To the editor:
I have been following the Civic Working Group and the various sports field proponents' efforts with some confusion.
City Council selected and provided the guidelines for the task of the working group. Although they stated on Tuesday night that the field was always a given, no one in the working group seemed aware of this. Nor, when it was repeatedly brought up during public input the last 18 plus months, was it given real consideration.
The Early Childhood Education Center was a "given" and that was clear from the beginning. So, if this was just a misstep from City Council, that concerns me. If it is an error on the part of the Working Group's efforts, that concerns me.
But, my real confusion is with the direction given the consultant who was hired and worked with the group. Our tax dollars paid upwards of $400,000 on a consultant who had the wrong information. And when that consultant began to hear the community's impassioned plea to correct this error, ignored them and motored through the process.
So, now all that time and money has been wasted. Did no one really see this while it was happening? Or has someone profited from the mistake and the do over that will occur?
William Martin
Santa Monica
