The following was a presentation I prepared for
oral communications at the council meeting of Oct 18th. I was to be the
first speaker, but as I was waiting the auditorium started to fill up
with dozens of children, some as young as three who were there to have
pictures taken with the Mayor. I could not say the words below, starting
with the probable accidental death of a child, in front of these
toddlers, a few certain to still be in the audience. What I ended up
saying, which was based on this, is on the oral communication drop down
of the meeting video.
One day, a few years, or maybe even a decade from now --
there will be an article in the Coast News about a child killed
walking on the side of a street of our city, one without sidewalks like
LaCosta Ave heading toward the beach. Cars buzz by only feet away, and
probability of human error dictates one is certain to veer just enough.
There may be a short clip on the news of the mother
tearfully remembering how she repeatedly asked the city to provide a
sidewalk for her children, recounting her words to the Traffic &
Public Safety Commission, "I'm not asking, I'm begging, do not wait for
a child to die before you fix this." Finally a Commissioner telling
her, "look the city doesn't have it in the budget, so you just have to
be patient."
Every solution for traffic or Public Safety dangers
depends on availability of funds. Monday, I submitted a proposal to
the Commission to address this. Although, the City Manager
instructed it not be considered, the Commission overruled him, and
allowed it to come to a vote:
The motion was originally as follows:
In
response to new information on the limits of the Pacific View property
for an arts center, and the availability of other city owned locations,
we request a suspension of
proceeding with the purchase until an evaluation of all venues is
undertaken, with all potential savings being dedicated to public
safety.
Realizing this was too much to ask, I revised the last
part to something much less, -- only asking the council to renegotiate
clauses of the existing purchase contract for Pacific View that both Bob
Bonde, who supports the purchase, and I, happen to agree on.
The Chairman asked if was a second to this motion that would urge the council to renegotiate. I glanced over to the two
Commissioners who had previously congratulated me for my supporting a
different location for an art center that would save many millions of
dollars.
They both remained silent.
The gavel fell, The motion failed.
My resignation on Monday was not for lack of a taste for
challenges such as this, as I will sorely miss such interaction.
Rather, It was the realization that this commission, now under the
supervision of the City Manager, will be even less likely to
productively engage its broad public safety mandate.
I could no longer be a part of a city government that
placed "saving a plot of land" above saving the lives of children ---
who want nothing more than to frolic on the beach. This simply because
existing officials, and I must say other candidates for office, refuse
to seriously engage this subject.
