2002-09-26_PWETC_AgendaPacket - Laserfiche WebLink

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emplo)'ecs, while homeowners want these employees to park elsewhcrt'. Sonora has environmentalists who don't want big-box stores bec;:tuse of the acres of parking lhey require, and il has devel- opers who want to build big boxes and see no problem with paving over habitat in the name of progress. Time for Action I.,i; In other words, the city has everything it lakes for disastrous conflict to strike. After hearing one particularly unpleOls- ant parking dispute between neigh burs "who used to be friends," Ihe council de- cided to establish a commission Ih.It would tackle such isslIes in ~ more uscr~ friendly fashion. Councilmembcrs came to the t:ondusiol1 that dealing with .111 of the parking and traffic items at council meetings was a losing proposition, with no one getting much Ollt of it ext:t'pt t~ose viewers of the public access tclcvi~ sian channel who find temper tantrums cntertaini'!S. The. city also thought it would be a good idea to develop a workable format that would allow people to sit down and talk to each other in a civilized manner, away from the camera, and thus to be able to work out better resolutions to their problems-Qr at least resolutions that everyone eQuid n~asonably live with. In talking it over, councilmembers also ,decided they wanted to be more proactive, so they directed that the meetings of the new commission allow time for the public to after ideas Oil how to do a better job of managing traffic and parking. We kiiew, for example, th.11 some people were interested in the idea of a park~and-ride shuttle service as a way of easing access to downtown stores. It was decided that the commission could take a closer look at such a system and then make recommendations to the coundl. Saving Friendships Parking and traffic commissions Me not new government constructs, but PUBUC MANAGEMENT It stood to reason that people who participated in commission business would find they had more in common with each other than they ever suspected. Sonora's t:ouncil wanted to develop ont' thiH had 5pt'cial characteristics. Specifi- cally, we \\'i.lIlted to tr}' and help people gel at 501llt,.' of those underlying prob~ lems that fueled the anger between neighbors. This is not to say that Wl' were out lo save tht.' world, just to mah' our own small part of it it little friendlier. This sentiment, incidentally, goes straight to the hei.1rt of the values we hold dear in our city. It is a good fit for our new commission, and people ap~ predate it. In sum, in starting the commission, we wanted a forum for ideas as well as complaints, one that would educate people:.- as well as excite them. By provid~ ing participants with technical informa- tion, which had to be part of any solu~ tion that might come forward, we hoped people would become more knowledge~ able "bout the laws and engineering practices that were the basic building blocks of the parking~and-traffic world. Therefore, we knew we needed represen~ tat ion on the commission for such city departments as police, tire, and public works. We wanted the city engineer to be present at meetings when possible, and of course, \\'e wanted the city ad- ministrator there. The setting in which the commis~ sion would operate also would be an important f;'Ktol" in its success. There 3;8, .- ~( should be no physical separalion be- tween the commission members and the people who came to its meetings. We wanted !!.Q....!!!is for speakers to el11M brace and no elevated seatine. for 'om~ missioners. We wanted to use the roundlabic approach and hold meet- ings in the city hall conference room. where the atmosphere was more suit- able for conversations than it was for presentations. Because it is important that resi~ dents feci comfonable in lalking with commissioners, we hoped this feeling of comfort would spark a renewed sense of community. After all, anyone who lived or worked in Sonora, includ- ing the mayor and city administrator, would hayt' similar traffic and pi.lrking experiences in the course of his or her daily Hctivities. It stood to reason that people who participated in commis~ sion business would find they had more in common with each other than they sllspecled. Ordinance So, after we had developed " prelly good picturc'..o( how we wanted it to operate, we set about the task of creat- ing the Sonora Parking and Traffic Commission. We started by passing Ordinance 743, which established Ihe commission. This ordinance was based on one that had been adopted many years ago, when a planning commis- sion had been set up. Until this time, the planning commission was the only one existing in the city's government structure. The mcmbership of this P&T Com~ mission, as specified in 743, is as (oIlO\\;s: two council members; one police depart~ ment representative; one fire depart- ment representative; one public works representative; and two at-large mem- bers from the community. Now that we are up and running, sitting at the table with the seven commission members are members of the print media (no cam- eras so far), interested citizens, and peo- ple who have submitted items for dis~ 21 . I j , j I . I 1