An Open Letter

An Open Letter to the members of the Poway City Council

Reference: Arbolitos Flood Control Basin Lighting

Recently, in an umpire's decision in calling a runner "safe" and in turn denying a pitcher a perfect game, much was made about the call. It included petitioning the commissioner of baseball to reverse the decision.

By definition a decision is the final word on something. In the baseball case the commissioner accepted that definition by not reversing what was obviously a mistake. The commissioner understood that changing a decision sets a precedent that future decisions are in peril and would be cause for much consternation.

In the current voter booklet, the current Mayor of Poway repeats the word "decision" twice, but doesn't seem to understand its meaning.

Unlike the baseball issue, it was not a mistake by stating that lights would not be installed to gain commitment from the neighbors of the Rancho Arbolitos area to allow the flood control basin be used as a sports field.

That commitment was part of the reasoning for the "decision," which the Mayor seems want to ignore. He mentioned at the September 7th council meeting that he participated in making a decision then and was making a new decision to go ahead and ignore his earlier commitment to the neighbors in the area.

It is obvious that there is political reasoning to reverse this decision. There is a large number of strident people that outweigh in numbers those of the Arbolitos neighborhood. Politically, it's better to gratify larger numbers of potential voters than the smaller number and prior commitments or decisions be damned.

Changing the decision sets several precedents, among them being that a decision is not really a decision, but something that is less. It teaches everyone including the children of Poway that a politician will do or say anything but not really mean it. And that any decision the City Council makes today is subject to pressure of special interest groups to be changed in the future.

The Mayor is correct, it was not a "promise" that was made, it was a "decision."

Unfortunately, making then reversing a decision seems counter to the "Respect" and "Honor" mentioned in the Poway City Council code of ethics. Those words are something the commissioner of baseball, Bud Selig, and the umpire, Jim Joyce, so readily demonstrated to the children of Poway and the world were not just words, but a commitment to ethical behavior.


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