So: Mayor picks planning commission, mayor and council pick councilors from the planning commission and the insider trading club gets ever smaller.

Until Molalla finds a fair way to pick diverse people to fill committee spots it will continue to implode with bad ideas piled on bad ideas.

Citizen participation should reflect the demographics and needs of the city – not the need of the mayor to stack the deck with people who think just like he does.

Anyone ever hear of the dangers of inbreeding – that’s what Molalla “government” has done and the lack of progress reflects the lack of diversity and lack of broad citizen input and participation.

In regards to the voting to approve the New Comp plan I would like to say that all City Councilors that have been previously on the Planning Commission ( I believe there are 4 councilors) should not be able to vote “for or against” approval of the new comp plan based on the City of Molalla Council rules noted below. I expect to see a public vote on this matter as noted in the council rules.

1.02.160 Bias and Disqualification

1. Any proponent, opponent or other party interested in a quasi-judicial matter to be heard by Council may challenge the qualification of any Council member to participate in such hearing and decision. Any challenge must state any fact(s) relied upon by the party relating to a Council member’s bias, pre-judgment, personal interest or other factor from which the party has concluded the Council member should not participate and may not make an impartial decision. Such challenges must be made prior to the commencement of the public hearing. The Mayor will give the challenged member an opportunity to respond. A motion to accept or deny the challenge will be accepted and voted upon by the Council. Such challenges and the Council’s decision will be incorporated into the record of the hearing.

2. In quasi-judicial matters, each Council member must disclose participation in a prior decision or action on the matter that is before the Council. Common examples include when a Planning Commission member is elected or appointed to the City Council or when a Council member testifies at a Planning Commission meeting. The Council member must state whether the member can participate in the hearing with no regard for the prior decision made. If the Council member is unable to be impartial, the member has a duty not to participate in proceedings and leave the Council table.

1. I feel Councilors that were previously on the Planning Commission cannot make a un-biased decision. Those councilors are not likely to vote against the very plan they created. I don’t feel that there is any way for them to be impartial.

Stephen Clark

Citizen of Molalla

At the Nov 4 hearin’, “lawyer” Crean, when questioned about the negative Oct 27 letter from DLCD, said that in the past the letters were up to 22 pages of negative comments and that now it was “only 2 pages” as if that was progress.

What he failed to tell was that the DLCD letter had this catch phrase (like they all do):

“However, the individual documents still do not appear to get Molalla where the city wants and needs to be. In general, the comprehensive plan and implementing ordinances are still hard to follow and will likely be difficult for city staff to administer”.

That means that DLCD is sick of writing detailed letters about ALL THE FAULTS AND INDEFENSIBLE ELEMENTS of the comp plan. Crean’s assertion that “only 2 pages” means there are only a few problems is not factual. That quote means that there are problems throughout the comp plan that have already been well documented in past detailed letters and that DLCD won’t waste any more time commenting on a pile of garbage that has not been changed per their past suggestions.

Plannin’ now can twist in the wind and try for “fixes” – I await with glee the day the “unfixed” plans land on the desk of professional County planners – then the sparks will fly and then Crean and Potter’s poorly tended chickens will come home to roost. Bring it on! County hearing fun ahoy! The tone will change big time when the indefensible “plans” leave city limits and show up on the desk of real planners who understand and follow the rules on state land use planning.

The Hamlet committee is happy that we now have collected well over the 100 signatures necessary to submit the bylaws to the Commission for approval. We are enjoying the process and look forward to contacting people via email about coming meetings. Signature gathering continues until mid December when the Hamlet expects to submit bylaws and petitions to the Clackamas County Commissioners.

Due to Veteran’s Day the next Hamlet formation meeting will be on Nov 18 at 7 at the Molalla library.

Plannin’ dude Potter was “too busy” to produce minutes from the previous meeting or to copy and distribute the negative letters from ODOT and DLCD. That is a big “no-no” with the officials who monitor these “official” hearings” – but it’s Molalla plannin’ folks, so why would anyone bother to follow the rules or to respect the citizens who bother to come?

Plannin’ dude now has version “A” and “B” of urban reserve maps – and he won’t be a gettin’ either one! How much did those expensive new maps cost? How many more versions will it take till Molalla understands that it is not a gonna happen?

