Dana Point General Plan Defended and Derided

Is it possible we’ve reached a point where recall is the only solution to this city’s problems? Over a year ago, the city conducted a survey in which 3,000 people were polled. The results of this survey regarding redevelopment were dramatic. The conclusion printed in the final analysis of the survey read: “According to the residents, the city should not rely on the Redevelopment Agency for economic development.”

Despite these findings, the city chose to ignore this recommendation and went on to spend hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on an obviously unpopular project. After overwhelming opposition from the community and choosing to ignore its own Planning Commission’s recommendation to remove any mention of redevelopment from the General Plan, the City Council has seen to it that redevelopment remains part of the General Plan. The council still maintains itself as a Redevelopment Agency.

The city is now attempting to block the General Plan’s ratification from going to a vote before the people by refusing to submit to the Orange County registrar of voters petitions signed by more than 14% of this city’s registered voters. These actions point out a disturbing trend within the city government.

It has become a common belief among a large and growing number of citizens that the city government is not only willing to ignore the concerns of a significant number of its citizens but also holds them in utter contempt.

It would appear by the words and actions of its leaders that city government has become far removed from being the representative and servant of the people and has become an institution with its own agenda and ambitions. Maybe the time has come to consider removing the city government and put in place one that does not act as a master, divorced from the needs, wishes and desires of its people.

BILL WALTER, Dana Point