Council struggles with fairness on Town Center talk
Sometimes good sense is an early casualty when Yorba Lindans gather to discuss new development projects.
That’s been the case at recent City Council meetings, as residents and council members have wrangled over council actions affecting the historic Old Towne area.
Current council members earned well-deserved praise for ending the poisonous atmosphere of the mid-to-late ’90s, when residents regularly tuned into the city’s cable television channel to catch the antics of their elected leaders and their not-so-gracious supporters and opponents.
But now, as the Town Center debate becomes more contentious, council members are again struggling in their efforts to provide a fair forum for public comment during meetings.
Recently, a Town Center supporter was allowed to express opinions and criticisms of others during the council meeting’s oral presentations, but several opponents were forced to hold their comments until a Redevelopment Agency meeting convened much later in the evening.
Although City Council members also serve as Redevelopment Agency members, the two public bodies have separate meetings and agendas.
Council members should follow their own rules, which allow the public to speak for five minutes on non-agenda items at the council meetings.
Also, rules require speakers to address the entire council, not specific individuals. Yet council members often single out people in the audience by name for various comments or criticisms.
Certainly, it’s easy for council members to allow more time and greater latitude to speakers who endorse their actions or who make non-controversial announcements.
It’s much more difficult — but just as necessary — to give equal time and consideration to those who express contrary views.
On the other hand, some critics of high-density, low-income Town Center housing wrongly refer to proposed units as "tenements."
Moving hundreds of new residents into the Old Towne area is essential for the project’s financial success, but they certainly won’t be living in tenements.
Also, opponents shouldn’t suggest that council members aren’t representing the public’s interests because they don’t agree with the dozen or so speakers who oppose their votes.
Although the city’s own survey shows that most residents don’t know much about the council’s Town Center plans, that doesn’t mean the citizenry opposes the multi-million dollar undertaking.
Council members think a large majority of residents will support their Town Center project, and only a successful referendum vote against their current policies would prove them wrong.
A FINAL NOTE
Whenever council members purchase an Old Towne commercial or residential property, they always say the transaction involves a "willing seller" and a "willing buyer."
But would the seller be so willing if the city didn’t have eminent domain authority in the area for the next eight years, a power one councilman compared to a "sledgehammer?"
And does the city’s Town Center Master Plan effectively limit the number of willing buyers to one — the city?
Yorba Lindans deserve more straightforward talk from all parties involved in the redevelopment process.
That’s been the case at recent City Council meetings, as residents and council members have wrangled over council actions affecting the historic Old Towne area.
Current council members earned well-deserved praise for ending the poisonous atmosphere of the mid-to-late ’90s, when residents regularly tuned into the city’s cable television channel to catch the antics of their elected leaders and their not-so-gracious supporters and opponents.
But now, as the Town Center debate becomes more contentious, council members are again struggling in their efforts to provide a fair forum for public comment during meetings.
Recently, a Town Center supporter was allowed to express opinions and criticisms of others during the council meeting’s oral presentations, but several opponents were forced to hold their comments until a Redevelopment Agency meeting convened much later in the evening.
Although City Council members also serve as Redevelopment Agency members, the two public bodies have separate meetings and agendas.
Council members should follow their own rules, which allow the public to speak for five minutes on non-agenda items at the council meetings.
Also, rules require speakers to address the entire council, not specific individuals. Yet council members often single out people in the audience by name for various comments or criticisms.
Certainly, it’s easy for council members to allow more time and greater latitude to speakers who endorse their actions or who make non-controversial announcements.
It’s much more difficult — but just as necessary — to give equal time and consideration to those who express contrary views.
On the other hand, some critics of high-density, low-income Town Center housing wrongly refer to proposed units as "tenements."
Moving hundreds of new residents into the Old Towne area is essential for the project’s financial success, but they certainly won’t be living in tenements.
Also, opponents shouldn’t suggest that council members aren’t representing the public’s interests because they don’t agree with the dozen or so speakers who oppose their votes.
Although the city’s own survey shows that most residents don’t know much about the council’s Town Center plans, that doesn’t mean the citizenry opposes the multi-million dollar undertaking.
Council members think a large majority of residents will support their Town Center project, and only a successful referendum vote against their current policies would prove them wrong.
A FINAL NOTE
Whenever council members purchase an Old Towne commercial or residential property, they always say the transaction involves a "willing seller" and a "willing buyer."
But would the seller be so willing if the city didn’t have eminent domain authority in the area for the next eight years, a power one councilman compared to a "sledgehammer?"
And does the city’s Town Center Master Plan effectively limit the number of willing buyers to one — the city?
Yorba Lindans deserve more straightforward talk from all parties involved in the redevelopment process.
posted by Jim Drummond at 12:00 PM
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