Pssst, pay attention to how you impact others . . . if we’ve learned anything in the past month, its that public process matters.
So, yesterday I looked at the agendas and figured out how to go to Urban Design Commission and Economic Development Commission and still make it to most of the Zoning Code Rewrite Advisory Committee, it was possible even tho the meetings were scheduled at 4:30. 5:00 and 5:30. That is, until the Urban Design Commission took their agenda out of order.
To be fair, their agenda says:
The Urban Design Commission uses a consent agenda, which means that the Commission can consider any item at 4:30 p.m. where there are no registrants wishing to speak in opposition regardless of its placement on the agenda.
I’ve never actually seen them do that, but they might as I don’t go to all their meetings. It was, however, news to me. I don’t know if I read it and ignored it because that isn’t what they do, or if it is new. I didn’t realize I had to be there by 4:30 in order to be opposed to a project. I certainly haven’t been telling activists that, but from now on, I guess at least one member should be there on time.
However, their agenda also says:
Cases are scheduled in increments. Scheduled times are ESTIMATES of when an agenda item will be considered. If an agenda item takes longer, subsequent agenda items will likely have a later starting time. Items will be taken in order and the times are ESTIMATES for convenience.
Well, they didn’t. I was there for item number one, which is why I thought that I could make it to the other items, but they took item 2 out of order messing everything up. And while they point out that items might start later, they don’t say they might also start earlier, which is usually not likely.
Worse than messing with my schedule, at least one member of the public showed up at 5:00 when the item was estimated to begin, after public testimony had been taken and if Julia Kerr had not pointed it out, she would have missed her opportunity to be heard. She certainly missed the presentation by the developer and the discussion of the Urban Design Commission.
What really irked me was that the item I was there for was the Development Process. Heh, ironic eh? That item was also on the Economic Development Commission agenda. So staff needed to be at both meetings as well, making it difficult for everyone. Well, they didn’t get done with item 2 until 5:00, then took an hour on it, so by the time I made it to EDC I had missed an hour of their meeting. And never made it to the Zoning Code Rewrite as it seemed futile.
The worst is yet to come, in the next post. But, since everyone is focused on good public process, I thought it was a good time to point out, this wasn’t it. Sure, I was inconvenienced. And you as well, if you had wanted to read my blog on the other items. But that isn’t the point, the point is, regular members of the public, who aren’t as familiar with the process and who might not know the right person or be as likely to speak up, could have been denied their right to their public process. And even if only one person (who said she was at work and couldn’t get here earlier) is denied their right to the process, that’s not right.
We have to do better.
