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| Sometimes you have to support the wrong thing for the
right reasons. That's a position I found myself in at the City Council
last night. Until the day I die I will mock the cost of the Bidwell Park
master management plan and the chess table art pieces downtown. And yet
last night I spoke in favor of tacking $100,000 on to the plan's total
cost. I did that because the plan just needs to be finished. The money is to be used to pay EDAW (consulting group) to address
public comments submitted as part of the draft EIR. Some money might also
fund other outside legal help to answer a lawyer hired by the Friends
of Bidwell
Park. The Council voted 6-1 to approve extra funding requested by the old General Services Director, and new interim Assistant City Manager, Dennis Beardsley(also plays Frank Hardy). Councilor Larry Wahl was the sole vote against the increased funding for the plan. He made comments like "we've been had by the consultants", "let's not throw good money after bad", and "why spend so much money on a plan that nobody will use?". You've got to love Wahl. He's become a consistently out voted voice of dissent, but that dissent is often mired in the truth. Josephine Guardino, one of the Friends of Bidwell Park* , savaged that group's position on this issue. She started by saying that no matter how the comments are answered the entire plan should be thrown out, re-done, and sent through the public process again. That's not going to happen, and it effectively lodges the FOBP into the role of unhappy potential litigant. She also stated that the plan, even with the extra work the city just funded, should be opposed legally if it proceeds. She offered to organize the comments submitted by her and other "Friends" to help reduce the city workload. But since she had just said that the city could not produce an adequate EIR by answering her questions, this offer seemed to be a pointless gesture. Guardino also pointed out to councilors that ~66% of the 180 pages of draft EIR comments were written by her, former FOBP board member Randy Abbot, and the Law Offices of J. William Yeates. The council wasn't aware of the fact that 2 people and a lawyer they hired were responsible for most of the extra workload needed to finish the park plan. Councilor Steve Bertagna commented regularly that three people were causing these problems, and we're spending money that will never make these three people happy. Councilor Mary Flynn stated that it seemed like "something else" was going on in relation to disc golf, implying that Guardino wasn't just concerned about the park. She asked Guardino to comment on that, and the response was off base. Flynn could have rephrased the question "what's your problem?". It was a good question and deserved a good answer. My tall friend Gregg Payne also spoke, and stated that an environmentalist activist once told him you could kill a project with comments. While he didn't say who that was, I'm pretty sure it was John Merz (VP of FOBP) that promoted that particular game plan. Payne also said that $100,000 could build 5 disc golf courses, and you could just remove the ones that didn't work. That's a common sense approach (when compared to spending $600K+ on paperwork) to finding a site that works. Common sense has been removed from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Councilor Scott Gruendl felt that the delay in the Bidwell Park master plan's completion was causing other projects beyond disc golf to be postponed. These include bridge and trail improvements. I would disagree with Scott to some degree. Just because the master plan is not complete does not mean an existing master plan is not currently in effect. The 1990 master plan might be used to move some of those projects forward using project level EIR's. But otherwise he is correct. The constant obstruction over disc golf is delaying the entire community from moving this issue forward. That obstruction is coming from the Friends of Bidwell Park. A fact that I hope has dawned on a City Council majority was that no matter what changes they make to the master plan it will be opposed if it supports disc golf. No matter how much time and money is spent it will be opposed if it supports disc golf. No matter how much the last 13 years of public record suggest that many compromises have resulted in selecting the existing site, that site will be opposed for disc golf. When one side of an issue is willing to compromise, and has done so, and the other side displays an entrenched obstructionist bent, I don't think the obstructionists deserve special consideration. By hiring a law firm and stalling the master plan process the FOBP are getting special attention. Their opinion, by virtue of a threat of litigation, is now outweighing the opinions of hundreds of citizens that attended many park meetings. Unfortunately for them I don't think their opinion will be seen as reasonable by a majority of the population. If last night's meeting is any indication the heightened public notice of their position will likely be a public relations train crash for that group. |
| *The Friends of Bidwell Park are... President - Susan Mason Vice-president - John Merz Secretary - Josephine Guardino Treasurer - Patsy Schutz Webmaster - Steve Green Board Member - Nancy Park This is a closed group that doesn't allow public membership or have open meetings. They claim to have done 6000+ hours of volunteer work in Bidwell Park. Those 6 people did not do that work. And with no membership their members did not do that work either. When I have seen the FOBP doing work it has been with a large group of teenagers being managed by Susan Mason. That kind of effort should still be applauded, but claims that the "Friends" do thousands of hours of work in the park should not be construed as the "Friends" are actually the ones doing that work. And volunteerism is not a shield against public annoyance from other activities the group might engage in. |
 |
CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Tom Hall, see comments below for the answer. |
Supporting The Wrong Thing For The Right Reason
15 Comments
Lon
About Me: Fasten your seatbelts for an exhilarating trip through Chico's public policy; I guarantee it's marginally better than public access TV.
|
CI: It's the human heart.
It's an X-ray of the human heart
Tom,
Drats... another challenge that apparently is too easy. It's actually an obstruction in the left side of the heart. Obstructions can kill things. And not just people.
Lon
Mark,
You're on target too. But just a tad late for the massive kudos.
Lon
Looks like a heart attack...
Actually, John told me that even if a project is completely legal, you can always just make it so expensive and take so long, that it never happens. Dang, that sounds familiar!
Ironically, this was in regards to a basalt gravel mine that was at the time planned just downstram from the Santos Ranch where I used to live. It is also directly across Hwy. 32 from the disc golf course, right down by Little Chico Creek.
