Soap Box: Council passes test, Skala & Sturtz wrong on vote, planning comments

by Larry Schuster

July 11,2008

Last month I asked the following question in regard to the then-upcoming vote on the extension of Maguire Boulevard across Grindstone Creek: Is the city council's word good? A previous council had adopted a priority list of projects to be constructed with the last extension of the capital improvements sales tax and set in motion the gears of our municipal bureaucracy with staff time and money to begin the project. On a 4-3 vote, the current city council approved the project.

Disconcerting within the extended dialogue were the comments of council members Karl Skala and Paul Sturtz. Skala, under the guise of frankness, tried to argue that no commitment had been made to voters to build the projects, which were promoted during the campaign for approval of the capital improvements sales tax. Even when confronted with a resolution from December 2005 adopting a list of projects to be built with funds collected through of the capital improvements sales tax extension, he persisted in the notion that the official action of the city council was not a commitment.

Skala, along with Sturtz, contributed several comments during the evening, alluding to poor growth planning, the poor location of Concorde Industrial Plaza and the inappropriate conduct of former city manager Ray Beck regarding commitments to build a bridge across Grindstone Creek.

Sounding the alarm bell further, Sturtz lamented that "one could count the votes" and that his vote or opinion was in vain but possibly his vote would send a message. He also commented "that a conversation was soon needed to discuss where the city limits of Columbia would end." Paul is a cordial and well-intended soul. I hope the latter comment does not by any measure mean we should follow the disastrous course of community planning that created a nightmare of inflated property values in Portland, Ore., the high cost of housing in Boulder, Colo., or the meandering quagmire of suburban St. Louis. Further, if he thinks that by not choosing the prevailing side, his vote and opinion have only symbolic value, I suggest he resign his seat so an individual who is less egocentric and understands the process of democratic decision-making may serve.

Over the decades—not years, decades—we have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars planning and mapping our future. The original investors of the Smithton Land Company which platted Columbia, planned for a wide street known as Broadway. They had observed the problems associated with narrow streets in other communities. We learn as we grow. We have immensely improved streets, water, sewers, trash, electrical, police and emergency services over the years. New technology and theory are part and parcel of a vibrant, progressive society. We should consider all avenues to improve community living. We should not, however, yield to the pressure for change, for change's sake alone. Some new ideas will be valid and others simply will not pan out. To accuse former city councils and city administrators of inadequate planning and improper conduct is reprehensible. An apology is due Ray Beck. His administration was never marred by serious impropriety. The couple of occasions that did arise were not dismissed but dealt with swiftly and firmly. He demanded integrity from all he worked with.

We each rise to the occasion of service with the best of intentions, using the best tools and practices and community input available at the time. Community priorities change. Basic governmental service has been the priority most of our history. Only in the last 15 or so years has affluence risen to such a level that we place amenities and community luxuries above fundamentals. Hard times, tight budgets and shifting economies will bring community priorities back into focus. Such is the case of guarding our flagship university campus and our commitment to economic development. For as I have said many times and will continue to state: parks, pedways, walkable communities and such mean little to those underemployed or unemployed.

So as my mother would say: "Put that in your pipe and smoke it."