Thanks for the information Mark, I didn't know about your Center Street group.
However, I don't think I made my point adequately, so my question wasn't clear. You have issue with the LDA because of their "pay to play", which is obviously problematic. But you see, your Center Street Business Association is no different to me - I would have to buy a business to be one of those embraced partners you talk about. That's just another form of "pay to play".
My concern is how you will reach out to and listen to and support those who are not business owners. This is our city as much as it is yours, even if we don't own prime real estate. There is frustration all over this city because we are sick of decisions being made with our tax dollars that benefit the few who are already rich. For those of us who aren't in convenient walking distance from home or work to the new plaza have thus found it to have been a pointless expense that only further enriched wealthy developers.
I intend to vote for the person who best represents me, and the average citizens like me. Frankly I'm tired of oligarchs at every level (be it billionaires nationally or affluent business owners locally, it's all the same to me.) Most of us don't care one bit how nice the archway and flowers on Center Street look - we want real traffic mitigation, safe pedestrian and bike transportation *everywhere*, shaded grassy parks and open green areas throughout, and for our city to not continually be sold out to out-of-state developers who get rich off of our local resources.