New City Rep. Already On Damage Control

six, i’m estela casas. and i’m rick cabrera. newly elected city representative peter svarzbein is on the hot seat tonight. after campaigning as a historic preservationist, he voted monday to reject an almost 60- thousand dollar state grant to determine which buildings downtown should be labeled historic on the historical commission’s facebook page … a post states: “when w confronted mr. svarzbein about his campaign donations before the election, he angrily insisted that he is his own man and would never be swayed by his big real estate donors.” svarzbein had his first community meeting today — and a chance to do damage control. abc-seven’s stephanie valle was there.. it’s a story you’ll see only on abc- seven 10.02 i want to apologize if i disappointed anyone with that vote. 3.10 i believe in the importance of having a historic survey and getting a national historic district. this time, there was not enough outreach. and there was not enough support from multiple communities to make this happen. 3.27 svarzbein told his constituents gathered at the village inn on north mesa — his vote was not against the grant – but in favor of continuing dialogue . 5.11 demonizing, name calling, those kind of things don’t bring anyone closer to seeing eye to eye. 5.17 many downtown property owners had said they were concerned about the survey — afraid more restrictions would be imposed on them if the grant were approved. nats: “this was not an easy vote fo me” a least one woman at the meeting not as optimistic about the city’s shot at the grant come next year. 1.36 once you have money, you have money. once you don’t have money, there’s no assurances you’ll get it again. 1.41 meantime — svarzbein chalks this up as a lesson in politics — three weeks into his new job. 4.28 the easy vote, the political vote, would have been to deny the grant and be one of those nay voices. that would have been an easy vote to do. sv, abc-7. an official with the city’s economic development department says the city can still apply for the grant next year. the city will meet with property owners and stakeholders to clear up any confusion about what the survey