Letter To The Editor: Chapter 18: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

By AARON WALKER
White Rock

This took me a while to write because I needed to come down from my anger regarding the actions of Council Nov. 29. I’m still quite worked up about it, but I am at a point where I can write about it without fuming.

The Good:

I must give my thanks to the 47 people who put their name on the list of supporters and the additional members of the public that showed up in person and on Zoom to provide public comment. There were over 50 unique names that asked the council to slow down, and some of the people that gave comment were at their first council meeting. I also would like to give special thanks to Joshua Muck, who helped make this a truly non-partisan effort to avoid council making a big mistake. He assisted in shaping the message of the presentation and pointed out some key areas to focus on. And Mary Wilhoit, the hand-written note you gave me at the meeting warmed my heart.

Non-partisan issues can bring everyone together! Mr. Muck and I don’t agree on much, but boy did we work hard together on this. When George Chandler, myself, and Josh Muck agree on an issue? That SHOULD be pretty telling.

The Bad:

Council still chose to pass the Chapter 18 nuisance code even after accepting the petition earlier in the evening and voting 4-3 to come up with a timeline to come back to council with a feedback and approval schedule. I guess it’s perfectly ok for council to ignore its own decisions, even from earlier in the same night.

Council can STILL choose to sunset CDAB on Dec. 6. Again, absurd given that they voted on actions to be taken when accepting the petition.

This is bad governance at its worst. Councilors Izraelevitz, Scott, and Derkacs consistently ignore public outcry in favor of their own elitist opinions. They don’t represent US, they represent themselves and their elitist mentality. “Tarps” are the enemy, which means so are the less fortunate. Fortunately, two of the councilors are leaving council at the end of the year, but there is still damage to be done. They will certainly try to reorganize CDAB into a task force with a sunset date on Dec. 6. This is an absolutely horrible choice but seems likely to happen unless councilor Lepsch can be convinced to not side with the elitists again. He still has not provided ANY public reasoning for his vote. While he doesn’t have to, I believe that there are quite a few residents that are still wondering why he voted FOR the petition motion yet decided to approve the new code anyways at the end of the night.

The Ugly:

Elitism, classism, and ignoring public outcry seem to continue to be the flavor of the week (terms) for the usual council members, and that is doing harm to the residents of the community. Petitions are useless and the public are meant to be ignored. Let’s hope the new council commits to a better method of governance.

Conclusion:

This fight isn’t over. My many thanks to those involved thus far, and I hope you will continue to listen to updates as they arise. I know not everyone will be happy, but we have to find some ground that will work. I’ll keep working to get this code right for the PEOPLE, not for the ELITES.

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