Patch Blog: Where There is No There, There

I watched on TV the goings on at Monday's City Council meeting. There is a show that should be on the bubble for sure. I don't think they even talk or listen to anyone.

City Manager Paul Arevalo says May, Mayor John Duran says the end of the year. May is two months away, the end of the year is eight months away.

Then Duran has a condescending hissy fit directed at those who appear regularly and keep asking about Plummer Park. And he concludes with: "There's no there, there" - a comment closely related to, "It is what it is." 

The gobble-de-gook double talk fools no one, because it is not even logical to the people saying it. It fills dead air. They talk about public outreach ad nauseum. Public outreach? That's a fundraising term that city government bandied about and means nearly nothing. It's a technique for getting support and money. And it costs money.

And of course, the subcommittee is always "in camera," "sub rosa," and meets "in the booth in the back in the corner in the dark." It's the one I have never attended, so it's not an open-to-the-public discussion.

There are some deep and deeply concerning issues regarding this park that have yet to be addressed by and with those who would like it to be maintained with cosmetic improvements and not a sinkhole for $41 million spare bucks the city thinks it has.  

Sheila Lightfoot, you are far more diplomatic than I, and it's a good thing, because you explain things with a lack of vitriol that sounds better than my take. But when you are being diddled by a city government made of lawyers and self-important arbiters of their own ideas, spendthrifts and three card monte players, and you have been around and looked around - as I have - you lose that diplomacy and tact that puts a better face on lies. My hat is off to you.

Call a special referendum. Ask by secret ballot what the stakeholders and neighbors and community at large wants. Vote. Count the ballots. Move forward from there. How hard is that? Public Outreach consultants cost big bucks. Why the need?  

And when, for the love of Pete, are we, the people, in order to have a more historical park, enjoy the trees and the right and liberty to be part of the "process," going to be part of process?

The City is breaking it's own code - 19.58. I am not sure they are allowed to do that. And if they do - is it not actionable? The stakeholders in the park - of which I  am one - have standing and could bring a cause of action. That costs money too.