Proposed initiative would promote 'endless fighting'
12:01 a.m. PT Apr 30, 2008
Change can be a scary thing and how we deal with change matters. I have always believed that a fundamental purpose and responsibility of leadership is to work with our community to address the issues of change and the fear that is all too often associated with it.
We have a choice to make about how we address change. We can fight and divide as the proposed Friends of Grass Valley growth initiative would do or we as a community can come together to develop a common and shared vision for the future of this great town and the community we all love.
While I understand and even share some of the frustrations and fear that is part of the motivation behind the proposed initiative, I think this is clearly the wrong choice at the wrong time. The proposed initiative is not needed or beneficial to address the issues and challenges that face our community.
The proposed initiative would create great harm, both short and long term. It proposes 30 years of special, costly elections that would divide our community over and over again.
The proposed initiative is already resulting in increased fighting, name-calling, division and a growing upward spiral of conflict. This is a waste of community capital and it's irresponsible to continue down this road.
The vast majority of our citizens, the "90 percent middle," all too often become the target audience and focal point of the 10 percent sitting at each end of the table. It's like sitting between bickering relatives at the annual Thanksgiving family dinner. The 90 percent just want to come together, eat a nice dinner and visit with the family but they're caught in the middle of the fight.
We all want a peaceful Thanksgiving dinner, crazy relatives and all. We also want a sustainable community that provides security, well-being and a high quality of life for all our residents, for this and future generations. We all have this in common.
So let's create a "safe middle" for our community members to move toward, versus driving them to one end of the table or the other as the proposed initiative is already clearly doing.
We desperately need a shared vision for our community and we have the resources available to develop and implement a shared vision. This effort should be viewed as an investment in our community, its health and its welfare.
This can be achieved by undertaking a meaningful effort to inform and build community understanding and consensus. We must actively engage citizens and create productive processes for meaningful involvement, not division and not more endless conflict.
Let's make the choice to show that collaboration and consensus is possible. Let's undertake a positive approach that brings our community together versus driving us a part as the proposed initiative would do for the next 30 years. The proposed initiative would promote the endless and useless cycle of fighting for power and control.
We can choose to come together in shared partnership and respect and not be divided by the conflict that is already resulting from the proposed initiative.
We have a choice to make. If we work together all things are possible.
Steve Enos is a resident of Grass Valley, a professional land use planner, former City Council member and founder of Grass Valley Neighbors. Steve can be contacted at senos@localnet.com.
