I just got back from a City Planning Commission Meeting to decide on whether or not to approve a Conditional Use Permit for the ARCO AM/PM that is proposed for our Shopping Village (see entry on 5/10/05). Well, because of our efforts last week, we actually got residents to show up at the meeting to speak in opposition of the project! I was optimistic. I was proud of our neighbors who had gotten up to speak. I was cheering on Jesse as he spoke. The Commissioners appeared to care.

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Unfortunately, I had to learn the hard way how powerful the Irvine Company is. Basically, all 5 of the Commissioners (appointed by the City Council and probably owned by The Irvine Company somehow) already had a decision before they even started the meeting. They pretty much had this meeting/public hearing to sort of humor the residents. It was 2 hours of listening to the applicant’s proposal and then each resident got only 3 minutes to speak for or against the project.

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After the recess, they closed the public hearing and allowed the applicant and The Irvine Company to answer questions. The Commissioners practically handed them loaded questions such as “so how are you going to ensure that minors will not be allowed to buy alcohol?” I thought, “what kind of stupid question is that?!” Of course the applicant comes back with, “well, we participate in the ‘We Card’ program and take our liquor license very seriously.” By the end of the meeting I was so frustrated because it was pretty obvious that we were getting scammed. I couldn’t help feeling like a fool…especially since one of the Commissioners who came around the neighborhood on Sunday to get our point of view. He seemed like a guy who would help us out but oh no…he flipped on us and straight up voted for the project without a flinch. So much for the democratic process.