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From:Steven Goodale <br />To:GRP-City Council; GRP-Planning Commissioners; GRP-City Clerk <br />Subject:March 4, 2025 Agenda Item 5.A. Joint city council planning commission meeting public comment <br />Date:Friday, March 7, 2025 3:55:32 PM <br />Regarding the joint meeting on March 4th, 2025, agenda item 5.A, this is my in person spoken <br />public comment, please add it to the record. <br />---------- <br />"Good evening. I'm Steven Goodale from The Boardwalk Association, right next to <br />the proposed project site. <br />For years, we’ve watched a deeply flawed process unfold, one that has shut out real <br />community input in three ways: <br />First, the developer cherry-picked who they'd talk to. After finding Greenbelt Alliance, <br />they stopped talking to established environmental groups like Sierra Club and <br />Audubon Society who ask harder questions and raise legitimate ecological <br />concerns about the project's impacts. <br />Second, they manufactured the appearance of community support. They promised <br />meetings about alternative plans but delivered empty meetings about process <br />instead. Meanwhile, they cultivated relationships with select community groups who <br />later shifted to supporting the developer's positions and attacking anyone with <br />different views. These favored groups had access to information before the city <br />officially released it - we've confirmed with city representatives that Longfellow <br />worked directly with them in ways they did not with the broader community. <br />Third, what they called "public engagement" was just for show. We suffered a parade <br />of meaningless meetings where at best, we sat through online sessions with <br />"experts" who either worked for the developer or talked about topics not directly <br />connected to the proposed project. At worst, we were herded around rooms to put <br />colored dots on boards - all so they could check a box saying they did "community <br />engagement," but never allowing meaningful dialogue. <br />They're running what I think of as a paint by numbers democracy kit. You get your <br />colored dots, your pre-written comment cards, and they tell you where to stand - all <br />designed to make it look like they listened while they do exactly what they planned all <br />along. It's like being invited to help drive the bus, only to find out you're just there to <br />sit in the back and watch them steer, while they tell everyone you helped pick the <br />way. <br />Please, restart this broken process. Redwood Shores is being asked to absorb the <br />negative impacts, we deserve a genuine voice in decisions that will reshape our