Holiday Street Tree Lights

The Press Democrat published a column on December 16, 2010 regarding the lack of street tree lighting on Main Street this holiday season.  The column essentially said that the City was preventing the Kiwanis Club from installing lights on the trees.  While there is a kernel of truth to that notion, the facts of the situation are more nuanced then the article makes clear.

The City has an obligation to ensure that any activity that requires some kind of City permit be done in conformance with all applicable health, safety, building, electrical, etc. codes.  In meeting this obligation, the City cannot issue permits to persons or entities that cannot demonstrate that they have met those requirements.  It doesn't matter whether the permit pertains to a valued local service club like the Kiwanis wishing to install holiday lighting on public rights of way or private developers wishing to improve private property.

The City has no desire to inhibit business activity in town.  On the contrary, the City has undertaken a number of initiatives over the past year to do what we can to help our local businesses.  Those initiatives include funding new interactive websites with the Chamber of Commerce focusing on our business community, subsidizing free bus transporation on Saturdays during the holiday season, opening up additional off street parking spaces downtown and others.

We also do not have anything against street tree lighting.  On the contrary, we believe that it adds to the ambiance and environment of downtowns and would do so here.  Our only issue is that we cannot simply ignore our code requirementsand issue a permit simply because we like a project or it provides a community benefit.   We expect people who undertake permit requiring activities in town to do things the right and legal way.   If we, as a City, don't, then that expectation is inherently unfair.

I'll close with this.  What if the story today had been "Sebastopol boy electricuted when City approved faulty wiring fails".  Would the same folks complaining of red tape or overbearing bureaocracy step forward and defend the City or its staff then?