The Business Journal has joined the Mercury News in attacking Mayor Chuck Reed for failing to release correspondence between developer Lew Wolff and the city on the subject of the proposed Spartan Stadium replacement.
The Journal’s approach differs from that of the Merc. It admits that “there is some business logic” to keeping details of a negotiation from the public until the negotiation “is finalized.” And the language of the business publication is much more reasoned than what we’ve seen in print in the Merc.
But the two publications reflect the same nervousness. It’s nervousness occasioned by what happened in the Grand Prix subsidy and the Norcal mess.
The nervousness is unjustified. Chuck Reed voted against the majority in those two scandalous decisions. He felt that no time had been given for scrutiny and comment… by either the Council or the public.
And that really is the central point in this issue. It’s totally unnecessary for the public to become a party to this complex negotiation. And there’s no sense in accusing Chuck Reed of going back on his promises. He’s consistently supported the idea that everything should have a complete airing before it’s acted on.
It would seem that some folks want things to get an airing before they’re defined. And that makes little sense.
This is Robert Kieve, and that’s a personal opinion.
