One common thread of criticism I’ve seen is this idea that myself, or Frank want to “fight Sacramento” and that necessarily means litigation. I know folks have either implied or stated this to be the case, but it's not so. I have no plans or intentions to "fight Sacramento". What I really want is for us as a city and a group of cities to advocate our interests. Many other cities do this, even nearby cities, but we don't.
With the Olivia, my hope was to put the city and the residents on a more favorable footing for negotiation. Because the city conceded on every point that the developer asked for, it didn't give the residents or the city much room to negotiate for a more agreeable project. This is what Gavidia, and Diaz would want to do as well. We weren't able to because we didn't have enough votes both on the Planning Commission and at the Council. This is important because the Olivia developer owns multiple other adjacent parcels and seemingly intends to put similar projects there as well. We need creative councilmembers who will take the residents interests into consideration. The only way to incentivize the developer is to put the city and residents in a stronger negotiating position. I tried to do that recently by asking the city to stop defending the lawsuit brought by the residents, however the Council collectively chose to take no action.
I've always advocated that we as a city follow the law. I also think we can take creative measures that balance the desires of residents with the need to follow the law. We haven't done that thus far but I know in working with like minded people like Gavidia we can start. So as I've said, it's not a fight against Sacramento, but a fight FOR the residents of Clayton.
That means collaborating with other like minded cities, working with allies in the legislature, clearly taking a position on relevant legislation, joining advocacy groups that will truly represent us. In no way would I ever push for litigation because I don't think that's right for us, nor do I think it's an effective way to go. But those other steps, we don't do any of those things because the views we would argue for aren't shared with a majority of the Council. We need to change that and it starts with electing people who will represent these views.
