La la la Seth la la la
Dear Readers,
Since I've been saying all along that I'm only leaning a bit in the direction of reelecting the mayor, today I'm going to sing the praises of her opponent, Seth Grimes. I especially want to do this because all the heated comments I've gotten from Grimes supporters in reaction to my previous essays are only pushing me more toward Mayor Porter. So, I'll try looking at it from the other side, and see what kind of comments wash up this time.
Seth is definitely a man with a plan. He's got firm ideas about what he wants to do in office and he's laid it all out. The main points are:
He will fully staff the police department, add more officers, raise police salaries, and make police more visible on their beats.
He will leverage influence for Takoma Park in zoning and planning matters and set up a Takoma Development Commission that will be broadly representative. He will keep a close eye on development issues so we are not taken by surprise by any projects.
He will make sure the city staff follows policy and directions as mandated by the budget and the council. He'll keep spending within budget limits., and make sure the "sunshine law" to ensure government transparency is being met.
He will "aggressively but diplomatically" pursue getting a larger, fairer tax rebate from the county. He will determine whether the city can economize without compromising service by letting the county take over any city services. And he will promote eon comic development.
He's going to conduct a comprehensive survey to determine whether to spend the money to build a community gym.
He's going to expand the city recycling program and promote green building techniques.
He promises to be fair-minded, inclusive, visonary-yet-practical, and a host of other good things.
I have to say this is a refreshing change from Kathy's program, or lack of it. Kathy promises, in essence, more of the same. While she has accomplished some positive things in her terms: negotiated unification, preserved the fire house, made many useful contacts for the city in surrounding jurisdictions, brought in money for the community center (er, well, that gets tricky), she hasn't exactly been a firebrand, especially when it comes to aggressively checking development, promoting environmentalism, or watching the pursestrings. Many local activists are unhappy with Kathy because she keeps them at arm's length, doesn't support their causes, and at best sets up a committee to "study" their proposals. As a result, little happens.
This all makes Seth seem like the much needed change many residents have been hoping for - a credible candidate who not only looks capable of running the city but has some promising ideas and the apparent energy to implement them.
--Gilbert
posted by William L. Brown @ 8:14 PM
10 Comments:
"all the heated comments I've gotten from Grimes supporters in reaction to my previous essays are only pushing me more toward Mayor Porter."
How's that? Why should supporter comments affect your opinion?
I'm an anonymous who wrote heated comments. I'm not trying to push you toward Kathy. It's irritating tho to hear you say you aren't biased and seem to be unfair in your analysis.
The issue of the lawyer overspending is an example. You seemed to take it hook, line and sinker when she gave her explanation. Sure it was a good explanation but it had nothing to do with good governance or good oversight. It was spin.
I hear you tho. So I'll be less heated. I'll also look at Seth a little closer. Most of what he says is great if he does it but I don't understand how he can fully staff the police and not raise taxes. Is he just promising a chicken in every pot?
For example
"So concern over double taxation is a gottcha? Maybe I should start also paying Safeway for the head of lettuce I get at the co-op. Man! it all makes sense now. I am calmed by Kathy's zen like indifference. Ohhhhmmm"
This is not only hostile and sarcastic (which is off-putting), it shows a failure to grasp the issue of double taxation and rebates. The writer oversimplifies it. She/he seems to believe that we pay twice for services. We don't - we get a rebate. Under discussion is how to get MORE of a rebate. This writer seems to be more interested in raging than thinking.
This raging obsession with pocketbook issues I see in many of the Pro-Cons sometimes makes me feel like the person who left this comment: "I take issue with one part of your analysis -- "pro" doesn't really belong with TkPk's new "cons." These are dyed-in-the-wool tax-cut freaks angling any way they can to get a few bucks back in their greedy pockets. All the progressive talk from them is a put-on, because they know that revealing their true colors would leave them dead in our [E-word]. "
This is a concern for many of us who may be in favor of keeping budgets and taxes under control and affordable, but think there are other, more important issues than our taxes going up a few dollars. Development, for one.
As for the second comment here about me falling for Kathy's spin, and how her actions re: the legal spending was not good governance and good oversight. I'm not as gullible as that. In fact I am quite cynical. And that's what makes me think that the Pro-Con's who say they are going to achieve all these wonderful things and do such a great job of governance and oversight are going to be in for a big disappointment. I suspect that they will find that the real world of governance is pretty much the way Kathy does it, which is to say very slowly and with many missteps.
Think about the process of unification, for instance. The city strove for years to win influence with the officials in both counties and the state to make that happen. I believe it took about 15 years and the ONLY way we got it was because P. G. County Executive Parris Glendenning, who had sworn that PG County would surrender their piece of Takoma Park over his dead body, ran for Governor and needed our votes. The process for getting a bigger rebate could very well take as long and be as subject to political whims and under-the-table deals as unification.
