(updated to include proper spelling and title for Jane Blumenfeld, hat tip Joe Linton)
The Planning Department has been misleading people, telling people that their comments will be considered in the LA Bike Plan after the public comment period has passed. Even better, the Planning Department refused to extend the deadline, but the recipient of the comments, Jordann Turner, was out of town on the day of the deadline:
I will be out of the office until November 16. For Bicycle Plan Update infomation, visit the project website at www.labikeplan.org.
That’s the email that I, and many others, received when we submitted our comments on the deadline. Planning can’t extend the deadline, but they sure as hell can be out of town for 10 days afterward. If Planning had any notion of realpolitik, they’d have extended the deadline 10 days (instead of the 50 we were asking for), from November 6th till November 16th, called it a “compromise”, and walked away.
How has Planning been misleading people? Jane Blumenfeld, Deputy Director Citywide Planning Division, has been replying to requests for a deadline extension (or, now that the deadline has passed, a new public comment period) with the following:
Please be assured that the deadline has been extended. We are finalizing the date of the public hearing in January and comments and input can be submitted up until (and following) the public hearing. We welcome your comments. Thank you for your participation and interest.
My understanding is that this is impossible, or rather, not lawful. A final draft of the Bike Plan must be released before the public hearing . . . 30 days before the public hearing. So, if you submit your comments after the final draft is released Planning simply cannot adjust the final draft to reflect them – the draft cannot be altered at that point. Blumenthal is indicating that you can submit the comments even beyond the hearing, but people don’t submit comments just to be heard. The idea is that the comments could change the draft. By indicating that they will accept comments, Planning is implying, without saying it, that those comments could impact the draft, when in fact they can’t. That might not be lying, but it’s misleading.
Moreover, it misses the point. The public should have substantial and sufficient time to consider the draft plan before making a judgment, and submitting comments. Those comments should be received and considered. The formal public comment period is a sacred time during which the document can be considered. Not only did Planning give insufficient time to the public comment period, but Joe Linton even recognized that the draft was being altered during that period.
Planning is not playing fair, and not doing a very good job of it. I don’t fault them for doing a bad job of it – after all, it is Michelle Mowery’s game that they’re playing, and only Mowery plays her particular form of obstruction well.
Posted on November 23rd, 2009 at 8:41 pm by Alex
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