I urge you to vote against Prop II for all the reasons elucidated in many other forums. But I find it interesting that some people who believed so strongly in the RG4N case have come down on (what I think is) the right side this time. Let’s play a little game. See if you can identify which group is which; one being RG4N and the other being “Stop Domain Subsidies”. Prize? Acclamation!
| Group A | Group B |
|---|---|
| Co-opting supposed grass roots to fight against decision of city council they didn’t like | Co-opting supposed grass roots to fight against decision of city council they didn’t like |
| Angry that city hired outside legal counsel to advise and defend previous city actions / ordinances | Angry that city hired outside legal counsel to advise and defend previous city actions / ordinances |
| Defending traditional strip retail against a marginally better project | Defending traditional strip retail against a marginally better project |
| Painting themselves as the ‘citizens’ in a ‘citizens versus corporations’ battle | Painting themselves as the ‘citizens’ in a ‘citizens versus corporations’ battle |
| Asserting that city staff is somehow bought off or otherwise subrogated because they published professional opinion which hurt Group A’s case | Asserting that city staff is somehow bought off or otherwise subrogated because they published professional opinion which hurt Group B’s case |
| Blithely asserting that the city staff and outside lawyers are wrong, while the citizen group with no actual experience in land use or law must be right | Blithely asserting that the city staff and outside lawyers are wrong, while the citizen group with no actual experience in land use or law must be right |
| Pushing for change that, if they won, would get city sued, and beaten | Pushing for change that, if they won, would get city sued, and beaten |
| Claiming to be progressive, yet primary obvious goal is to prevent change | Claiming to be progressive, yet primary obvious goal is to prevent change |
I’m sure there’s more, but with this many key differences, I’m sure somebody can pick out which group is Responsible Growth for Northcross and which one is Stop Domain Subsidies. Good luck!
By the way, kudos to the Chronicle for posting their endorsement background. It’s actually good stuff – I wish we had more dialogues of that quality.
I just can’t believe the number of people following a real estate developer’s populist movement. I mean, I suppose his motives could be as pure as the driven snow, but it doesn’t pass my sniff test.
I do think that part of the reason we’re not seeing RG4N part 2 is that RG4N didn’t work and not only is the neighborhood still getting a Wal-Mart, they lost their nice two-story, fake wood floored, swanky Wal-Mart that the city had negotiated in the first place.
Tim, that’s all well and good, but you didn’t say which one you thought was Group A and which one you thought was Group B!