Transparency

The city council makes code changes without meaningful public involvement:  staff writes the code, aided by a staff-picked citizens committee.  The city then publishes the proposed code and “invites citizens to comment.”  But it never explains why the changes were made, or how they will address the problem, or what alternatives exist.  The city council ignores questions (“Thank you for your comment”), it ignores advice from real experts, and does what it initially decided to do.

The most recent example is the homeless shelter code, where the council ignored the comments of over 3,000 people and refused to answer the most basic of questions, such as:  “How do low-barrier shelters in residential zones help anyone?”