Pollyanna

In the comments of the last post I was called a Pollyanna. While one might consider those fighting words, it may be more productive to validate at least the emotional foundation of this cynicism . I agree with my accuser that the staff’s decision to recommend approval of Weingarten’s last request for rezoning was indefensible. I was not intending to defend the decision, only the staff. Nor is my defense that mistakes will happen.

I wish the problem were so easy as that. But it is not. Not by a long shot. While these issues are more complex than can be fully explained in a single posting to a blog or even understood by a single person, especially one so removed and uninformed as myself, it is worth considering the possible etymology of this bad decision. There can be no doubt that the whole city staff, and especially the planning department, has, for sometime, been intimidated by the many firings that have occurred. There is also no doubt that many of those firings have been heavily influenced by the desires of certain segments of the development community.

How did we get to the point where our development community has such strong and shadowed, influence over city government? I suspect that this a story of innocence, good intentions, growth and greed.

Most small communities seek growth at all cost. College Station was no different when I moved here as a child and the city was not much more than a village. Most growth at that time was directed by business people who lived here. While there was the occasional “greedy bastard,” for the most part these business people cared about the quality of life that we enjoyed and they directed their efforts accordingly. As such the citizens were fairly happy with the way development happened and continued to live with this paradigm that all growth is good growth.
But eventually there was enough money to be made in College Station (the same applies to Bryan) that outside investors and developers came to town. Not only were the decisions that these people made not concerned with our quality of life, but also they began investing in those citizens who were more concerned with money than quality of life.

These changes were subtle and the good people of College Station did not notice. At some point we woke up to find Texas and University Avenues lined with ugly franchise businesses with their sea of parking lots and a proposal to push a super Wal-Mart up against well established and affluent neighborhoods; all at great sacrifice of trees and tranquility.

It seems that perhaps some of this mess had origins in some very good intentions. Along the way the development community had complained about the increasing bureaucracy and inconvenience of obtaining the necessary approval and permits for expansion. To deal with this a Blue Ribbon committee was put together to look into the problem. This committee took its job seriously and did a good job of improving the efficiency with which permits were issued.

I’m not sure if there was any loss in control of the permitting process as a result of this increased efficiency. The pernicious effect of the Blue Ribbon Committee’s work was probably unforeseeable. That is it seems to have empowered that segment of the development community that has little regard for anything more than their own profits. They complained about a problem and the city, with the support of the citizens, jumped. While the recommended changes were probably all good ideas, these developers got the sense that they were incharge.

The good work of streamlining unnecessary bureaucracy was apparent to the people of College Station. The sense of empowerment that the greedy end of the development community took from this was not apparent. That is until the people that the developers helped get elected to City Council illegally fired our city manager in the middle of the night. That seems to have sent up a red flag for many.

Clearly the firings of the city manager and a good deal of the development staff caused intimidation. There is no doubt at this point that those who confront the wishes of this powerful segment of the business community and the officials that they get elected are dealt with very harshly. It does not help that the average age of the people left in the planning department is about 12. This is not to say that they are not bright, creative and knowledgeable. They are all of that. What they are not is seasoned at the sort of political games that have been thrown at them. From my perspective all of this, including the lack of political savvy, will serve the citizens of College Station well, if we can create an atmosphere of safety for them to operate in. If we want them to bring their skill and expertise to the job, we must convince them that they will not be fired for the effort. At this point that may be a hard sell. We now have a majority on council who are committed to providing that safety. And hopefully after the spring elections that balance will be even better.