ENVISION SPOKANE HEARING
The City Council held a hearing last night as to whether Envision Spokane (ES) had presented a valid initiative. It was entertaining and instructive. Even though the petition was clearly not valid, five members of the council were sufficiently cowed by ES as to accept that it was.
The way certain members caved in to ES you would have thought ES was actually tied into the Russian military and a nuclear strike was imminent. After all, ES opponents were calling them Communists. I wish they had been Communists. Any self respecting Communist would have written a more sensible and democratic petition.
I do have to give the ES plotters credit for effective tactics. A few months ago, I thought they were going to be laughed out of the room. But they've cobbled together a coalition of the naive and the special interest that is working just fine. Keep throwing out the word democracy. You'll get your way.
As of today, I still only give it a 60% chance that they have enough valid signatures. You would be suprised at the number of folks who don't know whether they live in the city or not but sign petitions.
The five wimps on the council seemed confident that the voters would see through the nonsense in the initiative. But remember that these are voters that elected George Bush twice. How smart can they be?
Just to be clear, let me close with this. I am in favor of a major overhaul of city government, which would actually be more radical, democratic and "leftist" than what ES proposes. It would center on a new structure of governance, truly responsive to the people. But I hate to see a diversion such as what we have here. ES has the goal of wiping out our US constitution (their own words). I don't buy it.
The way certain members caved in to ES you would have thought ES was actually tied into the Russian military and a nuclear strike was imminent. After all, ES opponents were calling them Communists. I wish they had been Communists. Any self respecting Communist would have written a more sensible and democratic petition.
I do have to give the ES plotters credit for effective tactics. A few months ago, I thought they were going to be laughed out of the room. But they've cobbled together a coalition of the naive and the special interest that is working just fine. Keep throwing out the word democracy. You'll get your way.
As of today, I still only give it a 60% chance that they have enough valid signatures. You would be suprised at the number of folks who don't know whether they live in the city or not but sign petitions.
The five wimps on the council seemed confident that the voters would see through the nonsense in the initiative. But remember that these are voters that elected George Bush twice. How smart can they be?
Just to be clear, let me close with this. I am in favor of a major overhaul of city government, which would actually be more radical, democratic and "leftist" than what ES proposes. It would center on a new structure of governance, truly responsive to the people. But I hate to see a diversion such as what we have here. ES has the goal of wiping out our US constitution (their own words). I don't buy it.
1 comment:
"Sufficient cowing" had nothing to do with the Council's decision. It was very clear that Councilmembers were legally obligated to advance the initiative to the auditor's office.
Can you please explain what isn't "sensible and democratic" enough about the Community Bill of Rights? Failing to include warrants for your assertions really dilutes the quality of the debate.
What would your ideal alternative look like? What do you envision that is more of a "major overhaul of city government, which would actually be more radical, democratic and "leftist" than what ES proposes"?
Did you ever attempt to become involved to shape the proposal in a way that you saw fit? Being a critic on the sidelines doesn't accomplish much from what I've seen - you have to work with others to create meaningful change.
You throw out labels like "naive" and "special interest" but fail to explain how this could be so. I can assure you that I am neither.
The goal of the Community Bill of Rights is not to "wipe out the U.S. Constitution" - that is preposterous. The goal is to create ways to allow individuals to effectively defend their interests for the protection of community well-being overall.
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