The concept of democracy was never an issue. As a new resident of Point Loma, I thought it time to see my local government at work. I attended the Dec. 20 meeting of the Peninsula Community Planning Board. I was open-minded and arrived with no agenda. There was even a distant voice telling me, “Perhaps you’d consider volunteering to serve and give something back to society.”
I was stunned. I was stunned as I watched one member of this august body make a motion while she chewed a mouthful of the dinner she was eating in front of the crowd. Shortly thereafter, she entertained the crowd by applying makeup in the midst of the meeting. I felt like a voyeur peeking into the ladies’ powder room rather than taking in a meeting conducted in a polished and professional manner.
Fortunately, the attendance to “personal matters” seemed to stop at that point.
At another point, a board member seemed to lose his way, forgetting the purpose and function of the board. “I move we start the meetings with the pledge of allegiance,” he proclaimed. His grandstanding left me aghast.
The look on his face reminded me of the third-grader going to great lengths to become the teacher’s pet. Was he questioning the patriotism of other board members? Was he suggesting this would “convert” any terrorists that might be sitting in the audience? Or was he simply saying, “Look at me, look at me, see what a good boy am I”? In the interests of time and focus, I would encourage him to bring an apple to the teacher and try not to drag the public along on his patent display of self-righteousness.
The conduct of some of the other board members left me rolling my eyes as nuanced ” and some not so nuanced ” vitriol bounced off the walls of the meeting room. I felt as if I was a spectator in an eighth-grade free-for-all complete with a food fight. The meeting chair appeared to do his best to conduct the meeting in an efficient and professional manner, but the skills needed seemed to be more those of an animal trainer than head of a body of professionals.
Everyone has a bad day from time to time. Maybe this was the board’s. Egad. This is my government at work. I’m still not certain what this board does . . . or why. The concept of democracy was never an issue.