A small blurb from Sean Tubbs in his Community Engagement blog caught my eye this weekend. Titled “Regional Planning Body Met Today”, which outlined a meeting with representatives from Albemarle County, Charlottesville and the University of Virginia. According to Tubbs the official name of the committee is the Land Use and Environmental Planning Committee and replaces another committee know as the Planning and Coordination Committee. I wouldn’t have given the meeting much thought, since I would assume the city, county and UVa meet on a regular basis except for one odd aspect of the meeting, that being it was held in secret. That’s right, no public access. Not only is the meeting held in secret, but there is no available report of what transpired during the meeting except “when possible”. This is just one more reason not to trust the powers to be and more evidence that decisions are being made behind the back of the residents of the county, only to appear later as initiatives to be rubber stamped by the Board of Supervisors. I see no reason for such a level of secrecy except maybe in an instance where private property is involved and I’m sure that doesn’t happen too often with property that would span the three entities. At any rate, this is one committee that has to be followed carefully and remember the saying “Sunshine is the best disinfectant”.