There is an article in today’s Contra Costa Times (page A3) summarizing last Wednesday’s city council meeting along with Phil Vince’s introduction to Martinez’ own special brand of politics. What the story calls routine in terms of a vote to de-silt/scrape the area adjacent to the Amtrak station may yet turn out to be business as usual – or – routine.
Up to now the city has routinely buried and or disavowed knowledge pertaining to the plausibility of successful coexistence, aka the beaver brouhaha. The fact that our new city manager recognizes policy issues pertaining to environmental stewardship will not merely fade away is refreshing.
The truth about this proposed scraping is it will leave a scar on the area for years to come. The two proposed compromises, in addition to salvaging some of the beaver’s feeding area, helps offset that loss in aesthetics. But aside from being just plain ugly the message this project sent wasn’t lost on any of us the night a passerby on the bridge gloated over it two weeks ago.
It is the hope of all of us at Worth A Dam that in the future these types of discussions do become routine, that environmental stewardship will be routinely factored into all public policies. After all isn’t the lack of this consideration at the crux of the whole global warming mess?
