Friday Update on August 2 2019
All,
Back from a couple of days in a very hot and monsoon driven trip to Arizona. A couple items:
City Council Agenda:
Discussion items includes:
- Air B&B Ordinance
- Designation of Alternate City Council Liaison to Yolo Housing Authority Board
- Building Permit System Software Upgrade
- Natural Resources Element Review
Consent Calendar Items Includes:
- Purchase of a Float Sensor for East Street Sewer Pump Station
- Amplified Sound Permit for Thanksgiving Dinner Fundraiser
- Delinquent Utility Bills
- Claims Filed Against the City from Foxglove Flooding
The meeting will also include a presentation on Climate Change and Resiliency.
A couple more items:
- The Planning Workshop for August 21 2019 will be mostly educational in nature but will cover some of the hot topics of the past few months. Think the ABC’s of planning, Topics to be covered at the workshop will include an update on any status of the North Area/Annexation Project, Overview of the land development application process, Status of the General Plan, Overview of the LAFCO and Annexation Process, the difference between General Plan and General Plan Implementation and Planning Trends in California. Good news on this is that the session will be facilitated and presented by both our Contract Planner Heidi Tschudin and City Attorney Ethan Walsh!
- Transient Issues in the Creek have created work for our public works and public safety folks. A busy week with some law enforcement and emergency medical response.
- First Street Parking lot and Newt’s Alley will probably be paved around the weekend of August 10. Overall both of these projects are looking really good.
- Saturday is the Albarino Wine Stroll. Check in is at the Green River Tap Room. For full information, go to www.albarinowinestroll.com . It is going to be an amazing event.
Finally, the article in the newspaper on the Planning Commission was a little hard on my comments related to “millennials”. Mostly, my observation is that the overall processes need the participation of a broad cross section of the community, when it comes to issues, especially when looking at our future on issues like planning, economic development and shaping the future course for the community. Yes, I give a hard time to millennials, because they are a really tough group to outreach to in relation to community meetings. Millennials are good in their own forum (online, social media, etc) but when it comes to the melding of interests and groups in a community forum like a City Council or Planning Commission Meeting, they simply do not show up.
Some of this is clearly the fault of the City in trying to find those avenues which get into a more technical approach to engagement. We are looking into alternatives and if we have community members who know of effective community outreach tools in this area, I would appreciate hearing them. Social media seems to be a pretty difficult environment but there must be other avenues out there. Let me know.
Have a nice weekend.
John