General Plan Steering Committee

The City of Pacifica and City Council will form a General Plan Steering Committee in the near future. We have been told that the committee will be named after City Council reorganizes. The following people have applied for a position on this very important committee:

Ron Carlson
Samuel Casillas
Lin Hawkins
Noel Blincoe
Sue Vaterlaus
John Curtis
Michael O’Neill
Barbara Arietta
Robin Runneals
Julia Boyle
Victor Carmichael
Anna Boothe
Mary Keitelman
David Alquist
Karen Rosenstein
Bill Moore
Tod Schlesinger
Jim Wagner
Horace Hinshaw

We urge City Council to appoint all the applicants. They represent a broad swath of the political, environmental, developmental, and residential demographics. Some may say that a committee this large would be unwieldy and nonproductive. We disagree. Every faction and interest should be represented at that table. This will be a long and trying process. We as a city must take advantage of the varying experiences and expertise that these individuals will bring to the process. Once again, we urge City Council to be inclusive in their choices and appoint all applicants.

Jim Wagner
Chair
Pacifica Business for Responsible Government 

Comments

[Steve Sinai]

I suspect that putting Tod on this committee would be like injecting a virus into an organism, but he should be given a chance. It should also be made very clear to Tod that he's going to be on a short leash, and that if 2/3 of the committee members vote that anyone's being too disruptive, they can be tossed out.

[Karen Rosenstein]

Jeff,

Many people have been quietly as well as vocally actively campaigning for an updated General Plan. Updating the General Plan was one of Julie Weismann's key concerns. If she had been elected four years ago, this would have been moving at that point instead of now. Many of us who have been involved with Pacifica Land use issues have also been asking the City Council to please move on this as well.

For the General Plan Update Steering Committee to achieve its goal tho, will require lots of hard work, willingness to listen to each other, and the ability to find the common ground where there might be very little. Can you point to any evidence where Tod has demonstrated THIS type of behavior recently? I can't.

[Jeffrey Simons]

Ian,

ok taking a page from Dr Drew . . . what's your role in this? let's stop focusing on what Tod does for a second . . . do you think editing and posting a mocking video of him on youtube might have exacerbated the situation? or constantly taking satirical potshots at him in the Tribune? or accusing him of having Tourrette's Syndrome at a City Council meeting? or following him around with a video camera at a City Council meeting? Do you really feel so morally superior and justified in yourself that you think antagonizing someone you claim to be irrational isn't a little . . . counterproductive?

To be honest, I don't see eye to eye with Tod on everything, but I'm willing to admit when he's right and has a point as much as I am willing to admit when I feel Todd (two Ds) is right and has a point. I've also pulled him aside and read him the riot act when I felt he was out of bounds.

see, its easy to point fingers at everyone's behavior. Hell, I've been guilty of prodding as well and admitted to such in the Tribune.

why don't we take the umbrage down a notch and accept our individual role in things and move on. When we start to justify our anger and our own deeds, we slip into behavior that isn't helpful. If you truly care about the future of the city and the problems we are facing, stop making excuses and start making progress.

[Natural State]

Oh I get it- real estate people cadre with a couple of token preservationists.

Where's the 'other Todd'? (not the you tube one)

[Ian Butler]

Jeff,

Okay, I'll be serious this time. i believe there is no more divisive person in Pacifica than Tod. He is also the most argumentative and belligerent person in recent memory. But don't take my word for it, here is a sampling of Tod's attacks:

He called the people of this town "stupid and apathetic".
He said "the police in Pacifica suck" - to a police officer!
He called Pete Dejarnatt a "liar" without cause.
He called for the immediate resignation of the entire city staff.
He told me that if he ever had the chance he would rip my scalp off of my skull (yes I filed a police report).
He threatened an ex-mayor, saying: "You wanna get it on? You wanna do it right here, you wanna go for it? I'll take you in here or outside or almost anywhere."
He has been kicked out of City Council meetings at least half a dozen times by the chief of police for being disruptive.

So I counter that anyone who advocates appointing someone like him to anything is "perpetuating the divisiveness". And any group who takes him seriously will never be taken seriously by the rational majority of this town.

[Jeffrey Simons]

well I certainly understand the concerns about Tod, but let's not use those concerns as a pretense to be divisive. I guess that's all I was saying. As much as we would like to polarize around Tod, my point was it does not seem like the "victors" are contributing to the consensus building we need to solve our problems by being arrogant and derisive.

