Flatlander In the Mail Today and Tomorrow

By Robert Milbrodt

The Flatlander is now distributing its election issue.  For the first time in 20 years we are delivering it by US Post. If you live in Davis, please expect it in your mailbox today or tomorrow. Bruce Mackenzie who used to walk so many routs to deliver the paper used to say, "Hey, that was a real Flat-lander" as the paper landed in Driveways all over town. This one is for you Bruce, we miss you.

This paper has a section that did not correctly identify our content contributors, and we apologize for any confusion that may create. On page two there is a table that should have been titled “content contributors” rather than “editorial board” and it should have been updated to reflect some last-minute changes for some who did not contribute… Roberta Millstein, for example.

As most of our readers know, we are an informal association of community volunteers, not paid staff, and mistakes will occur. When they do, we will own them, correct them, and strive to avoid them in the future.

We have also received complaints about the evaluation table for the city council candidates. A volunteer for one campaign objected to candidates being characterized as favoring “developers” and insisting that we should have used the term “development.” This is a subtle distinction that might have better conveyed our message.

The purpose of the table was to convey to the reader the tendency the candidates would exhibit in considering developer/development projects. In considering the forum and written responses provided by each candidate, we considered whether their test for project approval was a bias in favoring the developer/development or in favoring the standards and desires of the community. Candidates tending toward “development” approval were identified as favoring the developer rather than the community.

Nothing else was meant by the use of that term, and we certainly don’t see developer as a derogatory term. We understand that readers may interpret words with very different meanings and we apologize if our word choice was deemed offensive in any way.  That was certainly not our intent.

We respect everyone seeking public office and appreciate that there are people willing to sacrifice their time and energy for such an undertaking. There are nine terrific people running for city council and we wish them well in their private and public endeavors.

Thank you,

The Flatlander