Los Altos City Council made the right decision by rejecting a request by Councilwoman Lynette Lee Eng to have the city pay $3,000 for a trip she would take to a national conference in March.
Lee Eng argued that she would learn a great deal at the conference and bring it back to share with her colleagues on council.
If her point is that the conference is educational, why send a council member who has only a year left in her time on council? Why not send a newer council member?
Lee Eng said she would learn about grants the city council seek for its new police station. But the city has employees who are focused on applying for grants. It’s doubtful they need help from a council member.
Party time!
The truth is, these conferences don’t benefit residents much. They’re an occasion to party and network with politicians further up the food chain.
The council member will usually hear bad ideas that they’ll bring home. Council members in other Mid-Peninsula cities have been “educated” at these conferences on banning drinking straws, prohibiting plastic bags at grocery check-out stands, forcing traffic calming techniques on the public, shutting down natural gas lines and increasing density in residential neighborhoods.
The Mid-Peninsula already has plenty of stupid ideas floating around. We don’t need to send our local officials to conferences where they can learn about more stupid ideas.
Editor Dave Price’s column appears on Mondays in the Daily Post. His email address is [email protected].