{"id":6905,"date":"2017-12-12T19:43:24","date_gmt":"2017-12-13T03:43:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/?p=6905"},"modified":"2025-12-09T19:45:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T03:45:24","slug":"editorial-protecting-public-comment-from-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/2017\/12\/12\/editorial-protecting-public-comment-from-abuse\/","title":{"rendered":"Editorial – Protecting Public Comment from Abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Cris Alarcon]<\/em><\/p>\n

Last week I was incensed when I read on a Facebook political blog that the county was shutting down public comment at the Board of Supervisors\u2019 meetings. \u00a0Then I read a little better and realized they were not stopping it, but seriously restricting it. So I expressed my outrage online.<\/p>\n

Then I read a little better\u2026 \u00a0Then later I did my homework\u2026<\/p>\n

Gee, I hate it when I mouth-off before I know what I am talking about!<\/p>\n

What I thought was an attempt to squelch the public voice was an effort to to stop abuse of the process by a few.<\/p>\n

What I thought was a draconian re-write of the rules was actually a first-try at establishing an objective policy standard.<\/p>\n

What I thought was a reactionary and capricious act, was actually a thoughtful and plodding process with public workshops, a process of which I was embarrassingly ignorant…<\/p>\n

What I thought was an opportunity for the Board of Supervisors to abuse their power\u2026 Well it is still there and I will remain vigilant for it, should it happen.<\/p>\n

First and foremost I must give a fair opportunity for the new process to work, or fail. \u00a0It is a good faith effort, using modern management approaches whereby it starts by codifying an objective standard for efficient and timely operation, while retaining the ability to extend the public comment period as needed.<\/p>\n

So I don\u2019t apologise for questioning the motives and effects of the policy change, although I do regret my rush to judgement. \u00a0It looks like a fair effort and time will see if it needs tweaking and something else. \u00a0But some time will need to pass to see the full spectrum of effects.<\/p>\n

Most importantly, is how the future Boards use the discretionary powers this new policy provides. \u00a0I am confident that those making those decisions are aware the public is watching to see if the discretion is used to make a better public interaction, or if it is being used to squelch\u00a0fair public criticism. \u00a0But until such time as a Board makes a call that the general public feels unduly restricts public comment, we should wait and see how the new policy unfolds in use.<\/p>\n

I applaud the efforts of our local government to make a standardized public comment policy. \u00a0It might need work, but it is certainly a move in the right direction.<\/p>\n

Cris Alarcon.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Cris Alarcon] Last week I was incensed when I read on a Facebook political blog that the county<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","darknews-slider-full":"","darknews-featured":"","darknews-medium":"","darknews-medium-square":""},"author_info":{"display_name":"News MoLo","author_link":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/author\/admin\/"},"category_info":"News<\/a>","tag_info":"News","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6905"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6905"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6906,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6905\/revisions\/6906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}