Final Score: CVS/CHASE 3 People 2

[Thomas Morabito]

Final Score: CVS /CHASE 3 People 2


At the August 21st Council Meeting the City of Sebastopol sent the message that we don't care about the illegal and immoral business practices of CHASE BANK and CVS Pharmacy. We don't care if our citizens sit in gridlock traffic until the CHASE and CVS logos become indelibly etched into our brains.

Despite a valiant effort by Council Member Gurney and Vice Mayor Kyes there was no way to overcome the voting block of Mayor Wilson, Council Member Shaffer and Council Member Slayter. This trio was ableto move the process forward whenever deliberations could not be resolved to the satisfaction of the entire council. For some reason (maybe they felt guilty) public comment on the project was reopened. There were a couple hours of public comment followed by several hours of council deliberation. Around 1:00 am the punch drunk council finally made their decision. You guessed it…. a 3-2 vote was cast to uphold the CVS CHASE appeal.

Guerney pushed hard for solar power here in Solar City, USA but even this reasonable condition of approval could not garner the necessary 3 votes and once again the pro business voting block ended the discussion and pushed the approval forward.

My take on the temperature of The Council:
1. Kyes does not want CVS and CHASE in downtown Sebastopol.
2. Gurney may lock arms in front of the bulldozers if it comes to that.
3. Slayter liked the original design better but voted for the modified one anyway. I have no idea what or if he is thinking.
4. The mayor does not want CVS and CHASE downtown but believes his hands are tied by law.
5. Shaffer continued to be a good advocate for CVS/ CHASE by lobbing cream puff questions at the applicant so they had more opportunities to defend their project.

The hearing approached science fiction status at one point when Shaffer said "This is not the project I wanted to see built on this site" and then she voted for it.

I do admire her last ditch attempt to do some election year damage control.

As for the public comment portion, I found the speakers on both sides of the issue to be honest, thoughtful and much more entertaining than the rest of the proceedings. It was disappointing that the council would not discuss the issues raised by the opponents of the project concerning traffic problems and the criminal record of CVS and CHASE.

This decision was a huge blow to the peaceful revolution so many people supported back when it was more fashionable to be associated with the Occupy Movement.

The fact that this happened in Sebastopol, a place that seemed to live the Occupy ideals even before there was a movement, has obliterated my hope for a peaceful revolution. Maybe it is time to head for the hills before a violent one begins.


"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable"
JFK 1962

Please sign boycott petition here:
https://www.change.org/petitions/cvs...-of-sebastopol