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Listen to the reports each weekday at 6:49 am & 8:49 am To
suggest a topic for a future land use report, or to convey a comment,
please use this link.
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| Past
Reports
The following Land Use Reports have been presented on KUSP by Gary Patton, Executive Director of The Planning and Conservation League. The opinions expressed by Mr. Patton are not necessarily those of KUSP You can contact Gary Patton at PCL by emailing him at: gapatton@pcl.org.
Monday, February 5, 2007 – A Land Purchase in Capitola It’s difficult to carry out negotiations on behalf of the public when those negotiations are carried out in full public view. The Brown Act does allow City Council members to go into “closed sessions,” to instruct their negotiators on potential property purchases, with the idea that this will protect the public interest in getting a better price. On the other hand, how will elected officials know what their constituents really think, without the opportunity for public comment? The “value” of a property, ultimately, is the price agreed to by a willing seller and a willing buyer, and if the people of the City are the potential buyer, it’s highly relevant to know what they think. The meeting tonight is an important one. The hearing begins at 5:30 this evening in the Capitola City Council Chambers. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton. More Information
Tuesday, February 6, 2007 – The Transportation Funding Task Force The Transportation Funding Task Force is comprised of over 90 members representing business, neighborhood, environmental, health and community based organizations. Beginning in September of 2005, the Task Force held a number of public workshops and identified transportation problems that the Task Force believes need immediate attention. These include Highway One improvements, bicycle and pedestrian improvements, increased levels of road maintenance and repair on local streets and roads, viable alternatives to some trips that are currently taken by individuals traveling alone in their car, and targeted improvements to the existing bus transit system. The Draft Plan outlines three different alternatives for addressing the identified transportation problems, and it’s now time for the public to weigh in on these specific proposals. I encourage KUSP listeners to get involved now. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton. More Information
Wednesday, February 7, 2007 – Get Acquainted With LAFCO Actually, the business before the Commission this morning is not of overwhelming importance, but as a “get acquainted” opportunity, this might be a particularly good meeting to attend, since the Commission will be welcoming a number of new members and alternates. Supervisor Ellen Pirie will be taking a seat on LAFCO on behalf of the County of Santa Cruz, and Supervisor Neal Coonerty will be attending his first LAFCO meeting as a County Alternate. Bob Begun, from the City of Capitola will be taking his seat as a City Member, and Cliff Barrett, from Scotts Valley, will be taking his seat as City Alternate. LAFCO includes two representatives from the County of Santa Cruz, two representatives from the cities within Santa Cruz County, two representatives of Special Districts located in Santa Cruz County, and a public member. The County, the cities, and the special districts also get to appoint one alternate each, and there is an alternate public member, as well. LAFCO plays a vitally important role in determining the shape and character of future development. If you’re not acquainted already, think about taking in the meeting this morning. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton. More Information Thursday, February 8, 2007 – The Complexities of the GPU The complexities are not yet through “complexifying,” I feel certain, since the County will soon be back in Federal Court, along with the citizen activist groups, trying to sort through how the various lawsuits still pending will relate to the upcoming election. There are, at least potentially, a number of items headed for the ballot:
And I may have missed something! Some voices in the community have said that these issues are not ones that the voters should tackle, and that they should just let the Board, presumably better informed, make the key decisions. I think it’s clear that Monterey County voters do want to have their say. That’s certainly consistent with our democratic idea about who is ultimately in charge of the government. It’s the people! For KUSP, this is Gary Patton. Friday, February 9, 2007 – A Land Use Dispute Killing? These events might properly lead us to review some of the philosophical concerns that were so important to our nation’s Founding Fathers. The philosopher Thomas Hobbes, in his book Leviathan, argued that the “state of nature” into which human beings are first introduced is a condition in which the most powerful prevail over the less powerful as a consequence of their power, and by unrestrained violence, and that this condition can only be eliminated by the establishment of a “social contract,” enforced on behalf of all individuals by a greater governmental authority. Thomas Locke elaborated this idea, and this thinking played a central role in the creation of our system of government. In very practical terms, if people attempt to resolve disputes about land use and property themselves, by direct action, Hobbes isn’t far off in saying that violence and murder will be a likely consequence. What we need is a vigorous set of land use laws, established by the government on our behalf, and then the enforcement of those laws, so they can be relied on by us all. An effective system of code enforcement may be a matter of life and death! For KUSP, this is Gary Patton. More Information Wikipedia entry for Thomas Hobbes - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes The archives of past Land Use Reports contain a number of commentaries focusing on inadequate code enforcement efforts generally, and in Monterey County in particular. |