Jim Waring, the recently resigned land-use chief for Mayor Jerry Sanders, sent along a note today to some of the department directors that worked for him.
In an e-mail, Waring lamented that he decided to try to sway Councilwoman Donna Frye that “there may be a better result for the city” than lowering the Sunroad building to the Federal Aviation Administration’s 160-foot height limit. That meeting with Frye touched off allegations by City Attorney Mike Aguirre that Waring was trying to appease the company and defy the city’s lawsuit.
He wrote:
Stupid of me. It never entered my mind that it would be twisted as somehow not supporting the 160 foot solution, which is now underway.
He said he had wrestled with the idea of stepping down “for some time.” While the Mayor’s Office said today that the mayor had accepted Waring’s resignation, he said in the e-mail that he was fired.
Waring wrote: “Amazing to get fired in Iceland.” He is vacationing there.
“Sunroad seems to chase me everywhere,” he said.
Among the recipients were Development Services Director Marcela Escobar-Eck, Real Estate Assets Director Jim Barwick, and City Planning and Community Investment Director Bill Anderson.
He thanked the recipients for “doing a great job for the city” and noted that he would see them all next week.
Waring left them with these words:
At some point in our city’s future, we will get beyond the culture of negativity which seems to dominate our public life today.