Committees and commissions

Running a city is complicated. There are so many priorities, so many

points of view and so little money.

What to do when a controversial issue arises and the decision has

potentially long-term affects on many people?

Well, if you’re in Laguna, you’d create a task force, of course.

Or a committee, which will do just as well. Sometimes, there’s even a

committee ready to go when a problem arises.

The first place to turn is the City Council, the Planning

Commission or the Design Review Board.

But subgroups provide even more learned advice. We have the

Traffic and Circulation Committee, the Affordable Housing Committee

and the Recreation Committee. We’ve had a Water Quality Advisory

Board and the Vision Laguna Steering Committee and the Village

Entrance Task Force.

Most recently, we’ve added the Design Review Task Force -- to

review the design review process. Make sense?

And when we don’t get a new task force, we get a new study -- how

many studies have been done on the Village Entrance, Act V and

traffic Downtown?

The Downtown Specific Plan Area Traffic and Parking Study will now

focus on how long it takes to make it through an intersection.

Now, as we’ve seen with the Village Entrance studies, much

inspection and speculation can be completed without much action.

Sometimes it seems these groups are put together to appease

residents, sometimes with genuinely good intentions. But when it

comes time to make the final decision, the same split among residents

that forced the creation of a new committee is in play. And a

decision often is just as lacking.

Fortunately, the task forces and committees are typically made up

of hard-working, intelligent residents and result in suggestions that

are feasible and sometimes adopted. But too often, a few years after

one study has been completed, another is suggested for the same

problem.

It’s not just the issue of the Village Entrance. We have the

example of Aliso Creek restoration and the skateboard park and a

congested Downtown.

If we have to have all these studies and committees, let’s make

sure to use them properly. Studies and committees cost quite a bit of

money, so let’s not create them unless we’re going to be willing to

listen to them and act on what they say. It’s a waste of

participants’ and members’ time, the city’s time and residents’ time

when recommendations are graciously received and then filed away into

the abyss.

Maybe the city can form a committee to address the problem.