I guess we all have vision. In politics it is just more mumbo jumbo for an excuse to do what you want to do. In my personal case, it is more like "hope" to age in good health, body and mind.
The best vision anyone could possibly have would be to follow the Golden Rule. A key element of the Golden Rule is that a person attempting to live by this rule treats all people with consideration, not just members of his or her in-group. In the recent firing of the city manager, the "rule" was lost in translation because Susan Stanton was not treated justly nor do I believe was she treated ethically. The new commission kept hearing "fire the witch" from the Dirty Dozen, their loud supporters.
Does power get in the way of the "rule?" Often times it does. We read about people everyday who have gained some power and have turned around and ripped off the system or have voted in a way that is unrepresentative of all of the people--personal visions get in the way. They don't take the time to understand any other point of view. They don't care.
We know that we can not trust many politicians. They say one thing to get elected and then turn right around in 3 weeks and vote to do something totally ridiculous that cost the taxpayers a heck of a lot of money. They always said that they would give the city manager a chance to go along with their directives.
If you can't trust your preacher, who can you trust? We all remember Obama's preacher, Jeremiah Wright, the preacher who hates "whitey." We grew to despise him for saying, "God Bless America. No, no, no, not God Bless America. God damn America — that's in the Bible — for killing innocent people. God damn America, for treating our citizens as less than human." He had a weird vision and he's still preaching racism when the rest of us have been over that for 50 years.
Now we have churches into the act of grabbing the cash and I'm not talking about the collection plate. Redemptive Life Urban Initiatives an arm of the Redemptive Life Fellowship Church, is under investigation for having a vision to grab the cash and put it in their pockets. HUD money in the amount of $1.6 million was used to build 22 houses in the Coleman Park area. Think about that a minute. 22 houses for $1.6 million comes out to $72,727 a house. Not bad.
In June, HUD ordered the city of West Palm Beach to repay over a million dollars where much of it went to the Blue Roof program where no bids were sought. Redemptive Life has paid $2.2 million to various directors, employees and companies without properly documenting the transactions. The preacher man, Bishop Harold Ray, who has surrounded himself around celebrities, just hired celebrity lawyer Willie Gary because West Palm Beach has ordered Ray to return $1.1 million in monies that were not properly administered.
Our very own CRA got $23 million in a HUD grant to build $130 houses. Do the math. The are having all sorts of fun figuring out where to spend it next. Funding here in Lake Worth will be primarily used to purchase, rehabilitate and demolish foreclosed homes within the City of Lake Worth so says the CRA. They are building houses on these itsy, bitsy lots of 25 feet in the hood mind you. Some funding will also be available to provide homebuyer counseling, "green" maintenance says the CRA. We are attracting the poor to our city...just what we need. That will really turn the city around as well as our tax base.
This new commission is backed by those who just love the CRA and spending money. So, it can't be that vision that they want to change...starving artists and poor people. What is this new vision?
On December 20, this visionary commission will be voting on moving forward (oh, that's something else they are telling us of late that they want to do), to vote on the uniform method of collecting non-advalorem special assessments so just in case they want to special assess all of us next year, all their ducks will be in a row. Isn't that vision just a little twisted?
The Mayor just said that she has her own vision...that people are still angry and there was so much mistrust still in the community...her justification to can the city manager. I thought her vision was to stop the fire assessment, ensure that an independent auditor be hired (that was approved by the former commission), fix outdated infrastructure to prevent outages at our Utility (that's already in the CIP that the former Commission approved) . She further talked about her vision and the vision of those who joined her along the way...those who voted for her.
I don't mean to single out the Mayor here, personally I like her, but she was the swing vote to fire the city manager. As you represent all of the people Mayor, just keep the number in mind--222--all those others who did not come to the polls or did not vote for you have some sort of vision too and they aren't coming up to the lectern every other week spitting out fire and brimstone.
8 comments:
I know you have not supported the fire assessment proposed by the CM, but I also believe, that in general, you were a supporter of the CM. Therefore, I share these few thoughts.
She was again, brilliantly one step ahead of all of us. The Commission played right into her hand. She benefits the most on their quick decision. She benefits professionally, as her peers and other governments recognize what can happen with a majority shift after an elections. It will be a "easy" sale for her at future job interviews. She benefits financially with an extra $75k, rather than for the Commission to wait and simply not renew her contract when up.
She would have died by a thousand cuts. Her creativity would have been stifled. Her control, a necessary tool for real effectiveness, would have been captured.
All in all, I say she did very well. Her intelligence is a bit scary.
It required but 300 applications before Susan landed a job in the most progressive hamlet East of Ashland, Oregon. That would imply that there were 300 openings across the country for a City Manager. What is it that the other 299 communities knew that it took us 32 months to discover?
Well, you seem to know--why not tell us.
I choose to believe that we are a very open city that has a high tolerance for different views, lifestyles and the Gay/Lesbian/Transgender community. Not all cities are like Lake Worth. We judged Susan on her qualifications, not her sexuality. We judged her on her skills and professionalism and did not hold the transgender thing against her. I would say that we are miles above most cities in tolerance and values for humankind. That does not exist in many, many communities across the country. We chose to ignore that part of her personal life whereas other cities couldn't overcome it.
I would live in this city any day before any of those.
Lynn,
As a liberal and a progressive, you have fallen into one of the oldest traps of modern day America, implying that anyone with a differing opinion is either a racist or a bigot. Your comments would imply that there are 299 communities across our great land that are either racists, bigoted, or both, and that they simply could not get beyond those intolerance's to seek a truly qualified individual to run their community. You know that isn't true, just as you know that your side cannot win the CM's position back, no matter how long and hard you whine. Why not, instead, tone down the rhetoric and get to work helping the commission put the city back on track?
Don't bother coming over here and telling me what or what not I am. First of all--I am NOT a liberal or a progressive--far from it. What I am is a fiscal CONSERVATIVE.
You need to figure out what you will be doing and stop the damn whining when I point out the truth, something you don't like to hear.
I don't have a "side." What I do have is some common sense to know that I am somewhere in the middle of politics in this city and I see fault on both sides.
Anonymous@ 11:09a.m.
What does it matter if Lynn is a democrat or republican? Surely, on both sides of the political spectrum there are racists and surely neither party is perfect, but to go out of your way to attack on behave of a party, rather than on behave of an issue is exactly what's wrong with this city and country. You cannot ask someone else to tone down rehtoric and focus on "helping the commission" while your drowning in your own.
The former commission begrudgingly funded 75% of the internal auditor position with some kind of BS about how it would take too much time to get blah, blah and the holidays blah, blah. McVoy still doesn't want the position filled.
She did have good qualifications and was a City Manager for 14 years in the same city. That's stable.
What happened? We got the screaming she-devil, hormonally enraged liar and manipulator of personalities and funds.
Oh ya, she got rid of the Illegal Hiring Hall....... SHE PUT IT IN THERE!!!!!
The City Manager follows the directions of the city commission. IS THERE ANYTHING ABOUT THAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND? Part of the problem with this city.
I'm not sure you are factually correct that it was approved after Stanton was here but I don't have the time to reaearch your allegation.
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