I've never called Robert the bad guy and have never questioned his motives, though he has questioned mine several times when I didn't join in.
As for the question of where people would want their kids to play, I'm not sure I get your meaning.
When I tour people around, I tell them about the South area and the controversies. So far, none have decided against living here and none have decided to wait until the new homes are built to buy.
Back in 2004, folks were accusing the City Council of having a profit motive because Steve Miklos owned a mortgage company (even though the builders entice and even force their buyers to use their own lenders), and because Jeff Starsky is legal council for an air conditioning company. They couldn't figure out a profit motive for Kerri Howell (an engineer) or Eric King (works for Intel). No one came out and said it, but I always thought Morin might be looking at selling more pancakes.
It's a funny thing, really. People come out against an issue, and if one doesn't join in the outrage, they often get questioned, 'How could you not!?', or accused of having profit motive.
Honest answers aren't acceptable.
Steve, I can actually see why people might have some of those perceptions. I mean besides PAC contributions and endorsements, when I see a council member in photos at fundraisers for things like Region Builders, an organization that states they are formed to "streamline permits, reducing fees, and removing bans on large format retail," or North State Building Industry Association as an "Friend of Housing" honoree, even if those associations can be explained by their personal professional life, I feel like my voice as a resident is going to be very small as compared to the building industry.
Having said that, just because I disagree with the council on certain directions or actions, I have found that accusing them of corruption or calling them names really accomplishes nothing. Cutting off communication in that way means the small things we might agree on to make Folsom a little better won't ever get talked about. That would be a shame.