WRITTEN
PUBLIC
COMMENT
CITY COUNCIL
MEETING
JANUARY 17, 2023
1 From: Robert Radi <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2023 1:05 PM
To: Monika Radeva
Cc: Bill Ihrke; Jon McMillen
Subject: Public Comments: Announcement & Presentation 2 ** EXTERNAL: This message originated outside of the City of La Quinta. Please use proper judgement and caution when opening attachments, clicking links or responding to requests for information. ** Dear Ms. Radeva,
I am submitting the following in‐writing public comments for the record and the attention of the City Council.
AGENDA ITEM: ANNOUNCEMENTS, PRESENTATIONS, AND WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS 2: TALUS – PROJECT STATUS UPDATE
To the Attention of:
The Honorable:
Mayor Linda Evans
Mayor Pro‐Tem Steve Sanchez
Councilmember Kathleen Fitzpatrick
Councilmember Deborah McGarrey
Councilmember John Pena
CC: City Manager and City Attorney Offices
The Eight‐Year Pursuit of the "Better Financing Deal" Must End.
Self‐interest, one could argue, is a natural form of self‐preservation that can be traced to the primitive side of the brain, where the amygdala regulates the function of "fight, flight, or freeze" behaviors. In philosophical terms, according to Adam Smith's 1776 book The Wealth of Nations, "it is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest." Consequentially, self‐interest is a driving factor in the way society behaves in the fulfillment of everyday needs. These conditions have critical and salient implications in 3P (Private Public Partnerships), where the morality of self‐interest must dovetail with the community's emotional logic cemented in the collective expectations, such as in Talus's case. These expectations were memorialized in formal and binding agreements and successive amendments.
The critical issue doesn't involve exercising self‐interest in pursuing the "best deal for me" but the abuse of public trust.
For instance, self‐interest cannot trump the terms of an agreement reached after much public debate, and parties must respect all terms of such an agreement, including the disclosure of changes in financing sources.
Ethically speaking, selfishness is the abuse of self‐interest. It refers to the conditions of an actor willing to go beyond self‐interest to receive more than what is due to them, to maximize self at the detriment of others. If the butcher sells second‐cut meat ‐ at premium prices ‐ by concealing the actual nature of the product, the conditions of self‐interest have been breached. Ethical egoism contradicts the notion illustrated by Adam Smith because it is predicated on the assumption that such behavior is sustainable. Acting to fulfill a sole purpose at the detriment of others will result in casting the counterparts in the roles of winners and losers, and in the long term, there will only be losers. Ultimately, the remedy resides in explicitly recodifying the partnership, which means resetting the boundaries necessary to protect the interests of all stakeholders.
Robert Radi
Resident ‐ City of La Quinta
CITY COUNCIL MEETING - JANUARY 17, 2023 - WRITTEN COMMENTS BY RESIDENT ROBERT RADI PRESENTATION NO. 2 - TALUS PROJECT STATUS UPDATE