When Was The Last Time You Attended a City Council Meeting?

My guess is your answer is ….”never”….or “it has been a long time.”

Don’t try to kid me or yourself as I attend most of them. How often do you complain about water rates, sewer rates, traffic, the type of businesses in our City, the lack of businesses you would like to see in the City, the lack of signals at busy intersections, taxes, high speed rail, Caltrain, or your particular pet peeve? Are you one that owns a business in the City wanting to make a change, or hoping to open a business here, and have been turned down because of zoning issues?

If you are unhappy about any of these or other issues, what can you do?

In my opinion there are three ways to have an impact on civic issues and be sure your voice is heard. Two will be discussed in future blogs and one is set forth below: ATTEND CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS.

It appears that it is imperative to attend the meetings at the beginning of the discussions and not just on the night the Council is voting on the issue……that is too late to have maximum impact. (As the folks contesting the Semi Circle Driveway ordinance discovered.)

After listening to opinions for several weeks or months, when it comes time for the final vote, it appears to me the Council members' minds are made up. You must be there and voicing your opinion early in the process. I mean you and as many like-minded thinkers as you can muster…..size, of the group, does matter. You and as many others as possible should write, email or call the Mayor and the Council members. They do listen and will take you opinion into consideration early in the process.

As an example of what you can do, the Council is forming an Ad Hoc Committee to help them study, evaluate and decide on what the four proposed “villages” should look like, what businesses should be allowed, how high should the buildings be, what density should be established for the housing units, and they will establish the zoning. Once the zoning is established, good luck on getting variances. In addition to the City staff, the Mayor and Dave Warden, the Ad Hoc Committee will be composed of two members from the business community and a representative from each of the communities being impacted.

As I write this, the Committee is being formed. If your business is in one of the areas to be impacted by the “Villages” you need representation ….get on the committee and/or……contact the Chamber of Commerce. If you live in the impacted areas contact your neighborhood association president or the City Council. Now is the time to begin to voice your opinions, not after the Committee makes recommendations and the Council makes all the decisions.

Of course you can comment on this blog. Don’t let 5 people make all the decisions for you.  GET INVOLVED NOW!

George Burgess