Bennie writes about the Tom Hayhurst outburst. He suggest that I used frogs to human for a tax analogy. Wrong. I informed Councilman Dr. John Crawford, that his analogy of frogs jumping out of hot water to people being upset about increases in the budget that people are human beings and not frogs.
This is Bennie take on the subject:
"To be fair to Hayhurst, the speakers Tuesday night did have some odd arguments. One compared the business model of Harrison Square to the city buying him a car. Another offered the wisdom that humans are not frogs in some type of tax analogy."
The poster belonged to Dr. Crawford but Bennie did not mention that fact. Plus Bennie does not like folks making fun of Mayor Dick and I enjoy making fun of Mayor Dick.
How interesting. Councilman Crawford makes a cartoon of frogs to illustrate his point. When you use that same poster, you're just being silly. Below is my response that I posted on another blog.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning, I thought that Harrison Square was an idea worthy of examination and discussion. However, many proponents of this project proved that they were unwilling to give us all the information necessary to properly analyze it.
Jeff Pruitt had to file a FOI request to get his questions answered. Mike Sylvester's list of questions were aparrantly lost in the mail, and Mark Becker does not seem to know the definition of a sunk cost. And the list goes on.
The city invited citizen participation for the Harrison Square project. When the feedback they received was not to their liking, they began employing tactics which could easily be seen as deceptive. We still do not know at this point what the total cost of this project will be.
I believe that City Council made a mockery of the political process with Harrison Square. I normally would not have used satire to address such a body, but in this case, I feel that their actions justified such a response.
Nice post and I enjoyed yours and others comments from that night.
ReplyDeleteAny woman who can role reverse an analogy of some deep Mississippi delta simile by a sitting councilman and do so publicly, has nothing but my complete respect!
Strike that, it would have to be the Louisiana delta in Crawford's case.
ReplyDeleteCharles,
ReplyDeleteIn all fairness to Crawford, I have to point out that he did not protest the use of the frog sign. In fact, he even laughed when Jacqui brought it with her. But I do give her points for turning it around on him to good effect.
I read your story about Hayhurst (www.fwadfontes.blogspot.com), and I thought you were being fair also. Although five council members responded, I think Hayhurst and Pape were the most heated. Although I felt they both made some good points, I think they're also missing a fundamental understanding of what is going on.
Last year, I couldn't have even told you what night the city council met. Now I attend their meetings and frequently speak my mind. And I'm not just doing this because I'm bored. Look at some of the citizens that have come foreward to speak to them recently. It was obvious from watching that many were not comfortable speaking there, and yet they did.
- "And accordingly, all experience hath show that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, then to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed."
I know that taking time out of one's schedule to attend a city council meeting is not anywhere near the burden of pledging one's life, fortune and sacred honour, but it's a lot more than most people do most of the time. there must be a reason for that. Maybe we'll find out this November.
Thanks fellas for your comments. How sad that we the people are often bounded and gagged by those who rather not hear us speak.
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