Even Mayor Vreeland acknowledged that Tod was a driving force to rewriting the General Plan, so perhaps some feel he has earned a spot on that committee for the good work he HAS done. I see enough names on that committee to keep Tod in check, and perhaps now is the time he will step up and show what he can contribute.

and Dan, I was present during the Loeb/Schlesinger confrontation. So was my son. I'd rather that incident be put to pasture, but your assessment is not what we witnessed. I was not asked to testify in court, so I didn't. I'm sure all parties concerned would rather we move past it and focus on our future, as I am willing to do.

We have the opportunity to unite as a community. Let's not blow it by trying to settle old scores or dance in someone's face because you didn't like how your "friends" were treated.

[Karen Rosenstein]

Jeff,

Avril and I have already stated on an earlier thread our concerns regarding Tod's inability to calmly communicate with others who disagree with him as well as his inability to persuade people to accept his ideas and to work with him.

Jim,

Thank you for your support. I agree with your comments on this committee needing to represent as many as reasonably possible of Pacifica's Special Interest Groups. That said, I do believe we need to let the Council do their job and for them to make the decision regarding this Committee.

[Scotty]

Jeffrey, my opinions are frequently contrarion to the "typical" RipTide posters. Perhaps this is because I'm not in with the Vreeland/Curtis/etc cabal, and because I think that alternative viewpoints should be considered, particularly given the dire economical straits that traditional perspectives have led Pacifica.

That said, even I wouldn't insult John McCain by relating Tod Schlesinger's juvenile antics to his policies, and I don't even like McCain.

[Dan Underhill]

What consensus? and this has nothing at all to do with whose side won. My only experience of Mr. Schlesinger, and I have now had more such experience than I care to remember, has been his disruptive presence at council meetings and his feigning being assaulted by a former mayor for purposes that appear to me (I have no formal training in psychiatry) for his own glorification, to draw attention to himself, and for no other reasons that I can discern. I haven't a clue what the guy believes in except that he hates certain council members. If he has something to offer he should first ask anybodie's mother about how to be polite and when he has mastered that he might take a moment to think about how he might present whatever he considers to be a good idea in such a way that the audience might give thought to the good idea rather than giving thought to how they feel about childish outbursts done by a grown-up, or about personal attacks on the council taking up the precious time that all of the attendees have set aside to be there at a meeting which isn't easy for all of us to make time for.

[Jeffrey Simons]

Dan,

So . . . you're saying you refuse to be a part of a consensus because Tod Schlesinger wasn't as gracious as McCain? I'm trying to be. Shouldn't that count for something? Why not just be gracious yourself regardless of what other people do? See, it's comments like what you said, and Todd Bray, and Ian Butler that will perpetuate this divisiveness. This steadfast refusal to acknowledge a great number of people in this town and their point of view, and refusal to work towards consensus and compromise, simply because "your side" won?

We're headed for deep waters, my friend. It doesn't feel like the "winners" have taken anything from the election except a sense of validation to continue brow-beating anyone who doesn't fall lock step with your beliefs.

Again, I think that's sad and counterproductive.

But I would have liked to have seen your name on that General Plan list. I think you could have brought many of your points to that group.

[Dan Underhill]

I'm sorry, Jeffrey, but I missed Tod Schlesinger's classy concession speech and I would have really liked to have heard it.

[Dan Underhill]

Tod Schlesinger with no three minute limit?
What if one of the other members has something to say?
It was clever slipping him in toward the end of the list.
It sounds like the makings of a do-nothing committee or of the Tod Schlesinger Club.

[Jeffrey Simons]

Well Todd I guess all I can say to that is when it comes time to take the higher ground for the good of Pacifica, at least we know who will follow the example of Barack Obama and who will not. Even John McCain was capable of showing class in his concession speech, and Obama has graciously welcomed him into the fold as part of the solution to the deep problems our country faces, despite anything McCain said during the election. Even Leiberman got a pass. That's a sign of how deep our troubles run, and a sign how we need to come together.

Now is not the time for derision or victory laps. Now is the time for leadership and community. We need everyone who is willing to help.

[todd bray]

Jeff, I agree that Pete's LTE mooned us all, but he's allowed the occasional out-of-character victory lap. Remember, for two years now, you and your posse have been foul-mouthing his dearest friends and he has remained civil, even with his metaphoric pants down in his recent LTE. So be thankful. It will hurt at first, but if you practice, it will get easier.

[Jeffrey Simons]

wow. after reading Pete Shoemaker's Letter to the Editor this week and these 2 posts by Todd (2 Ds) Bray and Ian Butler, I guess Obama's spirit of collaboration in post-election Pacifica is dead. What a shame.

[todd bray]

Jim, I admire your lack of shame.

[Ian Butler]

Tod Schlesinger? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!! Wait, that was a joke right?