Open Letter to Docktown in Redwood City Hearing Officer Korade

Dear Hearing Officer Korade,

Since the holiday week of July 4th when you first contacted me, I have exchanged several email messages and a couple of phone calls with you and Redwood City City Manager Melissa Stevenson Diaz, copied here above.

I am a bit confused. Given that I was found to be ineligible and served with a Notice of Ineligibility I do not have a sixty day window for any kind of "Incentive Payment." This keeps being mentioned as a reason why I need to schedule a hearing sooner rather than later.

You should also have noted that the plan does not in any way dictate when the hearings need to be held. Most municipalities and government entities use a guideline of ninety days for administrative or legal proceedings. In addition, there are a lot of other deficiencies in the process which have already been well documented by others ( Lee Callister SM Daily Journal article and several social media comments and postings and I am sure have been submitted to various entities including you and the City Manager).

One of the most dangerous is I presume the City Manager’s unilateral decision to narrowly define the scope of the hearing. I don’t see it as part of the contract between the City of Redwood City and you the Hearing Officer (link). If you the Hearing Officer are truly independent and tasked with holding a truly independent hearing which is what is described in the Docktown Plan then that is what you should do (Link to the Docktown Plan).

You should note that Professor Dan Ariely (link) from Duke University, an expert on how individuals and organizations structurally set themselves up to be unethical, has clearly demonstrated that one of the easiest ways to arrive at ethically challenged decisions is to unnecessarily limit the scope of the decision. As Professor Ariely further notes "If you think about dishonesty as a timeline, think about the time before the dishonest act when we can consider education, the moment of temptation and the potential for punishment. Usually people focus on the punishment and think if we only create a large punishment everyone will behave well. This is not the case. People very rarely think about the long term punishment. We need to focus more on the education and have people not be tempted at the moment of temptation." Unless of course, what you and the City of Redwood City are doing is by design, I strongly urge you and the City staff and council members to educate yourselves.

As you mentioned on a voice mail that just appeared yesterday on my phone system you want to be a part of the solution. Implementing processes that limit the scope of your Docktown Plan stated role is not conducive to this. It is everyone's ethical choice to make.

Sincerely,

Tania Solé
Docktown Resident