Who decides?
WHERE THE NEWSPAPER STANDS
Copyright © 2006, Daily Press
February 13, 2006
A referendum isn't the way to settle the Buckroe question
The decision by the Hampton City Council not to have a referendum on a controversial part of the Buckroe re-development plan was the right one. Not easy, when it was made last week, but right.
It's not hard to see why a referendum had appeal to its supporters. The Buckroe plan has hit a snag over development of 10 acres that make up three vacant lots just off Buckroe Beach park. The city's plan to build condos on them is part of an effort to change the housing mix in Buckroe, a critical step if other elements of the push to upgrade Buckroe, and address some very real problems, are to succeed. Opponents want to keep those lots open and accessible for all citizens, perhaps in the form of a park.
The debate has erupted into a petition drive and a public meeting that drew 500 people, into a drumbeat of appeals at City Council meetings and disputes that are spilling into neighborhoods. Various people claim to speak on behalf of Buckroe residents - on both sides of the issue. People from other parts of the city voice their views, pointing out, rightly, that they share in ownership of the property.
None of the debate has answered two big questions: What would the majority of Hampton citizens want? What decision on the part of the council will best serve the citizens of Hampton?
A referendum - advisory, as proposed, or even binding - wouldn't answer those questions, either. For many reasons. First, since few citizens bother to make their voices heard in local elections, the results would just give birth to a whole new debate over whether the vote was representative. Second, because it's anybody's guess what that voice would be saying. Would voters really understand, before they punched in their choice, what the Buckroe Plan involves and what the consequences would be of developing and not developing the lots? Would their votes be informed and therefore meaningful?
That's the problem with the petitions - and much-touted 11,000 signatures of Hampton residents and property owners on petitions urging that the lots not be developed. Leaving aside unanswered questions about whether they're all legitimate signatures, you still have this: Did people simply respond with an easy "yes" to a leading question, "Do you want to keep this green space green?" Did they understand the implications of what they were requesting?
Those problems throw the issue back where it has been for months: into the lap of City Council members. These are the decisions they signed on to make when elected, and none shows any disinclination to make them. What they do show is concern about what the best decision is and about all the variables that are not within their control or even fully grasped as yet.
Such as how private developers' take on Buckroe will change the landscape. Or how development at Fort Monroe will affect Buckroe. These are unknown to the experts, and would be unknown to voters in a referendum, too.
The ultimate referendum occurs, of course, when voters pick City Council members. But even there things are cloudy. It's unlikely that either the council or the public will be able to read in the tea leaves of the May election a reliable indicator of public sentiment on Buckroe. Whether an incumbent is returned or turned out, whether a challenger is welcomed or denied, could have as much to do with voters' sentiments about property taxes or the firing of the former city manager or some aspect of the candidate's character they think they have discerned. No, those tea leaves will not spell out Buckroe's future.
For the City Council, there's no ducking this decision. Citizens should share their views through the usual channels: by speaking up at meetings and getting in touch with council members. And those members would be well advised to listen. And to try to make the decision no one else can make for them.
Copyright (c) 2006, Daily Press
