Few attend Town Halls
So far, very few residents have participated in Yorba Linda’s innovative Town Hall gatherings, which feature a refreshing mixture of dialogue and question-and-answer sessions involving the public, the City Council and top-level city management staff.
In fact, this year’s first Town Hall at Lakeview Elementary School last week drew fewer participants—29 citizens, 4 council members and 8 staffers—than the two 2007 sessions.
Attendance totaled 48 for the January 2007 Town Hall at the City Hall and jumped to 82 for the July 2007 Town Hall at the Eastlake Village Clubhouse.
The informal and informative gatherings are scheduled for months with fifth Tuesdays at different city locations. Future dates are April 29, July 29, Sept. 30 and Dec. 30 with places to be announced.
Back-and-forth discussions at last week’s meeting mirrored similar issues raised at the previous sessions: traffic concerns, affordable and senior housing, city finances, Town Center and, of course, the encounters residents experience with the coyote population.
But what’s most remarkable is the current council’s willingness to engage the public in a friendly, discussion-oriented format. That’s quite a contrast to the past council’s custom of hiding some discussions behind closed-door ad hoc committee meetings.
For example, instead of using an existing Town Center Standing Committee to consider Old Town development, the past council also created a Town Center Ad Hoc Committee.
The difference? Standing committee meetings must be open to the public, while an ad hoc group can hold secret sessions, which the Town Center Ad Hoc Committee did when council members, city staff and a chosen developer discussed key Old Town issues.
Fortunately, the three most recently elected council members—John Anderson, Jan Horton and Hank Wedaa—are reforming some less-than-transparent past practices, especially those that led to the 2005-2006 Town Center redevelopment fiasco.
Even Kurt Christiansen, the city’s Community Development Director who worked with a 24-member citizens’ committee to develop guiding principles for Old Town, critiqued the past council for certain actions regarding Town Center.
They at times put the “cart before the horse” and didn’t involve residents in all stages of the planning process, Christensen noted at last week’s Town Hall forum, as he promised “transparency, transparency, transparency” in all future Town Center matters.
A FINAL NOTE
Ballots cast by property owners in the question of whether or not to increase the annual assessment for the citywide arterial portion of Yorba Linda’s street lighting and landscape zones will become public records after they’re counted.
Once tabulated, the ballots can be viewed by anyone making a request at the City Clerk’s office. The mail ballots are due March 4, with results announced at a March 18 City Council meeting.
In fact, this year’s first Town Hall at Lakeview Elementary School last week drew fewer participants—29 citizens, 4 council members and 8 staffers—than the two 2007 sessions.
Attendance totaled 48 for the January 2007 Town Hall at the City Hall and jumped to 82 for the July 2007 Town Hall at the Eastlake Village Clubhouse.
The informal and informative gatherings are scheduled for months with fifth Tuesdays at different city locations. Future dates are April 29, July 29, Sept. 30 and Dec. 30 with places to be announced.
Back-and-forth discussions at last week’s meeting mirrored similar issues raised at the previous sessions: traffic concerns, affordable and senior housing, city finances, Town Center and, of course, the encounters residents experience with the coyote population.
But what’s most remarkable is the current council’s willingness to engage the public in a friendly, discussion-oriented format. That’s quite a contrast to the past council’s custom of hiding some discussions behind closed-door ad hoc committee meetings.
For example, instead of using an existing Town Center Standing Committee to consider Old Town development, the past council also created a Town Center Ad Hoc Committee.
The difference? Standing committee meetings must be open to the public, while an ad hoc group can hold secret sessions, which the Town Center Ad Hoc Committee did when council members, city staff and a chosen developer discussed key Old Town issues.
Fortunately, the three most recently elected council members—John Anderson, Jan Horton and Hank Wedaa—are reforming some less-than-transparent past practices, especially those that led to the 2005-2006 Town Center redevelopment fiasco.
Even Kurt Christiansen, the city’s Community Development Director who worked with a 24-member citizens’ committee to develop guiding principles for Old Town, critiqued the past council for certain actions regarding Town Center.
They at times put the “cart before the horse” and didn’t involve residents in all stages of the planning process, Christensen noted at last week’s Town Hall forum, as he promised “transparency, transparency, transparency” in all future Town Center matters.
A FINAL NOTE
Ballots cast by property owners in the question of whether or not to increase the annual assessment for the citywide arterial portion of Yorba Linda’s street lighting and landscape zones will become public records after they’re counted.
Once tabulated, the ballots can be viewed by anyone making a request at the City Clerk’s office. The mail ballots are due March 4, with results announced at a March 18 City Council meeting.
posted by Jim Drummond at 12:00 PM
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