It’s not difficult to figure out who our elected leaders listen to; it’s not the public, obviously. The professional class of administrative bureaucrats and “expert” consultants have the greatest influence on decisions affecting the public
This reality is easy to observe in the conduct of our local elected bodies. Even though the public includes people with many years of expertise – in education, environment, economic development – their influence over the decision making is minimal. Overall, the public is treated like a nuisance. They are given two or three minutes to give an opinion on even the most complex topics; elected officials seem to feel that that’s all they must provide. It feels like government is simply checking off the public engagement box.
The Board of Trustees of the Sonoma Valley Unified School District, for example, has decided to close Flowery School. Located in the Springs with its sizable Latino community, the closure of Flowery removes a bilingual program from the very area it is intrinsic to and, more significantly, deprives the most vulnerable population of our Valley of a neighborhood school. Adding irony to insult, the sidewalks in the Springs were in part created to provide a safe route for students to walk to Flowery, and two large affordable housing projects will lose the close-by elementary school that figured in the decisions to build them. With Flowery shuttered, all students in that very populous neighborhood will have to be bussed to get to school. And their families lose connection to their children’s school. Looks like systemic racism to us.
The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors recently acted upon the recommendation of Permit Sonoma to hire a consultant to rewrite SDC’s EIR and specific plan. OK, it’s certainly time for that to happen now that the courts have brought the process to a screeching halt, but what did the Supervisors do? Inexplicably, they hired the same firm that produced the first EIR that was thrown out by the court. Who makes a crazy decision like that? It’s what staff wanted them to do.
The City of Sonoma has decided to add an evacuation study to its half-million dollar-plus General Plan update for the additional amount of $60,000. Did they hire KLD Associates, a well-respected firm and the company that recently completed a rigorous evacuation study for the rest of the valley? Nope. The city hired a different company, one suggested by the city’s general plan consultant. The council paid no attention to recommendations by the public who were deeply involved with the study by KLD.
How does this happen? Why is it that our decision-makers make such lousy decisions? Part of the answer lies in government culture. When hearing public opinion is considered a necessary nuisance it’s no wonder that those opinions are disregarded. Consequently, the people who live here and have a stake in the day-to-day life of the community are relegated to second class status in favor of outside consultants and paid staff.
The people we elect to serve the interests of the community are generalists. Few if any of them have had considerable public service experience. That they volunteer their time is creditable, but people run for public office for all kinds of reasons, not just because they want to serve the public good. Sometimes it’s a desire to be liked, sometimes due to holding a grudge or as a steppingstone to higher office, and sometimes it’s just an ego trip. Politics is all too human, and unfortunately, when it comes to decision making, the opinions of unelected staff not accountable to the public take precedence.
Sonoma Valley Sun Editorial Board
Your critique of the decision making processes within local and county governmental agencies is spot-on. I couldn’t agree more. What’s the purpose of asking for public input when it’s obvious that those in control have already made up their collective minds. It feels that asking for community input is just a formality that needs to be checked off their list; it’s just another obstacle in their way. I’ve seen this process play out time and time again.
The SDC issue is a prime example. For nearly 10 years this community has expressed very clearly that they do not want a large urban style town built on this beautiful and historic piece of property that, coincidentally, sits right in the middle of Glen Ellen. Yet, Permit Sonoma with the support of the Board of Supervisors continue to move forward with this monstrosity. Do the people have a voice here in the Valley of the Moon? It certainly doesn’t appear that way.