Dear Editor: The July 30 editorial (“City employing appropriate process for LakeWay project”) supports the City Council’s exempting the first phase of the Lakeway project from referendum because it will enhance the causeway.
The issue is about democracy, not enhancing the causeway. The Wisconsin constitution declares “governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
In 1992, voters adopted a charter ordinance requiring voter approval of major changes to shoreline parks, effectively withdrawing their consent to allow the city to decide. A charter ordinance adopted by voters can only be changed by voters…