Maybe just listening isn't enough
Published in the Boulder Daily Camera, 10/5/16
A recurring theme coming out of the Boulder City Council these days is better engagement with the public when controversial issues are before them. As stated by Boulder’s city manager, “So many of our departments are out there asking the public what do they think … and yet, over the last couple of years, we’ve been hearing more and more from folks, ‘You’re not listening to me.’ ” It sure feels that way sometimes, doesn’t it?
So, last week, Boulder announced yet another working group, this one for “public participation.” So, the city is now going to listen to us about how they should listen to us and get more in touch with our feelings, or something like that.
I think the city is missing the point completely. Boulderites know we can talk to our government. What we want is a City Council that acts based upon what they hear. Way too often, they seem to ignore what we tell them, and we know that.
Right now, Boulder is in the midst of an issue that is an outstanding demonstration of how our local government claims to listen and then utterly ignores the input of those affected by their decisions — the Twin Lakes affordable-housing fracas. Residents near Twin Lakes have sound moral justification to be upset with government actions and they have voiced their objections loudly and clearly through every medium available to them. Yet, by all indications, no one in local government seems to care one bit when it comes time to act.
The root of the Twin Lakes issue is that Boulder is trying to outsource their affordable-housing problem into an area far from downtown Boulder that lacks good public transit and ready access to needed services.
Twin Lakes is far from the best available option for affordable housing in Boulder. For example, adjacent to U.S. 36 in north Boulder is the Area III Planning Reserve, a space about half the size of Gunbarrel that is designated for future development. Unlike the pristine land around Twin Lakes, this property is so butt-ugly that even the prairie dogs stay away. This undeveloped land can only be improved by the addition of housing. Furthermore, affordable housing in this location would be far better situated to sustain the lower-income people who would live there.
However, the planning reserve has some friends on City Council that Twin Lakes doesn’t, so they decided to go after Twin Lakes instead. Council made this decision even though they knew that the sacred text of the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan had assured residents of Gunbarrel that Twin Lakes would not be used for high-density housing.
Before the wrecking ball shows up at Twin Lakes, Boulder has to break a bunch of rules that were put in place to keep the rest of us from doing this sort of thing.
First, Boulder had to find a way to annex property that is well outside of Boulder without annexing any of the property in between, which would be a lot of work and politically challenging. To get around this provision of state law, they got Boulder County to give them the deed to a county open space trail that connects Boulder with Twin Lakes. By any ethical reading of Colorado law on annexations, that’s cheating.
Then, big chunks of Boulder city and county government all have to agree to change the comprehensive plan to allow for dense housing in Twin Lakes. Changing the comprehensive plan to build dense housing for anyone but the city would be about as likely as rewriting the Book of Genesis based upon current scientific thinking, but astonished residents of Gunbarrel are watching it happen.
So, the very same people who could not be bothered to change the comprehensive plan to allow affordable housing in the butt-ugly planning reserve right on the edge of town are about to change that same comprehensive plan so Boulder can build affordable housing outside of Boulder over the objections of almost everyone living in the community that will be affected by this decision.
But, the city and county have been listening. Given how loudly the affected communities have been shouting, it would’ve been hard not to listen. They have been listening but they just don’t seem to care about what’s being said.
Over the next few weeks, Boulder leaders will decide what they will do to Twin Lakes while the affected communities beg them to keep the promises they’ve already made. Anyone want to bet what the outcome might be?
More working groups aren’t what we want in Boulder. We just want our elected officials to act based upon what they hear us say.
A recurring theme coming out of the Boulder City Council these days is better engagement with the public when controversial issues are before them. As stated by Boulder’s city manager, “So many of our departments are out there asking the public what do they think … and yet, over the last couple of years, we’ve been hearing more and more from folks, ‘You’re not listening to me.’ ” It sure feels that way sometimes, doesn’t it?
So, last week, Boulder announced yet another working group, this one for “public participation.” So, the city is now going to listen to us about how they should listen to us and get more in touch with our feelings, or something like that.
I think the city is missing the point completely. Boulderites know we can talk to our government. What we want is a City Council that acts based upon what they hear. Way too often, they seem to ignore what we tell them, and we know that.
Right now, Boulder is in the midst of an issue that is an outstanding demonstration of how our local government claims to listen and then utterly ignores the input of those affected by their decisions — the Twin Lakes affordable-housing fracas. Residents near Twin Lakes have sound moral justification to be upset with government actions and they have voiced their objections loudly and clearly through every medium available to them. Yet, by all indications, no one in local government seems to care one bit when it comes time to act.
The root of the Twin Lakes issue is that Boulder is trying to outsource their affordable-housing problem into an area far from downtown Boulder that lacks good public transit and ready access to needed services.
Twin Lakes is far from the best available option for affordable housing in Boulder. For example, adjacent to U.S. 36 in north Boulder is the Area III Planning Reserve, a space about half the size of Gunbarrel that is designated for future development. Unlike the pristine land around Twin Lakes, this property is so butt-ugly that even the prairie dogs stay away. This undeveloped land can only be improved by the addition of housing. Furthermore, affordable housing in this location would be far better situated to sustain the lower-income people who would live there.
However, the planning reserve has some friends on City Council that Twin Lakes doesn’t, so they decided to go after Twin Lakes instead. Council made this decision even though they knew that the sacred text of the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan had assured residents of Gunbarrel that Twin Lakes would not be used for high-density housing.
Before the wrecking ball shows up at Twin Lakes, Boulder has to break a bunch of rules that were put in place to keep the rest of us from doing this sort of thing.
First, Boulder had to find a way to annex property that is well outside of Boulder without annexing any of the property in between, which would be a lot of work and politically challenging. To get around this provision of state law, they got Boulder County to give them the deed to a county open space trail that connects Boulder with Twin Lakes. By any ethical reading of Colorado law on annexations, that’s cheating.
Then, big chunks of Boulder city and county government all have to agree to change the comprehensive plan to allow for dense housing in Twin Lakes. Changing the comprehensive plan to build dense housing for anyone but the city would be about as likely as rewriting the Book of Genesis based upon current scientific thinking, but astonished residents of Gunbarrel are watching it happen.
So, the very same people who could not be bothered to change the comprehensive plan to allow affordable housing in the butt-ugly planning reserve right on the edge of town are about to change that same comprehensive plan so Boulder can build affordable housing outside of Boulder over the objections of almost everyone living in the community that will be affected by this decision.
But, the city and county have been listening. Given how loudly the affected communities have been shouting, it would’ve been hard not to listen. They have been listening but they just don’t seem to care about what’s being said.
Over the next few weeks, Boulder leaders will decide what they will do to Twin Lakes while the affected communities beg them to keep the promises they’ve already made. Anyone want to bet what the outcome might be?
More working groups aren’t what we want in Boulder. We just want our elected officials to act based upon what they hear us say.
