#18, July 7, 1999
My boss once told me
"success often looks like a mess in the middle." Today, the Lafferty
Park project sure looks messy, and deserves some clarification.
The fish story: the
City remains under threat of lawsuit from the Sonoma Mountain Conservancy. Just
as the City's closed-session meetings to discuss legal strategy are not
violations of law or ethics, the City's refusal to release all of the fish
biologist's draft report is not a
cover up. The City's legal advisor, who specializes in EIRs, says "it's
standard practice we don't release that type of report on an interim
basis." To which I add, "when bullets are flying over your head, be extra careful how you stand up."
There's abundant
evidence that Conservancy's fact-twisting lawyers are paid to make beauty marks
look like malignant tumors. Last year, I called for a cooperative fence-mending
project, and demonstrated goodwill by organizing two dozen volunteers who spent
three hours removing ten cubic yards of trash from Sonoma Mountain Road. The
lawyer's reply (to the City) basically accused us of conspiring to trespass,
and concluded, "Mr. Hagen and his group have no interest in being 'good
neighbors'." Hey, it's hard to
prove you're a good neighbor when the neighbors won't even let you on your
property.
If
the Conservancy is so concerned about hikers hurting fish, where were they
when, year after year, cattle belonging to a Conservancy member mucked around
in Adobe Creek, and triggered landslides into the streambed. In 1996, when the
City suspended this neighbor's grazing lease, in part because he refused to
take measures to keep his cows out of the creek, the Conservancy's lawyers
slammed the City for being anti-agriculture.
More
recently, the Conservancy is demanding an environmental review before we mow
our grass. Why didn't they protest when, in December 1996, another Conservancy
member built a mile of wildlife-proof fence, mowing down three mature oak trees
on City land, without City permission or County permit?
What
is the Conservancy trying to conserve?
Meanwhile, here in
town, there's talk of reviving of the Lafferty-Moon swap. Brian Sobel, a former
City Council Member and long-time swap advocate, speaking on PCA television,
dug up some old arguments, such as the claim that Moon is safer because
Lafferty is too steep to land a helicopter (see striking evidence to the
contrary at www.laffertyranch.org/sumtour/sumfam.htm).
Sobel
and others suggest Lafferty supporters blew it
by derailing the swap and then failing to deliver on a regional park. Let me
set this straight. At a pivotal OSD Authority meeting on January 25, 1996, as
the swap was sinking under the weight of overwhelming public opposition, we
formally reminded the Authority that they had the legal power, the funds, and
the public support for buying Moon (or some other property) without requiring
Lafferty in trade. But we were stonewalled, by both the OSD and the County
Supervisors. If Lafferty supporters were guilty of anything, we were guilty of
expecting responsive government, and of believing what Moon's owner told me
after that meeting: "I'm just trying to get a park for the people."
Fortunately, things
are changing. The Supervisors tried to buy the 960 acre Bohemia Ranch for a
regional park without insisting that people of Monte Rio give up any public
parkland in trade. But why is this generous spirit slow in coming to Petaluma?
In October 1992, when
initial City Council enthusiasm for Lafferty Park dissolved in a wave of
opposition from Sonoma Mountain residents, the Council called for a citizens
committee to work through the issues. Instead, however, some Council Members went off in private to
negotiate the swap. It was this manner of City governance, as much as the loss
of Lafferty, that drove voters to change the City Council.
Thus, it's no
surprise that people who seek a return to good old days of developer-driven
government want the Conservancy's siege of Lafferty Park to bleed popular
support from Lafferty's champions on the Council. Let's not be fooled. We have
more to lose than a mountaintop.