Occam’s Razer and City Council
Occam’s Razor is the logic that the most obvious choice to a question is also probably the correct answer.
Take for example, your Columbus City Council recently decided to schedule their public hearing on data center policies at the same exact time as the public hearing on Phase 2 of ZoneIn (September 16).
Exact Same Day and Time.
Two important issues that deserve testimony, but you’re only allowed to attend one of them.
City Council could have scheduled them both on different days, but they made the decision to force you to choose which to attend.
What’s the Obvious Answer to Why Council Would Do This?
· They don’t want you to attend.
· They don’t want to hear your testimony.
· They would rather manipulate the schedule to help themselves work less.
This is what City Council does, but it isn’t democracy.
It’s a lack of empathy for the tax payers who trust them to make the best decisions for our future.
Remember, this wasn’t an accident.
City Council isn’t stupid.
This was done on purpose (reminds me of how the kick off of Phase 1 of ZoneIn was scheduled on the same day as a rare solar eclipse).
Other People Have Noticed.
I am planning to attend this hearing, but apparently the zoning hearing got scheduled for the same time. Any chance one of these could be rescheduled? Probably that one since this one has been scheduled for months.
Agree with @cathycowanbecker People should have the opportunity to weigh in on both, especially considering zoning for data centers is not part of the data center policy proposals, but is one of the most important points of intervention for them!
Bankston Owes Me $30.
It reminds me of Councilmember Bankston scheduling one of the few opportunities to give testimony on giving away McCoy Park (and 25 million tax dollars) to the Haslam Sports Group.
He could have scheduled it during an evening to make it easier to attend, but he didn’t.
He scheduled the meeting in the middle of the day.
Why?
So as few people as possible would attend.
For me to attend I had to get a babysitter.
After my testimony (which made little difference since the decision was already made in secret as usual) I told him point blank that he owed me $30 (plus tip) for the babysitter.
He thought it was humor, but it wasn’t.
I love Columbus and hate to see City Council bathe themselves in online propaganda while ignoring the opinions of the people.
They are supposed to “earn” their $94,000 part-time salaries, gold-plated health care and a pension. They even get free parking at City Hall and have full-time staff that work for them.
If you apply Occam’s Razor to Council Bankston the most logical reason for him scheduling the McCoy Park meeting in the middle of the day was to prohibit people from providing testimony.
You shouldn’t wonder why I will be voting YES on Issue 8 in November.
Our local government is broken by design.
The rich and powerful love it, but if you haven’t noticed… it’s nothing like a democracy.
We Deserve Better.