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Written by Claude Delphia / Community Columnist
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Saturday, 19 July 2008 |
Patterson’s pathetic public participation
“It is time for individuals with diverse ideas to step forward and start participating in this process of establishing Patterson’s size and borders. If you don’t, you are going to be pretty upset with what might be planned.”
— Claude Delphia
 Claude Delphia / Community Columnist
Last year, I decided to volunteer to serve on the General Plan Advisory Committee. It was established by the Patterson City Council to come up with some preliminary planning criteria to be used in the California-mandated city’s general-plan revision, which is often done at 10-year intervals.
The GPAC is composed of people who represent different interests. There is a City Council representative, a planning commission representative and various non-city people, such as representatives from the health care district, school district and other community service outfits. All have interests in Patterson’s growth plan over the next 20 or more years.
Then, there are a few of us — maybe not enough — who just represent the public without any special interests.
I spent a big chunk of time serving on the planning commission in the ’80s and still think about the city’s future plans on a regular basis, so it seemed natural to ask for a spot on this committee.
Now, the problem.
So far, the planning process has been dominated by those wanting their property developed. This is a very natural part of the process for them and not inappropriate. Unless, that is, the general public doesn’t take part to create a balance.
The general public’s interests are not being represented. At the last meeting, only two residents showed up, and they didn’t represent people living within any of the city’s proposed future boundaries. Their questions were good, however, and they were clearly trying to understand the process.
It is just plain wrong for the city’s future growth area to be planned without input from average residents as to how they want to see Patterson grow. Unfortunately, past general plans had what were considered bad results, and it was basically because regular people didn’t participate in the process of determining Patterson’s future.
Some might point to the earlier workshops put on by the city’s general plan consultants as input-gathering devices. Those had a value, but more than half of the participants were landowners with developable land. Those plans were not specific as to which areas would be added to Patterson.
Now that the GPAC committee is getting specific, where is the public?
It is time for individuals with diverse ideas to step forward and start participating in this process of establishing Patterson’s size and borders. If you don’t, you are going to be pretty upset with what might be planned.
This committee needs to see balance, and that means regular, non-developer residents showing up at the meetings, asking questions and learning about the possibilities for the city’s future. There should be hundreds of people who care enough about the city’s future to show up at these meetings.
Where are you, and will you wake up before it is too late?
- West Side native Claude Delphia is an avid historian and a former member of the Patterson Planning Commission. He can be reached at
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