Council voted 5-2 against our petition; Next steps to stay informed

(Note: Please go to our website and scroll to the bottom and enter your email address to receive more updates. Further updates will be handled directly through email.) 

They fulfilled their agenda. At the Dec. 10 City Council meeting, we made clear, salient, and data-backed arguments on behalf of those of you who signed this petition. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT THIS PAST MONTH - and particularly for signing this petition. When we spoke last night, we made these points, and more, about why we asked to Delay The Vote:

• Zoning was altered at the 11th hour, with dramatic increases in density for single-family neighborhoods.
• The City is not accurate in its portrayal of "extensive public engagement" during the Comp Plan's development. Its public engagement did not - could not - have included the density increases added on Nov. 14. 
• Nearly 1000 of us spoke, wrote in and signed this petition, indicating a significant gap in in the City's claims of effective engagement with audiences directly impacted - like us. 

Two on the Council - Jeanne Zornes and Ben Mahnkey - made statements and voted in support of our petition to delay the vote. Please reach out and thank them - they were clearly and obviously in the minority on Council.

Five on the Council - Mayor Thompson, Dep. Mayor Rami Al-Kabra, and Councilmembers Jenne Alderks, Carston Curd and Amanda Dodd voted against our petition and voted in favor of the Comp Plan high-density zoning. 

The "Five" made no direct or constructive comments or engagement of our points. They did make ideological and personal statements and even a few unfortunately smug criticisms of our efforts. They did decide it was important to explain to us that "change is hard," that we were too late to be considered, and that the Plan took a tremendous amount of work. We left with the impression that they dismissed all of our concerns. 

Next Steps. This is just the beginning. If you want to stay informed to - please go here and scroll to the bottom to fill out the email form. We'll share updates as we work on ways to ensure that the City Council of the future is deeply interested in 1000 citizens' concerns. Please don't feel obligated to donate to change.org. Our petition is ending and we'll be moving over to direct emails and web updates.