Statement from Paul Meltzer

Paul Meltzer was absent from the council meeting Monday, having scheduled a trip out of town. In addition to answering questions about the meeting by phone, he submitted the following written statement:

"The mayor has been zealously opposed to low income housing projects like this for some time. He spoke in session about how he replaced the majority of the Denton Housing Authority board to get people on the board who would oppose projects like this. He also spoke about his private meetings with the developer. This had nothing to do with me. I was just the next obstacle to another chance to quash the low income housing project. As the mayor knows, to explicitly take myself out of the process, I advised the developer to send anything they wanted us to have to the city attorney. I made my decision not to reconsider without reference to anything not provided in our session.

The mayor was clearly grasping for some rationale to overturn a project he obviously strongly disagrees with. I believe the process worked and council acted correctly. We don’t just keep voting until one person gets his way, even the mayor. I hope I live long enough for him to apologize to me for the rough treatment."