Quick Hits - The City

I'm gonna cover a few things here all in one piece. Let me start by saying that watching city council meetings is still as tortuous as I remember. Its almost as bad as watching judicial candidates debate each one another. Almost.

Seriously, I hope every newsroom in town kicks in a few more bucks to their beat reports that have the misfortune of having to cover city council meetings.

Okay lets get started -

Mayor Leeser

Trust me, the vato is running for re-election. Why the hell we are even talking about it is a function of the fact that he is already running around making sure he doesn't have opposition. Sources in city hall indicate that he's already had or planning a fundraiser and has let various members of council know about it.

Remember that the dynamic on this city council is weird to say the least and the political fulcrum of power on council does not reside with Leeser.

Carl Robinson

Half the time he's comic relief in his confusion, the other half of the time its just annoying. I swear someone should start a twitter feed of just stupid stuff the guy says. I'll say this, since Sergio Lewis is no longer in office Robinson has been promoted to the top spot in terms of elected officials that waste the most amount of time on a board or commission.

Homeless Shelter

Since I'm the only blogger other than DK that doesn't actually get paid to post shitty items I'll kick it to you straight. The homeless shelter item was one of the few times that you actually see a scenario were everybody wins. Homelessness is a problem and without people like the Rescue Mission performing a very necessary function, we'd be blowing huge wads of tax-payer cash dealing with a range of issues that come with the homeless. Everyone played nice with each other and Dr. Noe offered a friendly amendment to put the property up for sale asap so that taxpayers can maximize the cash they'll get. For a city council that can take all day to figure what they want to order at Starbucks, they actually got through this one pretty painlessly.

Constituent Issue

I usually only talk back to a screen when I'm watching wrestling (screw you elitists, I like wrestling y que?) and when I'm watching my Redskins play. Yesterday's council meeting had me screaming at my iPad because I was so frustrated. I'll say what no one else will say publicly. Sometimes constituents don't know whats good for themselves. Not because they are stupid, but because they don't have all the information available to them or don't understand the policy implications of a given vote.

I blame, at least partially, Carlos Gallinar. I like Carlos, really smart vato. But he confused everyone on planet earth with his explanation of two policy choices relating to zoning. Its not his fault, as one of my homies put it to me yesterday, planners and engineers don't have people skills. Sometimes you have to be aware of your audience and a school-boy explanation goes directly over the head of everyone in earshot.

Go back and watch the video of the constituents and council. It was like watching Who's on First.

Representative Acosta did the best job of breaking it down to Barney level. But the constituents were confused by all the other stuff and didn't know what recommendation to follow.

Thats were I wish Acosta would've just pulled the trigger and advocated for the constituents best interests, especially in light of their confusion. The flaw in the Eddie Holguin-JOP school of thought is that sometimes the constituents don't know what they want, don't know whats best for them, or don't understand. Thats why they elect someone, so that they will do it for them.

I get it, its easy to put in the position of "well I can't go against what my constituents want". Yes you can. No constituent ever wants their taxes raised, but that happens all the time. Constituents will be more forgiving if you take a vote because you feel its the right thing to do then take a vote you know is wrong, but are doing it because they are asking for it. Maya would eat candy all day if I let her, sometimes you have to say no and do whats best for them even if they don't think it is at the time.

Let me be clear, Acosta was in a bad position because this entire situation is a big cluster fudge. The CPC voted 7-1 against the proposed ordinance. Staff recommended passage of the ordinance. That almost never happens.

Oh, if you're wondering what ended up happening...nothing. It was tabled until next week to give the constituents time to get more confused.