A public hearing is scheduled on the Valley Vista Waste Transfer station on July 16. The announced location is Western University. In the choice of a private, non-neutral site, once again the City Council shows its disdain for the people and for public institutions.
Why has the council chosen a private venue for a public hearing? Why not the Pomona Unified School District (which has a larger hall)? Or the council chambers (horribly small, but still public, despite the Council's best efforts)?
Moreover, the President of Western University, Philip Pumerantz, has come out in favor of the Transfer Station, and is rumored to be close to David Perez. Shouldn't the hearing be held on a neutral site?
Finally, buildings on Western U campus are notoriously difficult to find.
To show their good faith to the people they serve, Council should change the site to PUSD or leave it at City Hall.
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5 comments:
Your right you hit the nail right on the head, why are they going to Western U. Because they have interest in the waste site. This is a bunch of bull hockey. That's why we must go out and vote these fools out of office. Thanks for posting this and again your right they should have it at the PUSD.
At this point, since the meeting has been publicly noticed, it's too late. Also you need to have not one but two rooms available, because of the simultaneous Spanish translation. PUSD Education Center would not have a large room immediately adjacent for Spanish translation, unless they wanted people to walk through the halls to the board room. Also, you have to have the facility open potentially until early the next morning, or available on multiple nights if they follow the precedent of the Planning Commission meeting with meetings every Monday until they exhaust public comment.
There is one location that possibly could have worked, and would geographically be close to the transfer station, which is the auditorium at Village Academy High School. The public hearing for the PUSD districting proposal was held there, but it seemed that no one thought of that when scheduling meetings, instead preferring to stay downtown.
How did they decide where to have it? Was it publicly debated and decided? Or was notice simply given?
It seems to me that the city could delay the meeting and have it at a more appropriate place.
If you were there at 11:30 p.m. three weeks ago, the Council did discuss it. I had suggested holding the public hearing on a Saturday, and holding it in a larger facility. Paula Lantz agreed and brought it up, but the City Attorney nixed Saturday meetings because he thought it would be too difficult to schedule the technical experts to show up. The larger facility thing was brought up, because they talked about the logistics of making sure that there would be a room for upteen hours, and also facilities for simultaneous Spanish translation (remember, CEJ vs. Pomona struck down the original First Street trash station EIR based on environmental justice and language issues).
At this point, if they do make it a marathon hearing, any decision made after that would be legally challenged. Although the City Attorney's viewpoint may have changed between then and now the City Attorney forced the Planning Commission to adjourn at 11 p.m. every night. So you also have to plan for the contingency of meetings on multiple nights, which the school district may not be able to accommodate.
I am often the only one present when the clock strikes midnight, but the most important decisions are made late in the evening.
It certainly seems like anyone could have visited pomonavalleytransferstation.com and seen that the President of Western University is the second name listed as an endorser of this project. Perhaps this will create a buzz to attend the meeting . . .
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