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"We've all heard the tale of that wise old owl,
Who lived on the limb of an oak.
He listened, and watched, and heard, and saw,
But seldom ever spoke.
When things got so bad, his wisdom he shared,
And to City Watch he invoked.
It's time, he said, for your group to be heard,
So people will know there is hope!"
-Anonymous
ABOUT CITY WATCH...
City Watch, Inc. is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, volunteer operated & membership supported educational organization established in 1989. It's mission includes local government education with a focus on fiscal issues affecting the Salinas & Monterey areas.
All content on this official website is for the benefit of City Watch, Inc. and is for educational non-commercial use only.
Anyone can become a City Watch volunteer and membership is open to persons 18 years of age or older. Annual dues are $20 a member or $35 for a couple.
Send dues, charitable donations & correspondence to:
City Watch, Inc.
PO Box 3954
Salinas, CA 93912
Email:
contact@joincitywatch.org
Chairman of the Board:
Gene Lee
Phone: (831) 275-0695
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Editorial: 'How to get a city to do its job'
Posted on Saturday, June 25 @ 09:39:12 EDT by Webmaster
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 by Andrew F. Bender,
an exclusive for City Watch
We already know that to get big bucks for some pet project or other, including one-time festivals, it takes a short and effective presentation to the City Council by anyone with "proper credentials". But what does it take to get a terribly bad road fixed in Salinas?
I won't easily forget the annual City budget review in 1988.
The long hoped-for improvement of one of the then-worst streets in town -- Maryal Drive between Bernal Dr. and Laurel Dr. -- was in the proposed CIP (Capital Improvement Plan) and on the verge of being approved, when along came a request from the well-organized east-Salinas community for three new traffic lights in their part of town. Then-Public Works Director John Wong agreed to "bump" the long-overdue reconstruction of Maryal Dr. and put in those traffic lights instead.
Every couple of years since then, a member of City Watch approached the City Council asking them to not forget the Maryal Rd. project. The response most often was complete silence, or "we don't have the money" or, "maybe next time." When Alan Styles was mayor he once assured us that "the City will do it this time, I promise," he said. Still nothing happened.
 We had pretty well given up on this, but I was astounded when in early 2000 a member of the Madonna del Sasso Church addressed the Council during public comment and made the same request we had made all along. It wasn't even budget time. He said church members were fed-up with the poor condition of Maryal Dr., that it was causing damage to their vehicles -- the same valid argument we and others had made many times.
This gentleman continued to implore the still reticent Council, then said: "Although I am not here as legal counsel for the Church, I am in fact an attorney." Then-Public Works Director John Fair got up from his seat and handed the man his card saying, "Let's talk after the meeting." A few weeks later Maryal Drive was at long last reconstructed!
This and similar events suggest that what gets the City's attention to actually have needed things done depends a lot more on who makes the request than on the necessity or urgency of an existing problem. Is this the way things are supposed to be done in a democracy? Seems to be how they're done in Salinas.
* Andrew F. Bender is a former Salinas City Traffic & Transportation Commissioner.
* Published June 2000 in the City Watch Bulletin and revised June 25, 2005.
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Average Score: 4.71
Votes: 7
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