If you go to the Friends Disc Golf Google Satelite Map and scroll across the highway to the right, you see a huge black pit with a black road that comes out on Old Humboldt. This is all new, but it looks like it's been abandoned.
(Thanks for the cool map!)
http://www.friendsofbidwellpark.org/dgmap.html?photo=images/dsc04978.jpg
I like basalt gravel and I liked the property owners and at the time, I decided I was just being a NIMBY.
Dern!
In the time it took to write my comment, you gave away the answer.
The term "obstructive" is the literal opposite of the term "progressive".
Hearing these good words makes my heart feel at ease. All the drama is starting to sound like a futile effort by the "friends." If their so-called-scheme fails, like it undoubtedly will eventually, after a lot of money is spent, and the council goes "enough is enough." Then what happens if they resort to scare tactics? Say we get funding to build a new course, we put up two pads and a few baskets in one day, and they come at night and destroy the still hardening cement, and run off with the baskets. It's people like this that cause me to invest in security camera's, and automated motion sensor beanbag shotgun turrets. Or horse tranquilizers. That way we find them in the morning. **Just being Funny ha ha ho ho**
I watched the City Council meeting last night via webcast (what a great invention!) and I agree that Mary Flynn posed a good question to Ms. Guardino. I wish she (Mary Flynn) had been a bit more aggressive about pursuing an answer. Maybe this issue could get resolved if all involved would just lay their cards on the table.
Hi Lon,
Friends of Bidwell Park asks the City a number of reasonable questions regarding the proposed disc golf project. These can be viewed on the FOBP website. It would be good for us all if you could look them over and help with the answers.
Regaring your asterisk footnote; you can be a little rough sometimes. I expect your personal hits. But discounting the many contributions of Susan and the whole group isn't necessary.
Josephine
Josephine,
Feel free to point out where I discounted the many contributions of Susan and the whole group.
I suspect a portion of that volunteer work was done by volunteers who didn't know the hours logged would be attributed to a group they can't belong to. Even so, as I said, the effort should be applauded.
The questions, photos, maps, etc. on the Friends of Bidwell Park web site are of absolutely no use to me. The Bidwell Park master management plan and city staff, attorneys, and consultants, can deal with your concerns.
I promise to be less rough when you promise to quit calling my use of a public park illegal.
Lon
Shatzi,
Here are my cards.
I believe the community wants disc golf and that is supported by the extreme popularity of the highway 32 site. The existing site would be much improved if formally managed as a disc golf course. The lengthy public process that has extended for 9 years has created a good compromise that should make everyone happy. I would be willing to raise money to construct a disc golf course so the public wouldn't have to foot the bill. The public should foot the bill for improved parking and access since that is planned even if disc golf is removed.
Lon
Lon, I'd purchase a basket. =)
Trevor,
You're a good man.
Lon
Lon,
Regarding legality, The City approved DG at the site before completing required analysis. And if they now try to pass the DEIR as a project level analysis without extensive revision and review, they'll be in violation of CEQA again. Call it what you want.
The City needs to hold themselves to the same level of accountability that they hold to all other developers with regard to rule of law.
No developer gets away with a project-level CEQA analysis that doesn't define the project. Will there be 36, 24, or 12 houses? No developer gets approval with ineffective mitigation measures proposed, or worse yet formulation of mitigation measures deferred to a later date.
John
Hey John,
As you know disc golf pre-existed the city ownership of the BLM property. The city has adopted the policy of allowing the pre-existing use to continue until an environmental review has been completed. The city has built and developed nothing at the site during its 13 years of ownership. They have also precluded any modification made to the site by park users. The Friends of Bidwell Park also opposed a proposal I made in 2004 to adjust target placement during spring at the very popular beginner course.
The first environmental review was completed around 2003. Josephine hired the Law Offices of J. William Yeates who demanded that the Bidwell Park master management plan be updated prior to a the project being built. The city concurred. The lawyer also demanded that the pre-existing activity be stopped immediately. The city did not concur with that.
This has caused a 4 year delay is addressing management issues at SR32. The dozens of meetings related to the park plan focused significantly on the use and management of disc golf at the BLM property. The entire process has drained significant resources from our community.
Now in 2007 the Friends of Bidwell Park have hired the same law firm to refute the existing planning activities. This was done before a final decision has been made. They did a disservice to the taxpayers who are footing the bill for the plan they demanded in 2003.
The purpose of an EIR is not to have an EIR. It is to give decision makers information related to the implementation of a desired project.
The Friends of Bidwell Park brought the lawyer into town this year and hosted a forum on how to challenge an EIR. It's my opinion that that was not done to ensure a disc golf project was built in the best way it could be. It was done to prevent disc golf from continuing at the SR32 location.
But the most telling aspect of all of this is that the demanded details and minutiae related to the project are completely out of the ordinary when compared to other park projects. They are out of the ordinary when compared to an EIR for a private development. They are part of an obstructionist attempt to hang the project on a technicality.
That's not what CEQA was designed for, and it's not the purpose of an EIR. That's not the reason our community has spent a half million dollars to address plans related to disc golf.
Now if you folks would like to meet again and discuss this topic I would be happy to do so. But through an inability to compromise on this issue you've now thrown it into a costly process where the city must prepare for possible litigation. Any external conversations are now trumped by that reality.
And all of that has been done with the targeted end result of removing people from a public park. That's not something I'd be too proud of.
Lon