The DUMBEST comment of the night award goes to (drum roll!) city councilor Danna Jacober. As Jacober looked at a map of all the RURAL reserves surrounding Canby, Oregon City, and Sandy she commented that those cities “wouldn’t be able to grow” because of all the protected land!

I guess Jacober never heard of INFILL or GROWING UP INSTEAD OF OUT. I guess Jacober can’t understand how MANHATTAN has managed to grow. I guess Jacober can’t understand how PDX continues to GROW even though it is completely surrounded by other cities and can’t expand outside its current boundaries.

IT IS CALLED INFILL – IT IS CALLED GROW UP INSTEAD OF OUT!

It is called time and money wasted when “leaders” like Jacober STILL DON’T GET IT. The city is being laughed at by all outsiders – EVERYONE knows that the city won’t get the absurd urban reserves.

The “lawyer” had the gall to say that “maybe” by this time NEXT YEAR they might have the plans knocked together!

How many times have we heard that? Please, someone go and thumb through the YEARS of Pioneer stories where Potter tells us he is “almost done” with the comp plan!

The “lawyer” gets paid whether the city fails or not. In fact, the “lawyer” and the “consultant” get paid MORE the longer the Ground Hog Day comp plan goes

Commissioner Lehan noted at CPO that most other cities in Clackamas County are not begging for more land – they have leaders who are smart enough to know that cities – the taxpayers – can’t afford the new infrastructure need to grow out. These cities are working on realistic plans to grow without expanding the UGB.

What will it take for “leaders” in Molalla to understand that very simple fact? Molalla can’t afford to maintain what it already has or to fund plannin’ without “borrowing” money from other funds. How bankrupt does Molalla have to get to learn the truth about the false growth needs?

Today’s Pioneer quotes “lawyer” Chris Crean as saying that the comp plan meets state requirements.

Where have we heard that lie before?

Oh! We have heard it many times before from that same “I get paid no matter what “advice” I give” lawyer Crean as he collected big paychecks for “advice” that has to date always turned out to be totally wrong about the population figures!

My personal favorite is the pathetic Crean letter to Clackamas County last spring proposing yet another bogus legally indefensible “formula” made up by Crean.

Guess what? Crean claimed the EXACT SAME THING about Clackamas County, that they were wrong about population issues. And guess what! Crean was wrong and Clackamas County laughed his “proposal” off the block.

Who hires “help” like that – who keeps signing the big paychecks for “help” like that?

Oh! I know – John Atkins, the king of “I have no stake in the future of Molalla”, hires and signs the checks for marginal “help” like Crean and fake plannin’ dude Potter. Atkins gets his big paycheck each month – why should he care about the quality of “help” he pays for – he takes the checks and runs to live somewhere else.

Hey Atkins – how about writing a column in the Pioneer to tell us all about what a fantastic job Potter is doing! Tell us all about the wasted funds, the piles and piles of negative letters, and how state and county agency PROFESSIONALS wish they could run the other way when them there Mo-lalla plannin’ nightmares come a flyin’ into their offices for comments.

Boy, I sure am glad I don’t have to wake up with a degree in planning, drive to work at DLCD and have to try to write polite but negative comments back at Molalla over and over and over again: it would take some real talent not to pick up the phone and scream: STOP SENDING OUT IDIOT PROPOSALS, YOU FOOLS!

Hey “lawyer” Crean, how much will it COST the city to pay you for this round of bad advice? Hey citizens – how long can you afford to get ripped off paying for nonsense?

MONEY FOR NOTHIN’!

That’s what the city leaders do – steal your money and produce:

NOTHING!

That is not going to be a “cute” task – good luck to her!

Like the piles of DLCD letters with the “not going to get Molalla to where it wants or needs to be” message about “plannin”, I wish we could go back and get the huge stacks of stories over the years and years and years that tell about how this one, that one and TEAM are bullish on Molalla’s economy and the years and years of plans to “fix” downtown!

Good luck is all anyone not living on cloud nine can wish her – we all understand that we all need to get any job we can find. And, since her background includes land use, good luck times 100 on “working” with the plannin’ fools!