HomeMy WebLinkAbout7/7/2020 Item 08, Lucas, B
Clerk, Intern
From:Bob <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Dr Papp
I’m distressed to learn about the removal of James Papp.
I’m aware that he can be a bit pushy at times, but the knowledge and commitment he brings to his work is
perfectly suited to the reasons the committee exists.
Here’s a person who’s doing the work and asking the questions and protecting the treasures of our community,
just the kind you would hope to have when you search for appointees to committees.
What happens when you don’t have committees to do their work competently? All the tough questions land at
the top, the City Council, that has to spend more and more its time doing work that the will soon wish they had
someone like Papp to do.
What happens in fact? Likely, the Council capitulates and defers to, or rather increases its dependence on staff
recommendations. Well, you say, that’s why we hired them. True. But they aren’t always right, or fully
knowledgeable.
My personal experience with how wrong staff can be dates back almost six years to when our neighborhood
pushed back about elements of the plan to build the La Quinta hotel. Some of its design incorporated flagrant
violations of Ordinance 1130, which neither the developers nor STAFF could/would see or acknowledge.
The administrative officer approved the plans despite our pointing out the mistakes. The ARC, despite copious
community testimony about the violations, approved the plans, relying heavily on staff recommendations.
It wasn’t until the project came to the Planning Commission (a hearing that STAFF had even connived to deny
us) that a single PC member stated forcibly that our reading of the Ordinance was clearly in line with what the
originators had intended. That single person standing in front of the tank turned the momentum and ultimately
the developers were forced to make signficant changes that brought the project into compliance with the
Ordinance.
What infuriated me during the process was that when we questioned STAFF both privately and publicly to give
us their definition, their only response (which almost became a mantra) was that the plans fit their definition of
what the words in the Ordinance. But despite our requests, they never shared that definition with us. One staff
member spontaneously tried to do so in a public meeting, but his attempt never moved past a rambling jumble
of gibberish that he eventually broke off mid-sentence.
I know that STAFF is important, and provides a continuity and a perspective that temporary committee
members (and even Council members) cannot. But they are fallible, or can be lacking in knowledge that may
be important and germane. This was true in our case, since it was a contract reviewer, not a full time planning
employee, who had first brought the violation of the Ordinance to light.
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I know that Dr Papp can be irritating at times. But all of the important and vital committees, commissions, and
councils of our city have had such members over the years. In the interest of the City’s past, and its future, keep
him on.
Thank you,
Bob Lucas
805 459 4344
1831 San Luis Drive
45 year resident
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