Keener & O'Neill Initiatives: Transparency & Trust

From Pacifica City

In addition to the huge (but partial) victory for those opposing the proposed Fairmont 7-Eleven, two other important topics briefly floated to the surface at the July 27 Pacifica City Council meeting.

Council member John Keener advocated for the right of residents (both renters and homeowners) to be notified in writing by the city Planning Department (equally to corporate property owners) on any planning, development, or zoning issue affecting their part of town.
 
Historically and according to California law, non-owning residents (renters) have always been ignored, but not a single one of the nearly 6,000 residents (renters and owners) in the 6027 census tract were "noticed" by the Planning Department of the original Fairmont 7-Eleven permit hearings on May 18.

As the cost of Bay Area homes and rentals skyrockets, renters are becoming more permanent members of the community, who many feel should have a right to know when a 24-hour 7-Eleven, or anything else, is moving within 50 feet of their front doors.

Keener said: "My feeling is that residents and property owners ought to be equal for notification on these sorts of issues."

Council member Mike O'Neill advocated for public comments at council meetings to be returned to the beginning of the agenda. O'Neill suggested moving "Oral Communications" on non-agenda items to the front, so that people with neighborhood issues don't have to wait through hours of procedural business, as occurred on July 27. (If you work a full-time job, it is a hardship to sit until midnight at a council meeting, particularly if you have school-age children.)

O'Neill said: "I would like to see Oral Communications moved up to the front of the meeting like it used to be... Maybe we move Oral Communication before Public Hearings, because I don't think it's fair to have people sit out there for three hours when they want to get up and talk about a light that's burnt out, or something."

Council member Sue Digre seconded O'Neill's motion to staff to find more evidence in Pacifica's General Plan that the 7-Eleven project DOES NOT COMPLY with Pacifica's General Plan.

Comments

[Lionel Emde]

I must compliment City Council member Mike O'Neill for advocating that Oral Communications (public comment) be returned to the front of the council agenda. I have not been happy with his pro-development positions, among other things, but this is a refreshing change.

Moving Oral Communications to the back of the agenda was in part the work of a late council member who couldn't stand listening to a local who sounded off weekly. It didn't work; the local, like a local bird species, continued to sound off weekly.

So may we look forward to the city attorney, who can't seem to figure out what's proper in closed session, being replaced as well? Probably not for now; wait for the 2016 election. Are you listening, council member O'Neill?

[todd bray]

The city clerk emails out the bimonthly council packet to all who sign up to receive it. There is no technical barrier to the Planning Commission doing the same with its agenda and public notices for hearings. In fact, the city should email everyone who signs up any and all notices for public hearings by council and commissions. What could be simpler? Oh yeah. Doing it the way it is done today.

[www.Pacifica.city]

Keener's advocacy for the rights of residents (whether renters or homeowners) is especially important with regard to the growth of Peninsula rental housing vs. owner-occupied homes.

A lot of homes on the Peninsula were converted from owner-occupied to rentals during the housing crisis in a manner that effectively reduced community input, and the high cost of Pacifica housing stock frequently forces hardworking long-term residents who have raised a generation of kids here to be renters.

Keener's suggestions give a lot more residents the opportunity to have a voice, even if the Planning Department's prior method was technically "compliant."

O'Neill's suggestion is plain old common sense and efficiency:

Let the people participate in the government they have the bandwidth for, without forcing them to cancel swimming lessons, band, and baseball practice, and hiring a baby sitter for five hours to do so.

[Bob Pilgrim]

Setting the early stage of transparency: One of the preliminary efforts that might be undertaken to significantly enhance transparency at City Hall is for the bureaucracy to create an email list made up of all the local population it can survey. The advent/utilization of the Internet by government and the governed can result in a new, more effective form of popular democracy.