And on it goes....

By CVELG

Public Meetings &Streamline gov'

One topic consistent on this board is the subject of public meetings; whether they be for the county, the NWP, or any other subject. Public meetings in BF have become history; expecially before a decision of some degree has been reached by the council.
Examples are numerous; and I will only use three. First, the obvious, the formation of the county. The public was invited to participate in this decision AFTER the decision had been reached in council to create a county. As noted, these meetings were to seek volunteers to work on the county formation.
Second, the "Field". Again, the council hired consultants to offer three ideas for development of this open space. The public was invited to choose one of three alternatives to develop the field. I was standing next to a person who approached a council meeting with the direct question, "what happened to representative government--we voted on this in 1994." The answer, was "Get a grip. things change". Obviously angered; the question was posed again; the answer, was "get a grip AND "get out of my way." The council person walked off. This was in February. Another was held in March, and the council plan was NOT being sold to the public. Promised meetings for the next several months were delayed by council. In October, the council held an open meeting; again offering a choice of the three alternatives; the results being the same as Feb and March...the majority said no development. Then there was a study session; from which the council decided to develop a portion of the field and wrote a resolution to do so. One open space advocate found out; the end result being that enough pressure was present to offer a second resolution and save the Field. The council lost; but they could not silence the people.
Finally, the placement of the jail. Again, there were no public meetings held until the council had a site plan. The choice here was to choose among the sites; not ask for input. That had already been decided; and GWR was the site. So live with it; granted the move was made further away from CS; but the area remained the same.
Joan is asking for an open forum on NWP; again, this decision has been made by the council already. There is no choice for the people of BF; why, in council's mind, hold a meeting. I am sure that, like the county; if you want a public meeting to garner support for NWP: they will give you one. If you want a public meeting to give room to the opposition; forget it.

Public meetings are not part of streamlined government; which is one of the foundation stones of the new BF. They are tedious, bring out many people; deal with a lot of opinion; and are truly democratic. This is not a democracy; this is a government were a decision is made; and the public is simply asked to approve a decision. Joan's example of Roy being ostracized by the council is very real; there are other former advisory committe members tagged as dissendents; I can think of at least eight that I know. Once very active in the city; they are now ignored by their own ward representatives when they show interet in a committee or neighborhood issue. Why, like Roy, they disagreed with the council. Additionally, there are some very active members of the community in unicorporated BF. are they recognized for their work and efforts? Of course not; they are not "citizens" of BF. They may get three minutes at the podium; but I have yet to hear of one idea presented accepted by the council.
BF council has a "streamlined" government; the public is not welcome here; except to support all their decisions.


By Br Anonymous

BR Anonymous

I am so proud of your last post, you hit the nail on the head. For the last decade I have been extremely active in municipal, county and state government.

I have consumed a great deal of personal time so I could learn how to ask the right questions met the right people and obtain some grasp of the real
problem. I have decided that a lot of
those problems are just simply the politicians themselves.

I cannot tell you how many of these people I know on advisory committees that feel they are simply ignored. It actually surprised me when Larry Cooper mentioned this very problem during his campaign. That these advisory committees have no direction from council.

Broomfield may be winning some things on a small margin, but they need to be aware that many people are very upset with what has happened during the last 7 years. The problem is these people must actively voice their concerns and they are not, it is chatter but nothing is organized. We could organize that group if you are interested. One way would be to use this web site but create our own group. Can you do that? Can you get word around to the people that we are starting a group of interested citizens?

I can think of a myriad of items that could be adopted by council. There are development standards, affordable housing issues, schools, the development of commericial, recreation centers, implementation of good social programs, open space and habitat issues. But, I cannot do this all on my own, I feel overwhelmed to get this all done. I need support with this.

By Joan

Benefits to Interlocken

BBW:

The main benefit to Interlocken is the following:

One county to 'deal' with, (aka CONTROL) instead of 3 or 4 and,

pushing through the NW parkway. Having a direct link from DIA to Interlocken has to be a huge benefit for Interlocken. Especially since Interlocken 2 is slated for the area off I-25.

Ain't it a shame that these nasty pesky citizens became involved & are muddying up the water?

We already know what your response will be. You have no clue as to how these issues are a benefit to Interlocken. While you fein ignorance, the CITIZENS GET IT!!!

By CCACCC