To my fellow residents: We have finally come to a point of direction for the future of the remaining 15 acres of public land in our city. I probably took on the most passionate topic in the City to make my first attempt to generate community involvement in the policy decision process.
I knew it wouldn’t be easy but I feel now we have struck a chord of new awareness among our residents. This is a good thing! Clarification and direction has now been given to staff to move forward to the next step in the process. I want to thank all those who participated in the effort that assisted the Council in deciding what the best use of the acreage was for the long term.
Trying to institute change is never easy especially when it includes an emotional topic like this one. Over the past several months, we had some interesting meetings and great interaction with residents through email exchange and informal conversations.
Bridging the gap between concept and reality of a project through public dialogue was to encourage community involvement so you the public would be more aware of other facts that faced Council in making the decision that we did. I am seeing more people coming out to meetings, more people are contacting Council members through email and citizen participation on our City advisory committees is on the rise. Thank you!
There were times that the process and the Council came under attack even most recently in a couple of letters to the editor columns. The distasteful rhetoric I saw is unfair and unduly maligning to all of us who finally took the step to make something happen. The hour of a decision had finally arrived and given the tide of events that this Council is facing we chose to use time as a tool and not as a couch.
The final decision may not have been what everyone wanted but then this process was never meant to have a winner or loser. It was meant to finally engage people. Over the years the constituency of this City has run on “automatic pilot”, if you will, and let things happen without offering much input. We live in a different time and must be more vigilant of the impacts of a changing environment-taking place around us. Creating a mixed-use development will now pave the way for completing our city center landscape. This path is fiscally responsible and will compliment our community.
Within this plan the Council has reserved some acreage (for a yet to be determined period of time) for the Foster City High School Foundation (Charter High School) to once again create their vision of alternative education for students. Building from the ground up, as is being attempted, is an expensive way to start this school and it’s because of this, I believe, prompted the suggestions of investigating existing buildings elsewhere in the City as alternative sites.
This would alleviate a tremendous expense while trying to build a foundation to a successful endeavor. I don’t believe that statement is in any way irresponsible. It’s real! Alternatives and options should always be examined when putting together a business plan. An attempt to lease a building the first time around failed, but that does not mean it should not be attempted again.
In conclusion: I want to extend my appreciation to staff for the time and work they put in to this citizen engagement process; to our planning commissioners for their input and expertise; to members of the community for their patience and caring and to my colleagues for exercising their commitment and responsibility to this City.
We face many more challenges and I hope my fellow residents are becoming aware of them. We are still unclear about how the cable franchise fee issue will affect us. It’s still being debated. Trying to increase water rates to pay for the Hetch Hetchy Project in the future now has a new glitch to it. These are just two of the issues facing us. Governmental changes are continuously affecting the way we operate on the local level.
I invite you all to stay abreast of these and other issues so you are more familiar with why we formulate the decisions we are faced with. Our achievements will depend more and more on the success of on going citizen awareness. Remember, dialogue is not about winning or losing, it’s about finding common ground. If we have a vision and energy to implement this new wave of engagement, we can make this City an even better place in which to live, work and play.
I invite comment on this and other issues by emailing me at lkoelling@fostercity.org
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