Once again shrugging off public dissent, last week city council plunged forward with their plan to cover the water reservoirs at Mt Tabor. A year ago, without public input, city council suddenly approved a plan to cover the water tanks with large landscaped lids. Last Wednesday, in front of packed chambers, city council unanimously voted to authorize six million dollars to hire a planning firm to produce a plan for the technical aspects of the design–a decision that pushes the idea of covering the tanks within a hair’s breadth of reality.
For some time, against neighbors’ wishes, a plan to cover the reservoirs had been lumbering along. But last year, citing paranoia over terrorist attacks to the city’s water supply, city council quietly approved the plan.
That decision has enraged residents, who saw it as an affront as bold as painting sunglasses on the Mona Lisa. Eventually some 600 strong, they took to the park last spring and clasped hands in a circle around their beloved water tank.
On Wednesday, some of those same dissenters tried to dissuade city council from moving forward with their plan. A few pointed out that most of the justification for covering the reservoirs was taken directly from a report furnished by Montgomery Watson Harza–the very same consulting company benefiting from the six-million-dollar contract approved last Wednesday.
City council members bristled at the accusation that they are beholden to the business interest.
“We are people who reach decisions with our own brains,Ó snapped council member Dan Saltzman to one resident. “It is disingenuous to suggest that the consulting company controls us.Ó
The six-million-dollar contract will last 10 years. The Water Bureau, headed by Saltzman, estimates the entire project will run a tab around $76 million. But dissenters believe these estimates are far too optimistic.