Davies' blockbuster "I never liked the State proposal" coming to a theater near you
From the Woodland Record:
The vote was anticipated, but what came from the mouths of Skip Davies, Art Pimentel and Martie Dote may put the City of Woodland in a Tim Burton movie script. Devoid of fact, but full of fanciful fiction, the three provided monologues fit for the seasonal films "Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Edward Scissorhands."
Davies decided to ignore the many reasonable arguments cast by State Theatre Renovation and Expansion supporters to deliver a short - not sweet - premeditated dictate about politicking. He said he did not like the politics used by the State group and that he "never liked the State proposal." Contrary to his contrary position of last night, December 14, Davies was overheard telling Ron Caceres after the October 5 meeting that he "liked" the State plan, but was looking for more details. For this, the self-labeled "politician" (in contrast to "government representative") could take the role of Burton's Mayor of Halloween Town... the swivel-headed, bi-faced character who loud-speaks while driving his Mayor-mobile.
The council chamber was full of supporters for Caceres' plan that was submitted in response to a May 5 Request for Proposals for a downtown multiplex.
Read more, including Ron Caceres' statement at WoodlandRecord.com.
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3 comments:
Today I received confirmation that the State/Galaxy plan will move forward and they will submit a development application. I hope they submit it just like the Petro/West... incompletely and short of the fees owed just to see what the city does. Also, in reviewing some public records I discovered a former long-time councilman was forwarding Friends of the State email announcements by David Wilkinson to Pimentel, Davies and Deven.
I actually had a lengthy phone conversation with Art Tuesday afternoon that I felt was quite productive. We exchanged points of view and I felt we both had valid and rational views on the situation. His concerns about funding and site control were valid. These are concerns we should all be thinking about although I disagree that it is a make or break item right now, I believe exclusive negotiation with the city would have solved both issues. I was expecting both Martie and Skip's responses, they have every right to their opinion. However, I believe it is inappropriate of the subcommittee to hold either proposal to absolute financing and site control schemes, the RFP had no language requiring such. The proposal put forth by councilman Marble was exactly what so many state supporters have been saying for so long. Award the RCI team the ability to have city support going forward with negotiations and see which proposal plays out.
I was very surprised Art couldn't get past his concerns to support a valid and valued project for the citizens of Woodland. Instead the three council members voting for 'alternative 1' have rewarded a 'strong arm' tactic to close up the RFP. It doesn't bode well in the design community to see a city be 'owned' by a developer. What a sad day for the citizens Woodland.
Chris,
You will love this... as I suggested before I obtained some public records... when the city started coddling Chase Bank back in January, Chase actually presented the planning dept. with a faux two-story looking building. The plan still did not meet much of the other DSP criteria for that location, but it was closer than what the bastardized version ended up looking like - all because the city got their mits in the design and messed it up. Of course when the city gets involved, builders have to put up a faux tower and put some sort of arch in there... and heaven forbid there should be corporate colors in a freaking commercial zone. It really is laughable.
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