Last night I witnessed mayor Guy Wilson backpedal and cave-in to one concession after another at the request of Armstrong Development that revealed his true allegience to corporate America instead of the town he is suppose to serve.
From the very start of this project, the planning commision said NO. The Design Review Board said NO. And the community, by a conservative margin of 3-1, said NO*.
And with his vote to uphold the appeal by Armstrong Development to overturn the decision by the DRB, Guy Wilson has basically said, none of that matters: the Planning Commission doesn't matter, the DRB doesn't matter and the community doesn't matter.
While Armstrong back-pocket residents, Kathleen Shaffer and Patrick Slayter were obvious corporate allies throughout this process, I thought Guy Wilson would have the decency and the backbone to put the community first and follow guidelines set forth in the General Plan. Community didn't matter when he voted to uphold the appeal by Armstrong Development and it didn't matter last night as he made every concession that rendered conditions more developer-friendly. One of those conditions would allow the developers to come back after 90 days and request that any conditions that don't suit them be removed**.
But, mayor Wilson has somehow misplaced his spine.
So, good riddence Mr. Wilson. You leave in your wake the damage that has occured in almost every small community across this country that has had big box stores inflicted upon them. I heard you mention "fairness" many times in your reasoning last night. At least you have a sense of humor.
And don't forget, folks, if we would like Sebastopol to be further subjected to the backroom politics that has opened the door to corporate America muscling their way into our downtown, then a vote for Ms. Shaffer (and Ms. Austin) will ensure that.
Gee. I wonder if Armstrong Developers contribute to political campaigns.
*Except for the meeting that saw the two rotary clubs in Sebastopol show up en masse after Kathleen Shaffer went "under the radar" to politicized those two stellar organizations, meetings were constantly attended by a majority of opponents to the project. The last meeting I attended saw 46 against and 17 for.
**If Shaffer and Austin are elected to the two vacant seats on the council, Armstrong Development will own Sebastopol.