Tuesday, October 17, 2006
CREG at the Eureka City Council.
My wife Robin and I went to the Eureka City Council meeting tonight to hear some of the CREG testimony. I had to work Friday night so I missed their open house at the Warfinger. I was just a little disappointed as we did not hear any great overviews of the meeting. "There was a great 20 minute introduction of options and like it was positive and like showed options and like stuff like that ......." I was hoping for something with more substance. Oh well. I did get a chance to hear Daniel Pierce address the Council about the possibility of steroid abuse by the Eureka City police force. (Steroids or Donuts? You be the judge.) He was booed before his three minute allotment was over and I feel Peter LaVallee should have admonished the crowd and allowed Daniel to finish. Mr. Pierce did make an interesting point about the officers in the Cheri Moore debacle. Did the police force workers who were put on administrative leave have to be drug tested. If an industrial worker is in an accident or a motorist for instance has a catastrophic accident, they are bound by law to a mandatory drug test. Is law enforcement held to the same testing standard. I really do not know. Maybe they are. Made us ponder the accusation.
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11 comments:
Ask CREG fo a CD (DVD?) of the event.
Daniel Pierce isn't an idiot so I would like to know what he's got that would cause him to come to this idea of EPD on steroids.
Drug testing would resolve the issue-but there are so many legal ramifications, and the police union may not allow it.
I'm pretty sure that the SWAT team members were tested for drug and alcohol right after the event. I'd have to go over my notes to make absolutely sure, but I'm 99 percent certain that came up during the inquest.
Oh -- but I'm 100 percent certain that no one mentioned anything about steroids.
Then why get on here with 99-100%?
Because it's better than zero percent?
CREG forum a blueprint for successful community development
My Word
Eureka Times Standard
Article Launched:10/18/2006 04:30:25 AM PDT
By Larry Evans
It appears that the Times-Standard editorial staff [”Balloon Tract: Time to work together to get something done,” Oct. 14] formed their opinion on how to proceed with the question of Balloon Tract zoning without bothering to attend CREG's “Imagine the Possibilities” forum on community based planning.
If they had been there, they would understand that the city has no obligation to accept the zoning change being requested by Mr. Arkley's Security National company. They would see that a return to the Master Planning process that the citizens won in the 1999 Measure J fight will lead to a plan that we can all be proud of and that will help our community to move forward to accomplishing the universal goal of bringing this derelict property into productive use.
If the editors had been in the audience of the packed Friday night community meeting, they would have understood that the artificial choice of big-box or blight being dictated to the community is both unacceptable and unwise. They would comprehend the fact that the lengthy process required to start building on the site might be considerably shortened if we were able to avoid the inevitable protracted conflict that is likely if the community is strong-armed into a plan we are told we should like because it is what Mr. Arkley wants. And if they had a sense of history, they would see that the real move backward was the move to regurgitate the big-box mall project rejected by 61 percent of voters in 1999.
But since the editors apparently formed their opinion without the benefit of actually seeing firsthand the important information being brought to the community by CREG, let me share what the experts we were able to provide explained -- that decisions on zoning are reserved for the community through our elected leaders.
They would have learned that it takes the kind of strong, courageous political leadership that Eureka has been lacking for far too long. They would understand that with a full cleanup and a zoning plan generated from the ground up, this highly significant land at the heart of our city would be a prize any developer would jump at -- a 40-acre piece of California waterfront with a bright future.
Finally, if they had visited their dictionary, they might have learned that “envision” is a verb and “vision” is a noun, but that having a vision for a community is the right and responsibility of the whole community, not just an elitist clique of developers.
CREG (Citizens for Real Economic Growth) does not have any specific objection to Mr. Arkley being the developer who will rehabilitate the Balloon Tract. We would even go so far as to say that we are in favor of a local developer such as Mr. Arkley handling this project. What we are opposed to is having any developer trample our rights. Dictating the zoning mix that we must choose without a proper participatory planning process up front does just that.
Insofar as CREG is perceived to be critical of Mr. Arkley, it is because he is the one currently attempting to dictate to us. When it was Wal-Mart dictating to us, we opposed that as well. I guess at least 61 percent of us living in Eureka are kind of ornery that way -- we don't care to be dictated to, no matter who it is or how much money they throw around.
We believe in the principles and values of democracy above the value of undue influence. Some people would call that good old-fashioned Americanism. It is a lesson most of us want our representatives at all levels of government to learn from.
For anyone who wants a free DVD of the “Imagine the Possibilities” forum, we will be posting a request form on the CREG website (www.SaveEurekaWaterfront.org) along with other information.
Larry Evans is a spokesman for CREG.
Larry spoke at the City Council last night. He should have paraphrased his opinions from the article. People keep going back to the 61% vote from 1999 against Wal Mart. I am sure that if people knew that 7 years would pass and nothing would become of the balloon track, the vote may have been different. We are ralking about Walmart vs Home Depot. Big difference as far as employee work practices.
Lots of people abuse steroids. Why not the Eureka police? They are just as likely to abuse steroids or other substances as the rest of the population. Also, Richard is right, everyone is entitled to their 3 minutes, no matter what their opinion is. Daniel is certainly as smart or smarter than many of the candidates (and incumbents) that are currently running for office in this county!
As a Quaker, I don't believe TV and CSI are de riguer in the Pierce home.
What does being a Quaker have to do you with what's going on at the Pierce home?
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