Mendolonium

I have much to say about last night’s Pasadena city council meeting addressing the Hahamongna Watershed Park.  But the hour is late, and I have two small people that will be clamoring for my attention shortly after sunrise; so my deep thoughts shall have to wait.  In the interim, here is a link to the Pasadena Star-News write up of last night’s city council meeting. My favorite part…where councilmember Steve Haderlein calls refers to the 40+ open space advocates at the meeting as “selfish” and states that “They’re kind of like the pig at a smorgasbord that grabs everything. We don’t have a deficit of open space in Pasadena. But we do have a deficit of sports fields.”  Even after his statements at the meeting I was shocked by the above quote.  Below is the text of the comment I posted on the Pasadena-Star News website:

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I was one of the “pigs” who spoke in favor of preserving Hahamongna park as is at the city council meeting last night. I heard many thoughtful and well researched comments from the public. Of the dozens of people in attendance not one single person spoke in favor of placing athletic fields in Hahamongna. Mr. Haderlein and Mr. Gordo have attempted to frame this issue as a choice between new recreational facilities and preservation of the park. However, that is a false choice. There may well be good cause for building more athletic fields in Pasadena. Preservation advocates are not anti-athletics. There are many locations for soccer fields in Pasadena. Mr. Haderlein himself cited a potential site at Washington & Sierra Madre as well as conversion of some Rose Bowl parking areas to athletic fields as strong possibilities. Hahamongna is an irreplaceable, priceless ecosystem. The true choice is between preserving Hahamongna for future generations or destroying Hahamongna for an unsustainable athletic field.

Mr. Haderlein would also do well to remember that he is elected by the people of his district and that he is up for re-election in 2011. Calling members of his constituency, people who respectfully exercised their right to free speech, “pigs” is disrespectful and undemocratic. I expect better behavior from my elected officials.

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Anyone in Pasadena’s district 4 want to run for city council next year?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 at 11:44 pm and is filed under A Piece of My Mind. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.