Open Letter Portola
An Open Letter to the Portola City Council 030611
The Council recently passed an ordinance banning medical cannabis dispensaries.
One might imagine that the Council thought itself to be upholding some sort of traditional values.
It sadly not so. In governance, voters expect representatives to protect freedoms, make informed, far sighted laws, and demonstrate thought towards their constituents.
The Council let law enforcement set the freedom for the community, as though cops were doctors or spoke for individual liberty. It sought pragmatism and foresight in the testimony of those it knew were biased and backward looking. Where the Council might have shown compassion, it showed fear. As a result, the people of your community have been deprived of a freedom they should have, and the City is encumbered by an ordinance written for the past, not the present.
Your decision will be moot in a few years or less, and time will mark it as being without insight, courage or compassion.
L. DeVita
The Council recently passed an ordinance banning medical cannabis dispensaries.
One might imagine that the Council thought itself to be upholding some sort of traditional values.
It sadly not so. In governance, voters expect representatives to protect freedoms, make informed, far sighted laws, and demonstrate thought towards their constituents.
The Council let law enforcement set the freedom for the community, as though cops were doctors or spoke for individual liberty. It sought pragmatism and foresight in the testimony of those it knew were biased and backward looking. Where the Council might have shown compassion, it showed fear. As a result, the people of your community have been deprived of a freedom they should have, and the City is encumbered by an ordinance written for the past, not the present.
Your decision will be moot in a few years or less, and time will mark it as being without insight, courage or compassion.
L. DeVita
