Sunday, May 26, 2013

Open Space Committee


With 24 years participation turning this city into Parkland, Open Space deserves to be absorbed into their GGNRA prize. 

Pacifica Tribune, Letters to the Editor, 5/21/13, "Consolidation" by Dan Underhill.

"Editor:  I finished work too late to make it to the City Council meeting about the possible termination of the Pacifica Open Space Committee. I gathered from some of the member's previous comments that there was a plan to seek some political cover by instituting another committee that would take on, and be limited to, a few of the Open Space Committee's functions.

"The development could be seen from top of the quarry, scale it back" (Noel Brincoe)
I got home in time to hear on TV26 part of Lynn Adams' response to this plan and, while I regretted not getting to present my own two cents worth, I doubt that anything I might have said would have been as eloquent or powerful as what she had to say. I was pleased that the council recognized that their present plan ain't it, if indeed that is what they recognized.

I was somewhat disturbed by the ensuing discussion that sounded an awful lot like an attempt to establish that the council could, if it chose, appoint ringers to the Open Space Committee. I am hoping that I heard that wrong. I am hoping that we all come to recognize that good stewardship is good business even if it does not turn a fabulous profit in the short term. We are all presently benefiting from responsible decisions of past Pacificans. Let's do the same for future ones."

And from Pacifica Riptide/Dan Underhill, Correspondent, 5/22/13. "Open Space Committee survives for now."  ".... The Open Space Committee never really had any teeth and has operated mainly in an advisory capacity, helping council understand issues that might not be immediately obvious unless they were one's primary focus.  ....  No Open Space Committee means no official notification of council on these issues. There are always moneyed developers ready to build as shoddily and densely as they possibly can get away with. The imagination reels. ....  It may be that particular functions (for example, interfacing with GGNRA and the National Park Service) will be handled by a subcommittee of the Open Space Committee rather than being the fig leaf that covers intentional elimination of the committee. We can all thank and encourage our council for this."  Read article.  Be sure to read aggressive comments following this Riptide blog article.  Yes, I remember how "easy" it was to get developments through Planning (the delays, the 1/3 project chop, appeals, consultation with Open Space and other ad hoc NIMBY "committees").  We remember, we were there.   Note: the Fassler Avenue hill photograph is from Zillow.   Reference - Open Space Committee, "Agenda Archives" indicate meeting cancellations (no quorum) for more than one year. 

Posted by Kathy Meeh

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's funny how that hypocrite Maybury let's Underhill call developers "carpetbaggers", but when someone calls his and Ian's buddy Brent Plater the same thing, he censors it.

Anonymous said...

Underhill and Bray are fixing Pacifica.

Kathy Meeh said...

"....useless" posing letters by Dan Underhill and Todd Bray. Anonymous 8:39 AM.

Oh, I don't know. Inspiration for posting Dan Underhill's LTE came from comments on his related Riptide article. FMV, NIMBY comments there were factually camouflaged, vacated, and the level of civility was gastly.

Anonymous said...

The NIMY's, Hippie's, and Nobees had their say in what city council did for the past 30+ years. We all see how good they have done and how well off the city is financially.

They need to step away and take blame for bankrupting the city.

Anonymous said...

same as mayor mccheese

Anonymous said...

Always interesting to see the lack of recognition that cities throughout California have been facing hard times since the State has reduced funding and taken back monies that had been allocated to them. Gratefully Pacifica hasn't given in to what other locations have done, turning themselves cemented cookie cutter strip malls. Some might this a NIMBY attitude. I see it as more of a long term vision protecting something precious that others have lost for the sake of a few bucks. We do have things that can be done better in Pacifica, but putting in massive hillside development or discount outlets isn't the trick. Creative and thoughtful use of resources that also creates revenue can be accomplished. It will take work though and cooperation between Pacificans. Hope folks will realize this and stop the name calling and work productively together.

Anonymous said...

1114 which one is mayor mccheese?

Anonymous said...

@1148 Your argument relies on finding those creative, thoughtful and revenue-producing uses of resources as an alternative to more traditional types of economic development like malls and housing. Keep the view while still creating sustainable revenue sure sounds good, but, respectfully, what are those alternatives?

Anonymous said...

I heard somewhere that Open Space hadn't met in more than a year. Sounds like they've pretty much ended. Did anybody miss them? Still plenty of open space in Pacifica. Maybe their work is done.

Anonymous said...

Editor Meeh pastes Mr. Underhill's letters then slaps a fraudulent headline over them that misrepresents his view. Par for the course.

Steve Sinai said...

That last comment was legitimate. I changed the title.

Kathy Meeh said...

"...fraudulent headline" Anonymous 7:24 PM, and Steve Sinai 11:58 PM.

Okay, so you didn't like the title I ascribed to the Open Space Committee articles, which was something like "Its time for the Open Space Committee to go". But, "fraudulent headline"? Way off, and no way!!! "Open Space must go" (or become absorbed) was the exact position of city council, item 13, at their meeting 5/13/13.

Dan's position is clear enough. His article is titled in large, BOLD letters "Consolidation". And his Riptide article title is "Open Space Committee survives for now." Dan suggests that the GGNRA should become a subcommittee of Open Space. Now that's an interesting twist (ha)!

From Dan's Riptide article: "There are always moneyed developers ready to build as shoddily and densely as they possibly can get away with. The imagination reels." FMV, therein is the repeated fear of not trusting the development, agency system in this city. The NIMBY position advanced in this community has worked well to turn this city into 50-60% unproductive open space (an economic loser).

As expected, generally I don't post articles which promote more NIMBISM. Pacifica needs economic solutions, updated systems, smarter thinking, and development. The Open Space Committee will likely fold into the GGNRA umbrella because "that's where the money is", and we know this city loves grants.

censor police said...

Kathy posts

and Sinai censors.

Steve Sinai said...

People were seeing a headline like "Time to shut down the Open Space Committee", and then seeing Dan's name right under it.

It gave the impression Dan wanted the Open Space Committee shut down, which wasn't the case.

Kathy Meeh said...

"...impression Dan wanted the Open Space Committee shut down..." Steve Sinai, 12:25 PM.


Fair enough. Well I was pretty "ticked off" after seeing the NIMBY revisionist history comments on the Riptide article. So be it.