Dear Elk Grove, do you remember what was supposed to open in 2022? Can they be trusted?

As the clock runs down in 2022, this is the time of the year when the year’s events are reviewed. Sometimes it is worth remembering the events that didn’t happen.

As we were clearing files, we came across a full-page color advertisement (see entire ad below) placed in the Elk Grove Citizen. The ad appeared in the July 24, 2019, edition.

The advertisement was paid for and promoted the coming California Nothstate University Hospital. As people who followed the proposed Elk Grove project will recall, and as noted in the ad, CNU promised to have their state of art teaching hospital approved by various agencies, financed, and construction completed by 2022!

Even at that time, people knew this was a lie. The worst part of CNUs dog and pony show was not one Elk Grove elected official or city executive was willing to tell the king they had no clothes.

There was off-the-record chatter, but not one elected official, city executive, or business advocacy group was willing to publicly question CNU President Alvin Cheung about their exaggerations. Their silence showed complicity in what was Elk Grove’s version of The Big Lie before The Big Lie.

Fortunately, CNUs’ claims were so outrageous only the most dim-witted person would believe them. But that event does raise a question about the city of Elk Grove’s executives, the mayor, and her city council to speak truth to power, especially when it comes to representing taxpayers.

If the city council members back then were unwilling to call out CNU misrepresentations, are the four new members willing and, more importantly, able to provide critical oversight needed to represent taxpayers when another project comes before them? Keep this in mind as other large-scale projects come along, especially if taxpayers are being asked to foot any portion of the bill.

Ask yourself: Can the mayor and her four city council members be trusted?