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When will John bring us a good idea?
"Exactly what makes God-almighty John Curtis think he can clomp in here
from Pedro Point, push his weight around, and bamboozle Pacificans into
opposing Trammell Crow's concepts for the quarry.
His tactics are all too transparent. He is a huge pain in the butt, used to
getting his way, and with lots of time to waste misleading Pacificans. I
expect him to do his best to avoid inconvenient facts, including more
letters to the editor, just as he's done in the past. Will we see some
phony baloney "No on Trammell Crow" campaign committee surfacing soon?
John Curtis has an energetic backup crew to do his dirty work. It's clear
he intends to crush anyone who gets in his way and hoodwink the voters with
his big claims and empty promises.
Well here are a few facts you won't be getting from the John Curtis and
Associates propaganda machine. What you see is what you get! John Curtis
and his local boosters want you to believe that they can do much better
than Trammell Crow can do for Pacifica's benefit. You only have to vote
against anything Curtis is against, and the world will be a better place.
Do you believe that? I've got a fine bridge to sell you."
The above is simply my attempt at a parody of John Curtis's letter in last
week's Tribune. That, and Nancy Hall's in the same issue, represent the
opening salvo as their knees jerk in automatic opposition to whatever
positive, practical plans there are to make practical use of the quarry to
benefit all Pacificans. John Curtis and those who think like him have done
a huge amount of damage to this city the past quarter century.
I don't pretend to know their motives. That's not for me to judge, and my
suspicions are only that. I do believe John Curtis and those he's
influenced have made the difference since the early 1980's between a city
with a tight but livable budget and one squeezed beyond endurance. Pacifica
has the reputation among good developers of being the kind of city out of
which to stay.
I plan to take a good look at Trammell Crow's plan. I won't necessarily
agree with it. As always, the devil is in the details. But I also don't
intend to be stampeded by opponents like John Curtis using scare words like
"asphalt" and "traffic" and "new houses." The words that really scare me
are "stagnation", "sluggish economy", "Pacificans buying out of town",
"libraries closing", "qualified staff moving on."
John Curtis misleads when he says "I deeply resent Trammell Crow dangling
the vision of a new library which they don't intend to build." Trammell
Crow never said they'd build a new library. I deeply resent John Curtis
using that kind of false argument. If everything goes well, and TC does
everything we can hope for, a piece of land will be set aside on which to
build the new library. If everything goes right, money will come from state
library bonds and the sale of current library properties to create the
actual building, three times the size of our current two libraries
combined, and at the population center of Pacifica.
Perhaps one of these days John Curtis and those who think like him will
come up with an idea that will benefit Pacifica. I've been observing John
and his minions for 20 years, and it hasn't happened yet. I can't wait
around another 30 years hoping it will finally happen. Trammell Crow may
not be ideal, but there's a good chance they've the best solution that will
occur within the next century or so.
E mail Paul Azevedo at Paul@thereactor.net.
Check his website at www.thereactor.net.
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