If you have watched more than one Council meeting this year, you have noticed recycling in action.
In this case, the recycling has no value for our environment and has become rather obnoxious.
We are referencing here the boring list of City Council groupies that deem it a requirement to speak on every topic on the agenda as self-appointed watchdogs of democracy.
The repetitious demagoguery of these talking heads is an infringement on the public’s time interfering with the desire of residents to be informed of the facts.
With Council meetings now stretching to as much as seven hours, no self-respecting citizen who works for a living can be expected to watch these endurance contests.
In the name of public participation our Council increased public comment time from two minutes to three minutes with no limit of the number of topics.
Most of these ding dongs take the entire three minutes. With six to ten regular groupies speaking on every topic every time at every meeting can add 30 minutes to any subject.
Council, take note.
The citizens of Santa Clara deserve better.
Citizens are interested in hearing comment from our qualified and professional staff. They wish to hear discussions between Council members on important subjects of interest. They wish to hear from informed professionals the pertinent and informed facts on projects and proposals.
Our citizens are not interested in hearing repetitive ramblings of uniformed amateurs posing as professionals.
God deliver us from another three-minute tirade of trifles.
Hopefully your time, staff’s time and the time of our citizens is more valuable.
Santa Clara is not alone. Nearly every City Council has had to deal with this issue at some point.
The desire to be seen and the desire to hear themselves talk, is an overwhelming motivation within every groupie’s personality profile.
As Lincoln said, “God must have loved the common man since he made so many of them.”
It’s just that they shouldn’t be robbing the public of their right to know.
Groupies also have rights. However, they do not outweigh the rights of the majority.
Many City Councils have put limits on repetitive public speakers. “You can have your two or three minutes but you can only address the Council twice in the same meeting.”
While it may be distasteful to our groupies, it would be refreshing to the public.
This would reduce our Council meetings by at least an hour and free up some time to watch the talking heads on MSNBC relive the last election.
