I’m beginning to tire of Andy Caldwell’s campaign to unseat Sarah Christie, Planning Commission chair. Mr. Caldwell, executive director of COLAB and pro-business, anti-regulations columnist and radio commentator, accuses Ms. Christie of “bias” every chance he gets wherever anyone will give him time or space. However, I’ve been to enough Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors meetings to see the need for an informed, articulate voice for the neighbors of proposed developments as well as for the environment these developments may degrade.
Go to any of these “public” meetings, all scheduled during most people’s work hours, and you’ll see a handful of diehard advocates for the community and/or the environment and its resources (thank you, Mike Winn and Eric Greening, for your articulate and informed perseverance) and a hoard of agents, lawyers, and other paid representatives of the developer whose application is being heard.
We should be grateful to Chairperson Christie for the time she takes to see to it that the concerns of those the projects will most affect can be heard. This is not “bias.” It is debate, and we need more of that kind of even-handed representation in government.
This article appears in Sep 24 – Oct 1, 2009.