A must read in today's News Tribune. The editorial board has great insight into what makes a community function as it should ~ and a warning to others about how to shut it down.
Regarding Ruston they say, "With former Mayor Michael Transue’s departure, there is unity again, but at great cost. The council majority has wasted no time in installing its own guy as mayor. Gone are any real voices of dissent, and with them, any claim the council has to being truly representative." Click here to read the full commentary, its well worth reading.
Karen
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11 comments:
Amen.
What the news tribune staff doesn't realize is that it takes courage to sacrifice peoples opinion in order to be efficient. The council knew Bob Everding was the best choice for mayor and didn't need a lot of public opinion to dissuade them. God is government - government is God. Our righteousness will prevail in August when Ruston voters will change our form of government from mayor to city-manager.
That sends chills down my spine! How do you spell communism?
I hope the pro-council statement was tounge-in-cheek, at least that middle sentence. It's just too outlandish not to be, I hope????? If not, then its a bad omen about what we "open government" folks are up against in this town.
The only people worse than Bob Everdink as Mayor would be Wayne "I second that" Stebner, Dan Albertson, Jane Hunt, or Brad Huson. At least Bob has enough intelligence to make a motion all on his own, not so for Wayne "yes-man" Stebner or Dan "Pave my alley" Albertson or Wayne "Pave mine too" Stebner.
The editor's don't live in Ruston to have endured a history of stagnant government and continued mismanagement.
This really goes hand in hand with why Obama is in the position he is in – it’s about “Change".
Many residents have approached past council's and mayors only to be met with resistance because many times change equals work for either group.
No one is giving this council credit for their individual make-up. This is a very diverse group of elected officials that are willing and able to have their own opinions and express them. They all stand for "Change" and the status quo is unacceptable. I surmise that the editors are right - it might be an "us versus them" situation but it is not the condo issue - its change versus stagnation. Right or wrong, change or stagnation, new verses old, anti-condo or pro-condo – how ever you want to spin it the town needed change. Ruston needed to evolve and move ahead and it simply wasn’t happening. Once the Commencement is built and you are looking at it in all its glory – maybe you will finally admit – “Yes” its wonderful – but maybe it could have been a couple of stories shorter?
What has this council done that has you so riled up? Not letting the public rant on every topic actually saves the town money. We were paying our consultants hourly, not to mention town employees overtime, while everyone in the audience got up and felt they needed to tell everyone their opinion. I don’t know why you would be angry over them attempting to save the town money? What ordinances have they passed or decisions have they made that you find so outlandish? (Other than moving public comment to the end of the meetings)
I have seen the current council approve the purchase of a new fire truck, approve the purchase of a new police car, and talk about upgrading all departments as well as our town’s tired infrastructure. What is so bad that has you fighting and speaking out at every turn? Your credibility continues to erode and - until there are documented missteps - I would think you would be supportive of our elected officials.
Let’s remember – the media feeds on controversy so always take them with more than a grain of salt.
Have you ever attended a meeting?
The previous Mayor ie Kim Wheeler was far from stagnant! Change is what brought this to a head because it was not the right change for some. At least that administration was not afraid of public comment. I also do not agree this is a power struggle by any means. Who in their right mind would want to sit amongst this group.
This council needs to would humble themselves to those they vowed to represent and ask themselves at each decision "is this for the good of the whole community?", instead of padding their own backyard.
Keep us out of litigation and deliver us from evil!
I likey anonymous #5's comments.
Now we are getting somewhere!
Keep up the good work fellas.
We're all counting on you.
It's funny I can't even remember who is elected and who is self- appointed. The balance is so tipped I forgot what seats are up for election & when?
Let's see... Albertson was appointed in December, Hunt in February and Everding a week ago. Hedrick and Huson were appointed in December for the rest of that month, but took their elected seats in January. The appointed three will face open election at the next regular Ruston election at the end of 2009, when we would normally be voting on those seats anyway. In addition, Stebner's seat will be up for grabs.
So in 2009 Ruston will elect the majority of the council seats and the mayor, unless we vote to change the form of government. In that case, everyone faces election again for a new council (with no mayor) in the new government. I'm not sure if that happens early in the year or at the regular election time in the fall.
Having fun yet?
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