Letter: Verbal abuse at TRPA meeting unjustified
To TRPA, local jurisdiction members and the community,
I attended the January TRPA Governing Board meeting (as I attend most) and was astounded at the verbal accosting of a member of the public and the general treatment of this person by TRPA and local jurisdiction staff and associated consultants, and other members of the planning team. This all took place before the public hearing on an upcoming area plan presentation.
This is outrageous and unacceptable.
We, the public at-large, are entitled by legal right to speak our mind about any subject matter on an agenda and should not feel threatened or intimated into not stating how we feel on that particular matter.
I hope to never see this type of shameful treatment again.
Ellie Waller, Tahoe Vista
Are these meetings broadcast on local TV? If not, they should be.
Welcome to the systemic try at suppressing freedom of expression. Free speech is a joke at south shore.
Good to see word about this kind of stuff is getting out. For far too long people have been intimidated at those meetings.
This was all about the Meyers Area Plan that our esteemed leaders are trying to push forward quickly, apparently before most people can figure out what’s really in the Plan. This shouldn’t be a big deal, if the agencies truly mean it when they say communities can decide their own plans. But when TRPA and the County are running forward, new Plans in hand, and trying to leave us behind – seems to me something’s up.
6:30pm, Lake Valley Fire Dept. Tomorrow night – the community is holding a discussion about what’s really in the Plan that the agencies and their consultants do not want to change.
As I have said for years, there is nothing like the disdain for the taxpayer like bureaucrats have. Add the hubris, and you get behavior like this. They get their paychecks from us too… It is disgusting. The same mentality is present in the parking fiasco, IMHO.
Thank you
Our thanks to Ellie for raising this concern. We would also be appalled by any perceived bullying and we hold our public process as sacred ground where everyone is encouraged to weigh in and take part in decisions.
Ellie’s letter prompted us to look closely into the circumstances and events in our Board room last Wednesday and suffice it to say, there are different accounts.
Two members of the public did get heated as sometimes happens when equal but divergent passions come together. No TRPA staff of board members were involved in the exchange, which occurred during a break when the board was not convened.
That said, we do feel that we have an obligation to manage our meeting space in a way that makes everyone feel welcome and un-intimidated. It appears that we could have been more attentive and directed the energy of this exchange to the podium when the meeting was convened later so that our Board members could benefit from the discussion.
Our staff and Board Members are committed to a high level of community engagement. The updated Regional Plan included the input of more than 5,000 citizens, among whom there was great diversity of opinion.
Following the adoption of the new Regional Plan, there has been a renewed spirit of cooperation and positive progress in the Basin. Let’s keep this spirit alive by maintaining a robust civil discourse and encouraging one another to join the effort to improve our environment and communities.
Really ! Omnipotence and arrogance from the TRPA Staff towards a member of the public ?
How could that be ?
Perhaps “the public” felt it necessary to speak during a break because if “this energy” had been directed to the podium when the meeting was reconvened, the three minuted allowed to the public to speak would have been insufficient to address a complex concern. Please note that agency folks, consultants and board member can blather on endlessly while members of the public are under the stopwatch no matter how important their comments. I once saw a lawyer for a citizen group held to three minutes while attempting to lay the groundwork for a CEQA violation. It was later determined that he, in fact, should have been given more time but, oh well……………
Would the trpa liaison please let us know if all the 5,000 citizens who provided input for the updated regional plan were either residents or owners of property in Meyers? If not, would you give us a break down of their relationship to Meyers?
Thank you.
sounds like the bulying deflection tactic that discourages others from daring to question the overlords’ agenda. Btw, is it TRPA or TRAP?
Good questions. How many of the people from Meyers who participated in that process knew that “mixed use” meant tall, dense, massive buildings in Meyers? That “economic redevelopment” meant more Heavenly Villages, less small, locally-owned businesses? That extra ‘incentives’ mean a large, often corporate developer gets more height, more density, more coverage of the land…and on and on, while the little guys struggle to upgrade or put their BMPs in. We attended the first Meyers workshop on this in April 2012 and the spin and government lingo was flying around so quickly, none of us really knew what was going on.
All they had to do was ask Kenny Curtzwiler. I built the first mixed use / multi family / residential and commercial building in 25 years in the basin in 2008. (Meyers) It was also the first green building and conformed to the existing Meyers plan at the time. I worked with over 25 agency’s on the project and even got an award (first one) from the TRPA for multi use mixed property. We do not need to reinvent the wheel as everything is already in place for what should be done. All these study’s are for government job security only. The tools are already in place for what can be done without another study to study what we need to be studying for a new study.
Meyers Community Meeting tonight at Lake Valley Fire House, 6:30 PM.
2211 Keetak Street
South Lake Tahoe, CA. 96150
Station 7: (530) 577-3737
Last nite’s Meyers meeting at the Fire Station had an excellent turn-out and was quite an eye-opener.
Residents hopefully came away with a slightly better understanding of government processes and the forward momentum of commercial development.
Let’s hope this new found interest continues and hopefully prevents Meyers from becomming another commercially over developed area like “The Ridge” above Kingsbury Grade.