After the two-day workshop to build better working relationships
regarding the San Benito County Slow-Growth Control Initiative,
organizer Joe Morris said the forum succeeded and will be followed
by similar meetings before a public vote.
After the two-day workshop to build better working relationships regarding the San Benito County Slow-Growth Control Initiative, organizer Joe Morris said the forum succeeded and will be followed by similar meetings before a public vote.
The countywide vote on the measure will be on the ballot in March 2004.
About 60 residents attended the workshop, including advocates on both sides.
Morris said the first accomplishment during the two days was bringing that many people together, “from diverse perspectives,” for 16 hours.
“People respect each other. They know each other a lot better,” said Morris, a cattle rancher from San Juan Bautista. “In that kind of a context, people can work better with each other.”
Morris said most of the people disputing the issue had not previously known each other, and they had suspected each other of “intentions that were not honorable,” he said. But now, that’s no longer the case.
Morris’ wife, Julie, who helped organize the event, said she hoped the forum and future meetings lead to a more united community.
“We will probably be meeting on a regular basis,” she said. “We’ve yet to come up with a name for the group, but basically it will consist of a broad-based coalition from the county’s interests.”
Joe Morris said the group will produce a document describing the deliberations of the people who attended, and will likely meet in the next few months.
“I think it (the growth issue) is of fundamental importance to the long-term health of this community, that San Benito County citizens feel their own power and begin to learn to exercise it, so that they can determine their own future,” he said.
