Would the council be less predictable, please Menlo Park Elections, posted by Politics on my mind, a resident of the Menlo Park: Downtown neighborhood, on Oct 21, 2006 at 11:51 am
I am really, really tired of lock-step decisions of the council majority on so many issues over the past four years.
If there is one thing that characterizes a healthy democracy, it is the confounding of constituent expectations by legislators taking positions that go against type.
The majority on this council has been predictable to a fault. This is what is so vexing.
They campaigned as a slate, they voted as a slate. Is this what we want for the next four years now that a new slate is running for office? New slate, same as the old slate?
I hope to see some fresh minds on the council. And I will go out on a limb here and hope that the elected will use their minds in fresh ways.
Posted by Puzzled, a resident of the Menlo Park: Sharon Heights neighborhood, on Oct 22, 2006 at 4:56 pm
Fresh thinking can be refreshing, but you're not calling for a council that acts randomly or takes a course contrary to its stated goals, are you? In other words, if the goal is to attract more sales tax revenue to sustain city services, taking actions that discourage sales-tax generators would be "unpredictable" but also irrational.
It might be something like Kelly Fergusson's behavior: voting twice for the Derry project to build condominiums and commercial space in the center city near the transit corridors, and then backing the referendum to halt the project. That was unpredictable.
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