“Are you for or against Lowe’s or development or competition?”

That’s the sort of inane question that has characterized debate over Clearlake’s decision to sell our property to a couple of strip-mall developers – but the real issues have little to do with any of that.

You see, I’m for development – and competition – and I think Lowe’s could be an improvement to existing employment and purchase options. If properly conditioned, I could support this project.

But am I for this deal to sell our property? Absolutely not!

Am I in favor of all our redevelopment funds being pledged to it? No way!

Do I condone avoidance of the public participation one should expect around the largest commercial deal we’ve ever done? No!

Is it OK with me that we’ve avoided the scrutiny and conditions of approval that might assure that the developer produces a sustainable project that provides community benefits, reflects our values and is integrated into a more comprehensive, economic plan? No, it's not OK!

And must I oppose a deliberate and transparent process to protect us from shoddy accounting and shady, backroom deals? No, of course not!

But some would have you think, “you’re either ‘fer us or ‘gainst us.” Our city’s administrator, some council members and even some staff would love to blame all our problems on others. But who can they blame for their failures? Get ready, it’s ... “you people!” And unless you go along with their program – this means you!

That’s how they deflect responsibility for their failure to manage the economic crisis that has been looming for years – blame it on others.

Look, I know times are hard, the economy sucks and it’s tempting to excuse them and I do sympathize for their current state of desperation.

But “you people” and the “Sierra Club” did not cause our problems – as much as they’d like you to believe so. The mayor rags on “you people” for her inability to manage a meeting and they’ve even authorized staff to inform the public that their deficit is the Sierra Club’s fault. Give me a break!

Here are the facts.

Our city administrator’s own projections showed that the only immediate benefit (until 2012) from the Lowe’s project was to allow redevelopment funds to be diverted to pay part of his and our city engineer’s salaries – a temporary measure to help cover their budget deficit.

This was before any Sierra Club involvement. But they would have us believe that the Sierra Club’s insistence on an environmental impact report (EIR) caused that deficit.

Since then those hours were cut – so they have exactly the same economic picture they had. Nothing else changed and clearly, the loss of city services, at this time, has nothing at all to do with the Sierra Club or you people – it’s the same deficit budget they had.

But they use their offices and city resources to spread this false propaganda and further erode confidence while opening us up to greater liability. What in the world are they thinking?

They might instead have considered charging administrative time towards preparing an EIR to keep the project moving – but they drag their feet and complain rather than resolving the issues and moving forward positively. It’s so much easier to just blame someone else, isn’t it?

So, what are the real issues – what am I for or against?

For me the issues are responsibility, responsiveness to constituents, process transparency and community benefit. These things have all been lacking.

I’m against scapegoating and I’m for intelligent planning and leaders who act maturely, accept responsibility for failure, learn from it and move forward positively to build consensus and success.

So, to my council members, here’s the point – I’ll not blame you for the state of the economy, so please stop blaming me (as in – you people, Sierra Club, Lake County, etc.) for your inability to intelligently manage the situation and move us towards consensus and shared prosperity.

Please remember, we are all in this together – let’s get it together.

Tim Williams lives in Clearlake.