Come on....a little backbone please > Rexroad.com

I haven’t been watching this PBID process very closely. We started the process when I was on the City Council and I supported it. A public hearing will be held on Tuesday night by the Woodland City Council to determine how the city will vote for the property they own in the downtown core.

There are numerous reasons to oppose or support the PBID. I understand that and respect those that come to different conclusions than I do.

However let me point out something I think is more than just a trend.

Wayfarer Center
The Yolo Wayfarer Center applies for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) money over many years to build a new shelter on 4th Street. There is no doubt in the minds of reasonable people that the second phase will go directly to the north of the first phase.

The Council votes unanimously to approve the CDBG monies for this purpose. We don’t hear any objections about the possible location. We don’t see any restrictions proposed on the grant money. All support.

Then when we get ready to approve the building proposed by the Wayfarer Center we see Brenda Cedarblade and Anita Long come to the City Council meeting to object to the building. Sure enough City Councilman Jeff Monroe objects too. He argues that he wants to build it as large as possible but not at this location – the location that everyone was aware of when the CDBG monies were approves.

So where was he in the months and years leading up to the final decision on phase two of the Wayfarer Center? Answer: supporting the building of it at that location.

Ok. It happens. People learn new information as the study a policy area and alter their position.

Urban Limit Line
Then we get to the Urban Limit Line. The General Plan includes the requirement to establish the line. The City Council approves a subcommittee to study the line. We hear arguments both for and against line. Monroe actually makes both sides of the argument at times.

Even before the ULL discussion begins the Woodland City Council approves numerous plans for the Spring Lake area. I can’t think of a single one that Monroe objects to in any way.

The City Council also adopts a Major Projects Financing Plan that sets out when the city will build infrastructure and where it will be built in the coming decades. I don’t remember any objection by Monroe to the plan or the proposals that involve the Spring Lake area or the remainder area.

So Brenda Cedarblade and Nancy Lea come out against the ULL and Jeff is suddenly the leading opponent. Monroe opposes it because he argues Woodland will become too large. Now consider that the area within the lines includes Spring Lake, the Spring Lake remainder area, and the area north of Kentucky Avenue. This is all area that was within the urban reserve for the City of Woodland.

Now to be fair to Monroe, he did briefly make a point about the land North of Kentucky. He deserves credit for that.

Yet Monroe proposed no alternative plan, just said that he wanted a smaller tighter ULL, despite his votes for other plans that presumed the development of Spring Lake and the remainder area.

So where was he in the years and months leading up to the final decision on the ULL? Answer: supporting it and certainly not proposing alternatives.

PBID
Finally, we have the current debate on the PBID. I am confident that Monroe has voted to go forward on this issue on several occasions. The funding of the study, the formation of the committees, and a number of other things where the City Council had direct input into the process come to mind.

As I understand it Monroe will be objecting to the process on the PBID on Tuesday night. That is fair enough, but why now? Where has the guy been for the past two years while this thing was being prepared?

Well, the common denominator seems to be that Brenda Cedarblade is opposed to the PBID, so now Monroe has a bunch of questions and objections on things he could have dealt with months ago.

Disagree. Object. I am good with all that.

Continue to lack consistency over and over again and it makes you start to wunder….and this does not even include Gateway.

Comments

By dgay @ Tuesday, July 31, 2007 9:33 AM

Jeff Monroe demonstrates what representatives should be willing to do... change their opinions when more information becomes available. I think the problem you're trying to identify is rooted deeper in the system. Over the past several years, I think staff has done a poor job informing council and the public on important issues.

Councilmen usually don't come trained like you. And America was founded that way... so average people can represent average people. I don't have a survey to back up what I say, but I suspect more constituents trust Jeff over city administration. I think staff have historically pulled the wool over council, or stalled on issues until a new council is seated.

To get more input early-on from the public, there needs to be better information/communication provided by the city. And this is a fact... the city waits until the last minute before hearings or votes so there is no time to react.

Although I understand your concern about taking a position, I would say that there's nothing more frustrating than having a councilman state their knee-jerk, ill-informed, reaction to an issue and stick with it at the expense of learning and listening. I have noticed this first-hand from different councilmen, past and present.

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