City Council to Axe Waterfront Committee

Dear Neighbors,

I would appreciate it if you read this and send an email to the Council requesting that they do not support this recommendation by the City Manager.

Thanks,

Francesco

Albany City Council considers Terminating the Albany Waterfront Committee

On the agenda for the March 3, 2014 The Albany City Council meeting is a City Manager recommendation to eliminate the Waterfront Committee that has been a standing committee since 1974.

Item 9.2 Sunset the Waterfront Committee (WFC) effective May 2014.
http://albanyca.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=216

One of the principal stated reasons for the elimination of the committee is that it is a drain on the time of the Community Development Director Jeff Bond despite the fact that last year we went from monthly meetings to meeting every other month. Also the Sustainability and Transportation Coordinator was recently given many of the duties of the community development director in order to free up more of his time.

See Report by the City Manager, Penelope Leach here:
http://albanyca.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=216&meta_id=73736

The current makeup of the committee consists of volunteers who have committed a large part of their free time to make themselves informed and knowledgeable, not only of the present conditions of the Albany waterfront, but of the complex history that has led up to the present situation. Many of us make weekly if not daily trips to the waterfront to monitor how it is being used and we bring that information back to our meetings where it is shared. This group represents a unique and irreplaceable body of knowledge and a passion for the many interrelated issues that affect the waterfront.

See Waterfront Committee 2014 Work Plan:
http://albanyca.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=216&meta_id=73740

I am particularly troubled by the timing of this Staff Recommendation.  As the chair of the committee for the last two years, I have met in person or communicated by phone with Jeff Bond before each meeting regarding how best to use our time. In fact, I was in Jeff’s office with the vice chair just one week before our
 February 5, 2014 WFC meeting when we worked together on developing the Committee’s 2014 Work Plan.   Later while we discussed the 2014 Work Plan in a televised meeting. Two weeks after the WFC meeting I was informed by the mayor that this was being proposed but I had to wait until February 26th to get a copy of the staff report.

Because of the Brown Act no more than two committee members are allowed to discuss this staff proposal. We would have needed to call an emergency meeting of the committee and give proper notice while trying to find a place and time that was workable for all the members on such extremely short notice. Gordon McCarter, the newly elected chair was leaving the state on a planned trip for a week and the vice chair was going away for the weekend on family business. The very people most directly affected by this drastic change were given completely insufficient notice in order for them to properly discuss it.  More importantly the public was not given sufficient notice to participate in that discussion. Right now this proposal is a very small part of, and at the end of, a busy March 3rd City Council Agenda. The demise of the Waterfront Committee has the appearance of a foregone conclusion.  The public and the committee are being denied an informed public discussion about such a drastic and permanent measure.

The committee had been directly informed by our staff that our committee would be the venue for public discussion about the transition of the publicly owned lands into the Eastshore State Park. It seems now that the process will be left to the City Council and in particular the two-person subcommittee of the Council responsible for negotiating that transfer. While I agree that the Council is the ultimate responsible party within our government, this move eliminates much of the opportunities that the public could have to provide input into this particular process which will take many years to fully implement. Where will the public go to express their desires, concerns and fears?  To the city Council which will probably not have a standing agenda item on this? To the Parks and Recreation Committee? Who gains from this move? I will let you guess the answer on that question.
I know who loses: the public, the people of Albany and all those in surrounding communities who want their hopes and concerns to be heard in an open and public forum. We on the committee were looking out for you and provided a place for you to come and speak your mind.  Who will provide that to the public if the WFC is terminated.

At the last WFC meeting Jeff Bond encouraged us to go to the City Council meeting to discuss and lobby for the acceptance of our 2014 Work Plan.  And many of us were prepared to do that.  Now after six years on the committee, I will have 2 to 3 minutes at the next council meeting to not just comment on our proposed work plan for 2014, but to advocate for our very existence.

We volunteer Albany citizens were not given the opportunity to have an open and public discussion about the termination of the committee that has existed for 40 years. The use of the euphemism  of sunsetting  the waterfront committee does not have the golden glow I have come to associate with the stunning sunsets I have witnessed so frequently from the Albany shores.

Please send an email to the City Council that tells them to Save the Waterfront Committee!  

Address the email to: Dear Council and it will go to all council members

Send it to    cityhall@albanyca.org

Reference: March 3, 2014, Sunset the Waterfront Committee (WFC) effective May 2014.

Emails to cityhall@albanyca.org   will not be delivered to the council members if sent after Noon on Monday. So send one soon and forward this to others who might want to know about this.

If you do send an email please bcc me at francescop@aol.com so I can follow up that your email is delivered

Thanks, Francesco Papalia, Albany Waterfront Committee