Dana Parsons of the Los Angeles Times uses today’s column to address the tourism vs. housing fight in Anaheim. He tries to put himself in the shoes of the different factions in the dispute.
If you’re keeping score, that’s two initiatives and one referendum on the docket.
Is that any way to run a city?
Nobody asked me, but my answer would be no.
We ask voters to elect city councils, but not to make planning decisions. Maybe we should, this being a democracy and all, but if we ask voters to put in as much time as council members do on big-ticket items like this, why have councils at all?
By this reasoning, I point out that in California, we also have statewide vote measures. Why have a state legislature at all?
The way it should work is for the council members to clearly state their positions — which they have — and then let voters have their say on election day.
It might be too late by then.
And, if I hear them correctly, members Bob Hernandez and Lucille Kring cast their lot with property owners, saying that they should be given the benefit of the doubt unless a particular project is injurious to the city. And neither one thinks the housing project would harm the Resort District.
Why have zoning if you’re not going to stick to it? Disney has to plan according to existing zoning. Why shouldn’t other businesses, such as housing developers?
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