Whether you liked it or hated it, there’s little doubt that the current crop of “smart growth” city commissioners seemed to have a vision for Lawrence when they were elected last year.

The vision, to put it charitably, was to find a way to make sure Lawrence’s growth conforms to their view of Lawrence’s values.

More than a year later, though, it’s fair to say that this commission has been at best disorganized — and at worst, distracted — in accomplishing its goals.

Take a look at the commission’s signature achievements of the last year-and-a-half:

• Passage of a “living wage” ordinance requiring new companies receiving tax abatements to pay nearly $10 an hour to their employees.
• Approval of a resolution condemning portions of the federal Patriot Act as unconstitutional.
• Passage of a ban on smoking in places of employment, a ban with significant effects on Lawrence bars and restaurants.

The living wage was the only item among those three that the Progressive Lawrence Campaign commissioners campaigned on. And officials kept quiet about the prospect of a smoking ban until the last election was over, specifically to avoid the matter becoming a campaign issue and giving voters a chance to make their preferences.

Now, we hear, commissioners are contemplating another ordinance — this one guaranteeing the right of mothers to breastfeed their children in public. Why? Because one woman had a bad experience in one Lawrence business.

In a perfect world, the woman never would have been criticized for nursing her child in the nursery of a local health club — but the world isn’t perfect, and legislation won’t make it so. The woman and her allies say that there really isn’t a problem with mothers being denied the right to breastfeed in the city’s public places, except for the one incident.

And city staffers have been forced, as a result, to spend their time researching and crafting resolutions for a problem that really isn’t a problem.

It’s worth noting that a city task force charged with coming up with ways to shift the costs of Lawrence’s growth away from taxpayers and to developers recently concluded where it should have started — with a call to find out what those costs really are.

It seems possible these commissioners will end this two-year term next April without resolving that issue. They’re too busy playing nanny.