If Nothing Else, Elk Grove First Founders are Ironic

Former charter commissioners vow for positive discussion; seeking absolution?

During the most recent Elk Grove City Council meeting, former Elk Grove Planning Commissioner Tim Murphy along with fellow former Planning Commissioner Paul Lindsay announced the formation of new civic organization, Elk Grove First. 

According to published accounts and public testimony, Elk Grove First hopes to broaden the discussion of topics important to Elk Grove. So far so good.

Murphy and Lindsay also tacitly acknowledge the formation of this group is to act as a counterbalance to another visible civic group, Elk Grove Community Connection (EGCC). Fair enough.

Subsequent to Murphy's announcement, in an interview with the Elk Grove Citizen, Lindsay took a  not so subtle swipe at EGCC:

“The more discussion we have, the more open we are as a community and the better we serve all the community’s interests,” Lindsay said in a phone interview. “I think for a long time now the discussion has been fairly one-sided in the community.”

From our vantage point, Murphy and Lindsay's comment are, if nothing else, ironic given their role in creating the City of Elk Grove as we know it today.

Who is responsible for our current state of affairs?

EGCC was formed in response to numerous problems that sprung up from the Elk Grove city government over the last ten years, of which Murphy and Lindsay were an integral part of especially during our formative years. 

Just who exactly approved that half-built rotting albatross of a so-called "regional fashion mall" on the city's south side also known as the Elk Grove Promenade?

Murphy and Lindsay are part of the same group, along with Mike Leary, Dan Briggs, Rick Soares, Sophia Scherman, Jim Cooper and Pat Hume who brought Elk Grove to the point where it is today.

 

But lets not get stuck in the past, lets move Elk Grove forward First!

In the future will Elk Grove First support environmentally sound planning in lieu of the desires of their likely benefactors - deep pocketed, or at least formerly deep pocketed real estate developers?

Will Elk Grove First work to keep the Cosumnes River 100-year floodplain  permanently out of the sphere of influence application? For that matter, will they support further geographic expansion of the city?

Will Elk Grove First strive to bring high-paying jobs to the community or will they acquiesce to more Granite Bay carpetbagging developers whose only desire is to line their pockets while hoisting more ugly-faceless strip malls filled with more, if they are occupied at all, Goodwill Donation storefronts, nail salons, cash checking centers, smoke shops, liquor stores and call that real economic development?

If you like the direction the Lindsay, Murphy, Hume, Scherman and Cooper have all taken Elk Grove over the last ten years, then you'll probably love Elk Grove First. Past behavior is after all the best gauge of future behavior.

On the other hand, when listening and reading comments from the former planning commissioners I couldn't help but think of lessons from the nuns of my childhood. If there was one lesson drilled into my head, it was the Roman Catholic concept of absolution. 

Could this be what they are possibly seeking not unlike Erik Prince of Xe, aka Blackwater? We will know in six months.