<table> </table> Pssst, want to see Kansas City government in action? Want to see a charade? On Monday, they were the same thing.</p><p>City Council members made snap decisions, ignored the wishes of citizens groups and held a private discussion (except for one nosy columnist) to make their final decision.</p><p>And attorneys for the city&#8217;s development community went away smirking, pleased that the pressure they had applied on politicians had handed them another victory.</p><p>On Monday afternoon, several council members, city staff, city consultants, volunteers active in water issues and attorneys for the development community gathered in a conference room on City Hall&#8217;s 22nd floor.</p><p>The council members&#8217; goal: Recommend to the full City Council an ordinance to protect stream beds and to prevent development from occurring too close to water.</p><p>Frankly, it shouldn&#8217;t have been difficult.</p><p>After many months of studies, the city staff, a city consultant and <em>three </em>citizens groups had endorsed a tough ordinance aimed at protecting land up to 300 feet away from waterways.</p><p>That ordinance would have provided maximum protection of trees and mature vegetation, all of which absorb and cleanse water before it makes it to streams and rivers.</p><p>Don&#8217;t forget, too, that most council members recently had proclaimed they wanted Kansas City to be the &#8220;greenest&#8221; city possible.</p><p>But on the other side of this issue were the home and commercial developers. Their tenacious attorneys spent months lobbying for a weaker law.</p><p>They argued that the maximum protection should extend only 150 feet from waterways. Anything tougher, they claimed on Monday, would prevent developers from making money from building houses, retail stores and offices near waterways.</p><p>The developers reportedly had lined up a majority of the council to kill the restrictive, 300-foot plan pushed by the &#8220;green&#8221; crowd at City Hall.</p><p>Council members said they were torn about how to proceed Monday.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re trying to protect our streams but still have a reasonable opportunity for development,&#8221; John Sharp said.</p><p>Added Cindy Circo: &#8220;We need development. We need protected streams. It&#8217;s not an either-or.&#8221;</p><p>At 2:41 p.m. Monday, as debate continued about the issue around the conference table, Circo got up and pulled Carol Grimaldi out of the meeting and into a hallway. Grimaldi is chairwoman of the Wet Weather Community Panel, which had supported the stricter ordinance.</p><p>A minute later, Circo pulled development lawyer Jim Bowers out, too.</p><p>Seconds later, Sharp got up from the table and had city planner Patty Noll (who favored the tougher law) join him in the hallway confab.</p><p>At that point I decided to observe the private meeting, which quickly had become more important than what was happening in public view.</p><p>Sharp and Circo asked Bowers whether developers would agree to a small increase in the minimum amount of land that could be protected from development. But the maximum of 150 feet of protection for trees and vegetation, as favored by the developers, would remain in the law.</p><p>Bowers grabbed his allies out of the public meeting. They quickly said yes to the small change.</p><p>Back in the conference room, City Council member Jan Marcason looked up as members of the private discussion re-entered.</p><p>&#8220;We have a report from the back room,&#8221; said Marcason, a leader of the pro-green movement at City Hall.</p><p>Marcason asked Grimaldi if she was happy with the sudden new agreement.</p><p>A grim-faced Grimaldi didn&#8217;t respond; she had already said her group wouldn&#8217;t meet again until August.</p><p>But by then, it was too late.</p><p>The deal had been struck. The council members had capitulated to the development community. The ordinance they endorsed will be introduced today, ready for the full council&#8217;s rubber stamp.</p><p>And &#8212; just like that &#8212; a big chance for Kansas City to become a national leader in green solutions to water-related problems evaporated.