It is my cynicism, not my support of Kathy, that makes me think that something like the legal budget and other things that look from the outside like bad governance and oversight failure, are par for the course due to the fact that the institutions involved are bureaucratic, creativity-challenged, political, and by-their-nature inefficient. I suspect that the Pro-Con reformers will find themselves saying "oh, now we see why we have to do it like Kathy did."
--Gilbert
What happened to you own post - fit of rage and thought better of it? You solicited smart ass remarks and now you are offeneded? Come on - get a sack
Joining the ranks of the anonymous writing on this blog.
People have different reasons for writing anonymously. I think that Mr./Ms. Gilbert is able to write with greater candor under a pseudonym. And I think that she / he is able to present thoughts to the Takoma Park marketplace of discussion without having the conversation sidetracked to personal attacks on his or her character. An unfortunate side of Takoma Park, this election, human nature (?) is the unwarranted character assassination that goes on in the promotion of a particular point of view.
Whether one agrees with Gilbert or not, he deserves applause for presenting a point of view without resorting to attacks to defend it. He also expresses some balance and nuance in a political atmosphere that demands orthodoxy. What a breath of fresh air.
From what I have heard so far from supporters of Mr. Grimes in this campaign, I would not be surprised to hear that Kathy Porter has been consorting with Lucifer. And in one particular case, a supporter of Kathy has returned the bile.
I've seen divisiveness in campaigns in Takoma Park. I've seen friendships sour and die over a choice for mayor. That's politics, I suppose. This year, the passionate loathing that some of Seth's supporters (and, seemingly, Seth himself) feel toward Kathy Porter leads me to wonder about the fallout after the election, no matter which way it goes.
Of course, such passion is understandable in the case of gross incompetence and corruption, which is what Seth's campaign is alleging. How well has the case been made that either have occurred?
What I hear from some of Kathy's supporters (including myself) is that they accept Kathy's limitations, but feel that they have been exaggerated by a coalition of discontent people with varying agendas. That perceived exaggeration, whiffs of conspiracy theories, and personal attacks makes us wonder if Seth has a clear grasp on the realities of the job and how divisive he will be once elected.
I would love to see a more visionary mayor. Seth is clearly visionary. But I do not want one who will make our problems worse because of his misperceptions and divisiveness. I have strong doubts about how well any vision can be achieved if those are the limitations.
Relationships, and even marriages, I hear, are being tried by this election. That's too bad. In the end, we'll make lemonade out of this experience, no matter who wins. But it doesn't mean that I have to enjoy the current bitterness.
"Anonymous said...
What happened to you own post - fit of rage and thought better of it? You solicited smart ass remarks and now you are offeneded? Come on - get a sack"
I don't know what post of mine you refer to. I don't think any of them could be characterized as a fit of rage. There is a big difference between a fit of rage and smart-ass remarks.
To re-state what I said in an earlier post "I look forward to making smart-alecky remarks, but I will not be abusive. I hope you won't be, either."
"Get a sack?" No idea what you mean, but it certanly looks abusive.
--Gilbert
Gilbert for mayor.
Gilbert, you say Kathy Porter "negotiated unification". No so. Ed Sharp was the mayor. He called on all candidates to support former Mayor Sam Abbott's idea of unification of the city into one county -- a call that his opponent Condie Clayton and all council candidates readily and positively responded to. I was involved in the unification effort from the beginning. It took 17 years. Kathy was supportive, but far from a major player.
Tom,
Right you are. Unification was in July 1997 and Kathy became mayor a few months later. I'm sure she was involved in the effort as a coucilmember from 1991-1997, so she shares credit, but she wasn't mayor at the time.
Certainly, her policies were very much a continuation of Mayor Sharp's, and he has consistently supported her re-election.
- Gilbert
About paying Safeway for your co-op lettuce....
We do pay twice for some things, without any rebate. We only get rebates for things the city pays for out of property tax income. So the library and recreation department are two services that will never be rebate eligible.
Just FYI, we get 17% of resident income tax in rebate. Think of the implications of a tax strategy to increase this income stream. (you know someone is) It is worth considering how allowing our tax base to remain small, by neglecting the low-hanging fruit of commercial development, may eventually lead to some really ugly fiscally driven policy decisions around land use and social policy.
Study communities where tax revolts have occured. There is a pattern that emerges, and we are living it right now. The facade of high service levels paid for with deferred maintenance (see community center vs road conditions), rapidly rising real estate assessments, inflation or other cost of living increases outpacing salaries (think utilities, deadly federal deficit). It is a recipe for disaster that makes the -- what do you call them -- pro-cons -- look like left-wing lunatics.
Colleen
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