Commissioner Compares Meetings to "Smackdown"
I have respect for our new Commissioner Graham and his youthful spirit. I ofcourse first came to respect him right after losing to him in the Election last Spring. His campaign strategy is something I have learned from. But I certainly don't share his opinions on everything. I know part of his platform was repeating that he viewed the relationship between City Hall and the Citizens as an "Us vs. Them" atmosphere and that he wanted that to change. I agree with him on that, however, I think we disagree on just who is "us" and who is "them." Here is a recent excerpt from the Commissioners website, which by-the-way, I do think it is great that he is keeping his constituents updated daily on his views and what is going on at city hall. This excerpt is under the title
"Is it City Hall or Madison Square Garden?"
"I've been thinking about how wild the meetings can be, and how we can get them more organized, more streamlined. It's easy to see now why the move to have both meetings in the evenings got shot down, but I'm not sure how to make the evening ones go as smoothly as the morning ones. I can't believe I'm saying this, as I prefer to be awake during the meetings, but maybe we should have them both in the morning. The downside to that is that when people who don't usually attend want to speak their voice on a certain issue, that would really discourage them from attending. I'm not remotely comfortable with that. Somewhere there has to lie a compromise, because if things keep playing out like an episode of Smackdown, we're honestly gonna scare people and businesses away from coming at all. In fact I'd bet in some cases we already have."(-Commissioner Nick Graham)
I think by this statement the Commissioner is letting us all know just who he considers to be "US and THEM." I do think he fails to realize that it is very possible that citizens and businesses might just be inhibited from approaching the commission because of the lack of respect shown to citizens on many occassions. At the meeting that he is refering to, the Economic Developmet Director Don Russell, a city employee, publicly insulted the citizens in attendance by calling them a "Peanut Gallery." He was called out of order as well as former Commissioner Allen and myself. I was out of order for speaking out of turn, not making insults. I know it is hard to contain myself when getting insulted by someone, but I don't respond likewise. I know Kevin Allen took offense to Commissioner Wood stating the he is not a "citizen". This isn't the first and only meeting where a city employee, the Commission, Mayor and City Manager have been rude to the citizens. And as far as businesses being inhibited to attend? Most are running their business at 8:00am. If you own your business, your hours can be somewhat flexible, but then again their have been many business owners attend because they felt they have been unfairly treated by the city and it's not adhering to it's purchasing policy. (Remember the $20 "saved" on buying pipe in Nevada? My issue regarding the newest Fort Scott Billboard south of town, or most recently, at the last meetings the "Snow Removal Equipment" issue? What about the fact that it took a local businessman two requests to open a business. The first time denied by all but one commissioner, and this time voted no to by our Mayor. (It did pass.) I do hope that the $2,000 for a half-day sessions that the Commissioners will be taking part in, (presented by the City Manager's friends) will help the Commissioners to show more respect for ALL citizens, not just the ones they agree with. If that happens then it will be money well spent. Of the motivational husband and wife team, the husband was a former Commissioner and Mayor himself of another city. Perhaps Commissioner Graham can ask him what time their city held their meetings, and how they treated groups of concerned citizens in attendance. If the City Meetings are what the Commissioner compares to a "Smackdown" or Madison Square Garden, he should consider that it's not the fault of the citizens in attendance. And proposing to move them back to 8:00am is only telling the citizens that he has a way of making the meetings more inaccessable as his solution. This is an approach I certainly disagree with him on.
"Is it City Hall or Madison Square Garden?"
"I've been thinking about how wild the meetings can be, and how we can get them more organized, more streamlined. It's easy to see now why the move to have both meetings in the evenings got shot down, but I'm not sure how to make the evening ones go as smoothly as the morning ones. I can't believe I'm saying this, as I prefer to be awake during the meetings, but maybe we should have them both in the morning. The downside to that is that when people who don't usually attend want to speak their voice on a certain issue, that would really discourage them from attending. I'm not remotely comfortable with that. Somewhere there has to lie a compromise, because if things keep playing out like an episode of Smackdown, we're honestly gonna scare people and businesses away from coming at all. In fact I'd bet in some cases we already have."(-Commissioner Nick Graham)
I think by this statement the Commissioner is letting us all know just who he considers to be "US and THEM." I do think he fails to realize that it is very possible that citizens and businesses might just be inhibited from approaching the commission because of the lack of respect shown to citizens on many occassions. At the meeting that he is refering to, the Economic Developmet Director Don Russell, a city employee, publicly insulted the citizens in attendance by calling them a "Peanut Gallery." He was called out of order as well as former Commissioner Allen and myself. I was out of order for speaking out of turn, not making insults. I know it is hard to contain myself when getting insulted by someone, but I don't respond likewise. I know Kevin Allen took offense to Commissioner Wood stating the he is not a "citizen". This isn't the first and only meeting where a city employee, the Commission, Mayor and City Manager have been rude to the citizens. And as far as businesses being inhibited to attend? Most are running their business at 8:00am. If you own your business, your hours can be somewhat flexible, but then again their have been many business owners attend because they felt they have been unfairly treated by the city and it's not adhering to it's purchasing policy. (Remember the $20 "saved" on buying pipe in Nevada? My issue regarding the newest Fort Scott Billboard south of town, or most recently, at the last meetings the "Snow Removal Equipment" issue? What about the fact that it took a local businessman two requests to open a business. The first time denied by all but one commissioner, and this time voted no to by our Mayor. (It did pass.) I do hope that the $2,000 for a half-day sessions that the Commissioners will be taking part in, (presented by the City Manager's friends) will help the Commissioners to show more respect for ALL citizens, not just the ones they agree with. If that happens then it will be money well spent. Of the motivational husband and wife team, the husband was a former Commissioner and Mayor himself of another city. Perhaps Commissioner Graham can ask him what time their city held their meetings, and how they treated groups of concerned citizens in attendance. If the City Meetings are what the Commissioner compares to a "Smackdown" or Madison Square Garden, he should consider that it's not the fault of the citizens in attendance. And proposing to move them back to 8:00am is only telling the citizens that he has a way of making the meetings more inaccessable as his solution. This is an approach I certainly disagree with him on.
posted by Thom Prue @ 6:42 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home