Electric City Weblog

Loose Ends

Here are a few posts I wanted to write, but don’t merit a full post (as if there is some criteria of merit):

Taco Treat

Since I am a local, born and raised, I have been a Taco Treat fan since before I can remember. The last couple times I have been in one, though, I have been disappointed.  We went in in the one across from Target yesterday, and it was pretty bad.  Even though it was not busy, most of the tables were not cleared from prior meals.  The one we found that was cleared was not clean.  There was food and garbage on the floor in various locations. 

The help was not particularly friendly (ok, a little rude). The food was even greasier than it is supposed to be, and it was sort of thrown together. When I asked for more napkins, she gave me two. I had to stand and wait to get another fork.

I know the owners and when I see them, I will mention it to them. I have been in the Amigo lately, and it is still good. I wonder if most of the effort is not being put into the Amigo?

Has anyone else had this experience?

Negativity

There are a couple of good posts (here and here) over at D.A.Redd’s blog about the blogosphere and negativity.  I like Dave, and he keeps it positive, just like our other David.

I wonder, though, how much room we have for that. Would it be interesting to read several blogs with more ‘feature’ type pieces?

I am sensitive to suggestions that I am always negative, that I simply criticize government all the time. I have heard this more than once, and from sources other than other blogs or commenters.

I do make a conscious effort to try to remain positive about our community and to highlight when I think a local government entity does something right.

A reader needs to understand, though, that I believe in freedom and very limited government.  So much of what we try to do collectively with other people’s money are things I just do not believe we have any place trying to do. That leaves me with lots of questions to ask, and lots to write about.

I remind myself from time to time that our City Commissioners and Mayor are essentially volunteers. The other side of that coin, though, is the fact that they asked for that job. That means they are not beyond criticism and it is reasonable to expect them to fulfill their duties. Further, there are others involved in local government who are being paid to perform their jobs and, frankly, they need all the watching we can give them.

Commenters

Another aspect of the negativity that Dave writes about is the people who leave comments on the blogs. He has a point that some of the commenters get a little wild, but I would counter that there are people in our town who are a little more ‘out there’ than others. They’re citizens. They have a point of view.

To me, a more divisive type of commenter is the snide, anonymous one who drops in, throws out some crappy comment, and then vanishes. I try to ignore them, I really do.

For the most part, though, I think most of the people engaged in the debate at the local level are pretty reasonable. They just don’t want a damn coal plant.

Leadership

As a final offshoot of Dave’s discussion, he commented about Firefly’s piece referencing the fact that Mayor Stebbins “don’t come around here no more.” I have resigned myself to the fact that Mayor Stebbins and Commissioner Bronson have simply decided that the local blogs are not a valid medium in which to discuss City issues. I guess I am surprised that Bill Bronson has decided this given my pre-existing friendship with him, and the fact that as a lawyer he has a thick skin.

I think they make this decision to their own detriment.  I can tell you that the number of my daily, unique visitors is enough to have determined the outcome of the last municipal election. It’s growing too.  The blogs are not going away, they are growing, there are more of them, and they are growing more respected and influential on a national level.

This is just a symptom, though, of a larger problem: leadership.  Our local political atmosphere has grown poisoned, if you ask me.  Every City Commission meeting witnesses our elected officials under siege from critics and, at various times, looking back at those same critics (citizens!) with disdain.  This is not a good situation for our community.

What would a leader do?  Would a leader seek to limit the voices of those who oppose him, or would a true leader attempt to engage the opposition? To defuse the situation?  My clients don’t win every case, and they understand that they can lose sometimes.  People understand they don’t always get their way. They want a fair shot, though, and they want the confidence of knowing they have been listened to. Why not engage us rather than ignore us?

Water Rights

I thought this was a particularly interesting and weak avoidance of the question as to what the City Commission has approved or not approved relative to the City’s water rights: “The application to reduce the City’s claims from about 53,000 acre feet per year to about 20,000 was signed by the previous City Manager as an administrative filing in an administrative and judicial process. The City Commission was informed both in written reports and in open City Commission Work Session presentations and discussions.”

33 words to say “The City Commission never took action on water rights.” 9 words!

Commissioner Rosenbaum’s response must have been written by a lawyer.

Hypocrisy

What’s good for thee, is not so good for me.

Why is it that people who want to direct the behavior of others so often choose to allow themselves to do different things?

Here and here.

Our Energy Future

Clearly, we need to look at all viable alternative energy sources as we move forward. The insistence of some, though, that we can only look at things we don’t already have such as coal and oil, smacks of the disingenuous.

Why not supplement the world’s oil supply with our own?  Why not use coal?  Not forever, obviously, but to keep things working while we develop alternative sources?

This time I think we get it. We cannot just hope that prices fall and then forget about alternative energy until the next time oil spikes.

We need to keep this big economic engine running, though.  In my opinion, free market economies are far more likely to lead us out of petro-dependence than, say, China or Chavez.

That’s all I got.

Posted in New | 8 Comments »