Has anyone noticed or care that with the mayor’s last appointment to the Planning Commission, its the first time in 20 years, maybe longer that there will be no member on the commission that doesn’t make their living from the industry the commission is supposed to regulate?
Response:
City Charter Section 42 says:
Membership Selection – The appointing authority, in selecting appointees to commissions, boards, committees or panels, shall take into consideration sex, race and geographical area, so the membership of such commissions, boards, committees or panels shall reflect the entire community.
Mayor Sanders was elected with strong support from the real estate development industry, among others. As in any political relationship, along with campaign contributions comes expectations of future favors. Previous city Planning Commission appointments have always been heavily skewed toward developers and others who are employed in the real estate development industry, but former mayors and City Council members tried to balance commission membership with some appointees who represented local environmentalists, and city residents.
It is worrisome that the mayor would use his first commission appointment in a manner that eliminates this kind of balance and that creates a Planning Commission completely dominated by real estate professionals.
Hopefully, the City Council will keep an eye on this and insist that the mayor appoint environmental community and other non-developer representatives to the commission in
the future.
– DON WOOD