Did you witness the events at last night's meeting? Did you note where the shouting and rudeness came from? I have a bad cold, but I still made the effort to personally go to that meeting just so I could thank the retiring trustees and Ms. Rush for their service. I also emailed them my questions prior, but was able to get my answers elsewhere. Chris and I argue about things upon occasion, face-to-face. He probably thinks I'm a whacko and I think he is a political gadfly. He's a Repub and I'm a Dem. And a million other differences. I question authority and he seems to think these are all swell guys and gals. He has his ideas and I have mine. We chide each other - but we sign our names. If you read my opinions then you probably know that, unless somebody snipes at me, I don't ridicule them. When people take public office, when they spend the public's money, when they initiate programs that don't work and spend a lot of money doing it, you are not required to remain silent.
Is there something that requires you to read what I write? I clearly put my name on it, so if you don't like it, if my arguments irritae you, you are forewarned, and just don't read it. I earned that letter through reacting to rudeness and abuse aimed at Nick and others by people sitting on that Board, thank you. I don't know who you are, so few of you on that side of the coin seem to want to want to put your names on what you write, but I read, and sometimes respond, to your statements.
If you have five or six lawyers you usually have at least a dozen opinions, but not always a complete solution. Grace, Sells, Shields, Smith are all lawyers. Gorman is a lawyer. They did not agree, (What else is new?) Now we have the absolute last word from JohnM, whoever he or she is, that informs us that Sells, Smith and Gorman are right and the others are wrong. Thank you for that. Are you a lawyer? Are you qualified to tell us that? Obviously the contract is not very well or explicitly drawn, so they amended it. They did it, not me. There was no stop on the health insurance payments in case she is immediately snapped up by some other municipality, so there may be some question about that later on. I don't know if they put one in - I hope so.
I thought we just had an election and some guys won and some guys (and a lady) didn't. Presumably those who wanted to campaigned or donated or made phone calls or endorsements for their guys. I did. Those that wanted to voted. It wasn't a squeaker. I wish it would have been a bigger turnout, but it was, for this election, one of the highest in the county. So now that is all over. I hope we won't find any more costly little details like this.
Maybe Ms. Rush took that vote as a judgement on the policies that this administration has pursued. The TIf was beaten 4-1. The tax referendum and the laundry list of goodies was similarly defeated. Did you ever think that you might be reading the results of all these elections backwards? That it's not a bunch of bad people seizing control, but rather the majority finding a list of candidates and planks they want to try in a place of what they have had and obviously didn't work? Maybe people who live here now don't care how far back Caucus goes? Maybe they don't want to live in a place where there have been far too many uncontested elections.
Just think about it for a minute. Is the budget in better shape than it was eight years ago? Is the CBD more "vibrant"? IIs the VC making your days sunnier as you realize what it really cost the village? Was it better to have the Arcade occupied or not? Did our costly zoning code which is supposed to protect the the general well-being of the many from the predations of the few work? Is the TOD really the "official vision" for Riverside that most people here want? (You know, the multi-level parking garage andthe 100 condos "as soon as you can build them." Did they come to Riverside, or remain her, for its verdant beauty and comparative tranquility or because they thought it had great shopping? Do you understand that when those 3200 plus voters entered the boothat the time of the tax referendum, less than 30% of them bothered to vote for a trustee that ran unopposed? Can't you see what this means? Shoot at the messenger if you want to, but it doesn't change the writing on the wall.
I guess you won't be able to wholeheartedly support the new administration, which is your choice. I shall bear in mind that people have to get up and go to work and so try not to ask too many questions so you don't have to stay up too late. And thanks anyway for mentioning me in the same breath with Nick Cariello.
Posted Tuesday Apr 21, 2009 23:02
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