, the council voted to give itself subpoena power to compel the attendance of city staff and council meetings.

In his letter, Perez puts Chief Operating Officer David Panagore in charge of getting city staff to meetings. His letter comes on the same day that Councilman Pedro Segarra wrote the council's attorney to ask for an opinion on whether the council has the power of subpoena.

Read the mayor's letter and Segarra's letter by clicking on the links in the "Related Links" box.