During the last Council Meeting, Mr. Smallwood made three statements about Tatlock Field lights:
- On two occasions he said “We will continue to hold small community meetings” and “I will continue to hold meetings over the next several weeks.”
The public should see a copy of his plan for the meetings. How many meetings will be held, where, who will be invited, how will they be invited, how will the discussions be memorialized and made available to the entire community? - The second statement had to do with reaching a decision about Tatlock field lights. He said “Ultimately it would be my committee to bring it to council for a vote” and “I promised them I would not bring this to council for a vote until we got community consensus on something that we could all accept.”
Consensus is an interesting word; The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines consensus as: 1. An opinion or position reached by a group as a whole. 2. General agreement or accord.”
So this raises several questions that should be answered before consensus building begins: Who are the people who will be the consensus builders, how will they be selected, how many times will discussions take place before reaching a consensus, who will be the impartial moderator to insure that the consensus reported accurately reflects the position reached by the group as a whole? - Finally, Mr. Smallwood said “Both groups are gonna have to agree on something. Right? and whether we approve it or not, we’re trying to engage the community at a smaller level and get that input and then bring it to a larger community.”
So this raises several questions that should be answered before consensus building begins: Who are the people who will be the consensus builders, how will they be selected, how many times will discussions take place before reaching a consensus, who will be the impartial moderator to insure that the consensus reported accurately reflects the position reached by the group as a whole?
There also is some disinformation that needs to be clarified. Some people suggest that field lights seven days a week until 10pm has not been considered. There is a written summary of discussion by the Field Lights Working Group of the Community Programs Advisory Board from January 25, 2023. It says: “When would lights be on? We discussed from the first week in March until mid-December; as needed but potential for 7 days/week; turned off at 10:00 PM”
The same document under Reviews and Communications: Sequencing says “Do we go to Council or have listening sessions with the neighbors first?” No talk of a four-stage plan or of the need to reach consensus. So, when did the four-stage plan come into being? Was the plan and the requirement of consensus only reached after proposing the project be funded?
For these and other reasons I may enumerate at the next Council meeting, I strongly urge you to remove consideration of lights at Tatlock fields from the Capital Budget because what you have now is a haphazard and incomplete plan, that is barely transparent and could have disastrous effects on people’s quality of life and the suburban environment of our city.