Why Not a Town Hall?

Dr. Bill Fowler

I attended the Carlsbad City Council meeting last Tuesday and witnessed something pretty remarkable. At the end was a soliloquy by Matt Hall saying that if apologizing 1000 times would heal Carlsbad he would do it. The most interesting thing was a brief exchange at the end. Told that he hadn't actually apologized, he hesitated and said he was sorry. Greg Gutierrez hesitated and accepted his apology. Hoots and hollers met that exchange and someone yelled out that there should be a town hall.  

Halls apology has been derided on FB and by bloggers, and perhaps it was not sincere. Perhaps Greg's acceptance was not sincere either. It was a fascinating interaction in which they both decided on the spur of the moment what to do and say. You could see them thinking through an interaction that took mere seconds.

I don't think any healing has taken place and I am skeptical that healing will take place except for the passage of time and future unknown events.  

But I would like to see Carlsbad move from name-calling, anger fueled rants and scatological humor to something more civilized. Frankly, I am tired of all that, it contributes nothing to Carlsbad's progress however you define it, whatever side you are on.

I would like to facilitate a Town Hall meeting.  

First let me establish my 'bona-fides,' so we are clear on which side I am on.
  • As I have said, I was a foot soldier in the Referendum to gather signatures to put the project to the vote, we won that battle and Measure A resulted.
  • I was also a canvasser for the No on Measure A side.
  • I passionately believe that defeating the Caruso project was the most important thing Carlsbad has done in the last 10 years, including the building of the Desal plant.
  • I am running for Carlsbad City Council and am devoting all my energy to defeating at least 1 City Council member in November.
Having said that, I believe we can advance the core beliefs of the No on Measure A movement much more effectively if we establish a civilized dialog with other Carlsbad citizens who may have been for Measure A and even those who have no idea what Measure A was.

And, frankly, I  believe a move to a civil dialog will help me as a candidate.

Here are a few ideas --

Let's schedule a Town Hall meeting at a neutral site in which the City Council members (those who elect to attend) can discuss Measure A in an environment in which they can express their opinions, explain their reasons for supporting the Caruso project and say anything they would like about the referendum and campaign. This would be without interruption, name-calling or any of the things we have come to see at the City Council meetings.

For the No on Measure A supporters, we will be able to express our opinions in response in a civil and respectful way.

Both sides will be able to ask questions and potentially engage in a dialog.

There are many practical questions that would need to be answered and for that I would suggest the following.  Each side will appoint someone to work out the rules for the meeting. In addition, there we will agree on a neutral person to facilitate the rule-making.

Here are some suggestions for rules:

5 pre-determined questions will be addressed by City Council members without interruption or other verbal abuse for a set amount of time (3 mins? ;-) ) 

Polite responses and rejoins.

Some subjects will not  be addressed, like "Are you on the take?" or unproven allegations of bribery or similar. And certainly no re-hash of technical points of the Caruso project, which is dead (remember, we won that fight!).

5 more pre-determined questions about the future of Carlsbad with opinions from both sides. Perhaps some civilized dialog.

These are just some ideas, but I think that that interesting interaction between Matt Hall and Greg Gutierrez could blossom into something useful.

There seems to be a leadership vacuum in the wake of our great victory. We haven't heard from CNC leadership at all. Maybe we can move the ball forward and achieve some of the things we have been talking about in the wake of Caruso's defeat.  

For those that would mock or ridicule this proposal, so be it. 

I just think that the anger filled rants will dissipate the great energy potential of what we have accomplished.