Critical Mass or Council Mess?

At the recent City Council meeting while the “Brookfield Boys” were busy ram rodding special dispensation for the multi-billion dollar company that helped elect them with nearly $100,000 in “campaign contributions” and PAC attacks, Councilman Adam Nick was kind enough to address the individual concerns of the Lake Forest residents who spoke at the meeting and opposed the project. When it came time for one of the issues I raised, Nick offered the example of “critical mass” which he defined as “the amount necessary to sustain a chain reaction” and said that we (the citizens of Lake Forest who opposed the project) had failed to achieve a critical mass. Nick, more than any other Council member, has generally advanced causes of concern to the public (e.g., transparency, term limits), and in my 3-minute speech I specifically called on him to champion, once again, the “will of the people”. Apparently he didn’t see the will and the people didn't get his vote.

I started thinking what constitutes a “critical mass”? What do the citizens have to do to demonstrate a “critical mass”? Let’s see what types of issues did achieve a critical mass recently, and perhaps that will give us some guidance for future requests. First, let’s examine the “critical mass” in this case and see what failed.

BTW – if you’re unfamiliar with the Brookfield project, click here.

BROOKFIELD

The critical mass that failed included dozens of Lake Forest residents

·   Attending Council and Planning Commission meetings over several months

·   Attending several sessions (I think 4 or more)

·   That usually lasted more than 2 hours and sometimes more than 3 hours

·   In which two dozen people spoke up

·   A petition with 70 signatures was presented at the Council

·    An online petition with 80+ signatures was achieved

·    Dozens of people posted on The Register and The Patch

And all of this failed to achieve a “critical; mass”. That’s a pretty high bar. So let’s see what does achieve “critical mass”.

SPORTS ARENA

As far as I can tell, here is what it took to achieve “critical mass” in this case -

·    A few guys showed up at one meeting one time

·   They used about 10 minutes in the public forum, then left

·    Mayor Voigts’ daughter is an enthusiastic soccer player

Apparently this was sufficient “critical mass” to earn a place in the sacred “5 Year Plan” where the city lists all its important initiatives.

COMMUNITY GARDEN

As far as I can tell, here is what it took to achieve “critical mass” in this case -

·   About a dozen people showed up at one meeting one time

·    They used about 10 minutes in public forum, then  left

·    They submitted a petition with signatures (I can’t recall how many)

·    Mayor Voigts mother endorsed the project.

·    Councilman Robinson’s mother-in-law endorsed the project.

Apparently this too was sufficient “critical mass” to earn a place in the sacred “5 Year Plan” where the city lists all its important initiatives.

CRITICAL MASS

Looking at these three examples, we can now see the peculiar physics involved in Lake Forest. The laws of physics, like the law of politics, are subject to environmental influences. When applied to Lake Forest, what would normally be perceived as “critical mass” (a lot of people, comparatively speaking, spending a lot of time, and putting their names out there in multiple media sources) is actually not, because the forces generated by $$$ apparently inhibit the powers of any public showing. OTOH, get someone’s relative on board and “critical mass” is readily achieved.

CITY’S NEW MOTTO

A few years ago there was quite a debate over using “In God We trust” as a motto in the city council chambers. Ultimately it was approved, but I suggest the motto is misleading.

“WE TRUST IN MONEY AND OUR RELATIVES”

Should be the new motto chiseled into the council chambers.

There should be a new advisory, prominently displayed in the Planning Department, anytime anyone wants to apply for anything. It should give the names and addresses of all the Election Campaign Committees for the City Council members and the names, home addresses, and phone members of all the relatives of the City Council members. This way people will know how to spend their time and energies.

And while we’re at it, perhaps we can put a “collection box” at the podium, where the public goes to speak, so they can deposit their “campaign contributions” while they speak, so that the Council members know whether or not their issue has a chance of achieving “critical mass”.

And just to make it even easier for the Council to make decisions, I suggest a set of bleachers where their relatives can sit. Of course it shouldn’t look like the French revolutionary bleachers where the mob called out for heads to be lobbed off. It should have much more class, because after all, we’re not lobbying off heads here, we’re pushing through issues and projects. Let’s make it pretty. After all, as the Council members tell us, “In Lake Forest we do it right”.