Occupy Mountain View City Hall: Nov. 15, 2011 Public Comments

Mountain View City Council Meeting
Item 6. Open Comments from the Public On Non-Agendized Items
Nov. 15, 2011

Transcribed by Christine Bush, Mountain View Resident

Despite the faithfulness of this transcription to the video source, this transcription is UNOFFICIAL. It has not been reviewed by the Mountain View City Council or Clerk's Office. To the best of my knowledge, however, this is the only written account of what the public said.

     “My name is Don Letcher, Mountain View citizen.

     If there's anybody else that would like to speak first, I'd like that...Doug DeLong seems to take objection to me speaking first but I don't know what to do when there's only one person. Alright, so anyway, I'd like to speak to the General Plan. And I know the contract is on the Agenda, but I'm not speaking to the contract, just to the General Plan itself.

     So the newspapers put in January 2008, in the Daily News, put a big thing on the front page about the General Plan being started in the City of Mountain View. That was January 2008 – three and half years ago. And they were asking for public input at that time. Well it's been three and half years, and then the Housing Element got incorporated into it, which was another delay to the General Plan. And as I understand it – and I haven't follow this very closely – but as I understand it, we're way behind on timing for the Housing Element also. And I understand it just got kicked back for corrections and had to be re-submitted again.

     I just think this is terribly, terribly, terribly unfair to the people who live in this city. To go along without a General Plan, and have Council decisions and just flexible policies and everything on a case- to-case basis and no...no...no set pattern that applies to everybody in the city...and just case-by-case basis: how well somebody is liked, or what it's going to do for the city financially or something else as opposed to having set policies. It's just absolutely unfair, just terribly, terribly unfair to keep stretching this out and stretching it out and stretching it out.

     So, I....it's too late now to do anything about it. But it, it's been just a terrible, terrible burden on the people of this city to not know the direction the city's going to take and what we're going to be doing and just have people at random...individuals...go to City directors and tell them what to do without any kind of General Plan. Thank you.”