Current Listing

Submitted By: ben.killen.rosenberg@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

Posting on behalf of Kim Rosenberg. loretta.kim.rosenberg@gmail.com

Session Success

At last Wednesday’s Listening Session kick off at the Pine Grove, I was impressed, once again, by our tireless City Manager, Leila Aman, and our dedicated City Staff, who came out to facilitate the session. I thank each of them for their service to our community. The format was simple yet effective and staff was there to answer all manner of questions from the community.

Folks wrote down their concerns, solutions, and ideas for the different topics presented on big white paper and used blue sticky dots to agree with comments written by others. The blizzard of blue dots next to so many of the comments show how we share the same values and agree about more than you’d think.

Before I left, I read all the comments again in case I missed something. As I read, I could see how so many of our challenges are tangled together. It’s like that big bag of yarn I got at the Hope Chest years ago thinking I’d untangle and use it, but instead I keep shoving to the back of the closet. That yarn isn’t going to untangle itself. Neither will our challenges.

It took decades to create the problems we’re living with now and it’s not going to be quick to find solutions but City Manager Aman is setting the stage for the conversation to begin with these first steps.

Plus, it was fun, too. Who doesn’t like stickers, markers and big white paper? Who doesn’t like seeing old friends and meeting new ones?

I met some people I didn’t know but knew of. I had conversations with people I probably wouldn’t have met otherwise who offered different perspectives about some things I feel deeply about. That’s where community starts–not just with our besties who agree with us about everything, but with those who don’t.

If you aren’t able to go to the next session, you have until the 23rd to do the on-line survey available on the City’s homepage.

The next live session is Wednesday July 20, from 1-4 at the Pine Grove. Blue dots are provided!

loretta.kim.rosenberg@gmail.com

Submitted By: daslunas@icloud.com – Click to email about this post

ITS THE PROCESS
For the third time, Manzanita’s planning commission denied a permit to the Manzanita Loft hybrid-Hotel development.
Coming up this month, are two hearings in which I hope the council listens carefully to the results from the Planning Commission, the city’s key advisory group on land use planning. The commission cited very significant safety issues in both the neighborhood and the adjoining golf course. Surely the Planning Commission’s frank concerns and recommendations would tug at the moral fiber of anyone — council members included.
When news of the proposed development first emerged, one citizen wrote to the City Council with questions and neighborhood concerns. She received one response which stated something like … the law allowed this development because it was zoned for limited commercial use. No reference was made to the Comprehensive Plan. The recipient felt it was a standard form letter that spoke to none of her questions or concerns. She felt nobody was listening.
In the case of the Manzanita Loft hybrid-Hotel, citizens were fortunate to bring together talented expertise and personal funds so land use planners and experts could be hired to present a factual and well-organized campaign. Today, this group calls itself the Concerned Citizens of Manzanita (CCOM).
Looking at all residents of Manzanita, my concern is for a process to weigh both sides. Not all neighborhoods are as motivated and organized as the CCOM. But, we do need to build a process that works for our neighborhoods using the CCOM as a model.
Our past experience has been on decisions related to land use development, if ‘the project meets code’, the City Council generally approves it. This project DOES NOT meet code — as cited in numerous documents submitted to the Planning Commission by the CCOM and reflected in the Planning Commissions’ decision.
This project has deep and wide community concerns — concerns that date back several years. It would be unfortunate to again, brush these aside and give this project an approval. July 19th @ 1:00 is the date for the City Concil hearing where testimony will be welcome.
We need to enter a new era, one where the city’s revenue isn’t placed above the preservation of our neighborhoods, where our administrative process is proactive.
Deb Simmons Candidate for Mayor daslunas@icloud.com