Sometimes the Fresno County Board of Supervisors seems unclear on "the vision thing," as the first President Bush used to say. Supervisor Henry Perea prudently raised the issue of billboard guidelines and this was the response from two of his colleagues:
"The barometer for me is when people complain in my district, and I'm not hearing that," Supervisor Bob Waterston said. "I think we have a good policy in place. If there's something I'm missing, then certainly I'm willing to listen to it."
Phil Larson agreed: "I really don't see a problem with it."
Gentlemen, gentlemen, the idea of good planning is to decide how you want your community to look, and put good policies in place before there is a problem or when the problem is small. The Fresno County way, however, is too often ignoring the problems until the damage is done, constituents and businesses are calling and the supervisors' backs are up against the wall.
Do you really have to wait for people to call and tell you they want their unincorporated neighborhoods to look good? Do you really want to wait until the problem is so severe that your only choices are ruined scenery or taking chainsaws to a bunch of expensive billboards?
Remember, the job description calls for leadership, not crisis management.
I think it is the responsibility of persons in public office to be proactive on issues. Fresno County Supervisor Henry Perea is showing initiative in dealing with an issue BEFORE it becomes a problem.
Set standards now and we won't have to spend a lot of time and money fixing it later. My hat is off to Supervisor Perea.
Here, here! The days of reactive, status quo government are numbered if not over. Let's elect leaders who move us toward what we want instead of reacting to what we don't. "The Vision Thing" is crucial...and it is time we had a vision from our leaders!