Lori Ziebart, Cogentrix Project Manager, appeared at the June 18th Navajo Community Planners meeting to present the Quail Brush Power Plant plans and answer the board’s questions. It was at the request of Council Member Marti Emerald that the board be apprised of the power plant issue. Chairman Allen Jones repeated several times that board had no intention of voting one way or the other on the issue and seemed perplexed (and peeved?) that the issue had come to their table. It didn’t seem to occur to him that it would be a good gesture to stand in solidarity with fellow San Diego communities, and our Santee neighbors by opposing the Quail Brush Power Plant which calls for a rezoning from Open Space to Industrial.
As you can see, the room was filled with people opposed to the power plant. Ziebart took eight minutes to present her case.
The Navajo Community Planners council, led by Chair Allen Jones (center in orange striped shirt) granted eight minutes to four members of the audience to speak out in opposition to the power plant.
Although the room was full of people who wanted to ask questions or make statements regarding the power plant – many of them Navajo community members – Mr. Jones ended the meeting claiming that everyone had to vacate the premises by 9 PM. Community members who had been silenced (in violation of the Brown Act) would have been fine with standing out in the parking lot to deliver their comments. When I mentioned this, I was told to “Be quiet and sit down!”
The woman in the white tee-shirt to the left of the flag (Lynn Murray, the Treasurer) verbally spanked me when she saw me writing comments in their “Sign-In” book. She pulled the book out of my hands saying that it was “highly inappropriate” and that the group opposing the power plant had “all acted inappropriately.” In her role as a host, she could have been much more sensitive, welcoming and kind. The same goes for the rest of the board. After all, isn’t that what a “community” group is all about? Or am I missing something?
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