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10/25/04 Belo, ODB & Park Cities have
decided we don't need one.
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Crazy stuff always happens around
this spooky time of year. Halloween and pending big
elections bring out the worst in those who actually
own this city. They forget to be subtle and start stirring their
caldrons openly and publicly. This year, they have decided to overtly
step out in their robes, warts and all, and tell us they are taking over.
So, we can save a lot of money on searching for or paying a new city
manager. |
Don't get me wrong. I still support the City
Manager form of government for Dallas. but it looks like THOSE WITH THE GOLD
have decided they can have more control over how our gold is spent if we
dispense with a city manager.
With the way things have been going at City Hall since former Mayor Steve
Bartlett forced Jan Hart to move on, we might not know the difference.
That should have been a clue as to what the Decherd/Belo crowd wanted because
Bartlett did nothing without orders from the ODB and/or Ray Hunt. We have not had a strong
city
manager since Jan Hart, who got pushed out because she stood up for the
independence of the city manager's office. John Ware was strong, but he
did as Bartlett and Kirk instructed him to do. Ted Benavides was never
strong and spent most of his time placating his 8 votes to keep his job.
Right after Benavides announced his retirement, I told CBS 11's Sarah Dodd
that I wish we would look at the city managers in Farmers Branch and Carrollton.
They are accustomed to managing cities that work and serve their citizens and
corporate citizens well, and they already know our problems. I work in one city and drive through the other
daily.
As you frequently read on DallasArena.com, all you have to do to see the
difference in Dallas and a well managed city is to drive North from
Forest Lane to Valley View on either Josey, Denton Drive, Webb Chapel or Marsh Lane.
You don't have to know the exact city limits between Dallas and Farmers Branch
or Carrollton, you can tell by the difference in the street surfaces, the
planted and maintained street medians.
Back before he sold us out to Tommy Hicks and Ross, Jr., when he was still
pretending to be our City Manager, John Ware spoke to the Greater Dallas
Planning Council about the state of the city. I asked a question about why
things got done in Plano and not in Dallas. In front of a room full of
people, he told me "you can't expect to get the same level of service in Dallas
that you can in Plano". I was not the only person in the room who was
flabbergasted.
Ware "grew up" in city management working for the City of Dallas. He
had no frame of reference for a city serving its citizens well and efficiently.
Benavides is also a product of the Dallas City Hall School of Mismanagement.
Mary Suhm is one of their classmates.
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Miller knocks city manager candidates
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
By EMILY RAMSHAW / The Dallas Morning News |
Dallas
Mayor Laura Miller said she was ?under-whelmed? by an 11-person list of city
manager candidates released Wednesday, and expects the search firm to bring
the City Council more options. ... ?I?m
hoping there are some hip-pocket candidates, some big city managers out
there waiting to see who applies.?
... The list of candidates released by the city on
Wednesday were:
... assistant city manager, city development
director for Sterling Heights, Mich., population 124,471.
... former executive director/COO of the Navy
Region Southwest, San Diego, Calif.
... deputy city manager for financial and
administrative services/chief financial officer, El Paso.
... vice president, Central Bank of Kansas; former
city manager of Kansas City, Mo.
... former city manager/CEO of Pueblo, Colo.,
population 104,100.
... chief fiscal officer, Transitional Living and
Career Institute.
... city manager, city of Carrollton, population
114,000.
... senior technical adviser, Local Government
Unit, United Nations Capital Development Fund, New York.
... past assistant city manager in Carson, Calif.,
pop 90,000
... former director, Kansas City Accounts
Management Center.
-Mary Suhm, interim city manager, Dallas |
Dallas needs a city manager
familiar with Texas, familiar with Dallas. Dallas does not need another
alum of the Dallas City Hall School of Mismanagement.
Dallas needs a city manager who
knows Dallas politics and knows the players. None of those financial
managers listed would last a year in Dallas or want to stay that long.
They have absolutely no way to prepare themselves for the likes of Shakedown
Chaney or Brain-Dead Thornton-Reese or Beat that Indictment Fantroy.
The thing that made Chief Kunkle such a great candidate for Dallas Chief of
Police is his former service with Dallas and his time as an assistant city
manager in Arlington. He not only understands police management, but
municipal management. More so, he knew exactly the mess he was stepping
into and was willing to do it.
If the City Manager of Carrollton is willing to take on the management of
Dallas, Texas, let's just save a lot of money and offer the guy the job!
He knows the local players, he knows the local climate (weather and politics)
and he knows what he's stepping into and apparently is willing to do it.
I don't buy the idea that we need a city manager with "big city" experience.
If they are managing a city in worse shape than Dallas (and there are a couple),
we don't want the kind of experience they have because their mismanagement may
be part of the problem. If they are managing a large city that is in
better shape than Dallas (and there are more than a couple), why would they want
to come to Dallas when San Antonio and Fort Worth are looking, too?
The Carrollton guy is the one we need. He knows what makes a city livable
and a place where businesses want to locate and stay. It doesn't
matter if he is accustomed to doing things on a smaller scale -- he had less
money to work with, probably proportional to the difference in the populations
of the two cities. He has a history of success -- not excuses.
We don't need some big shot from an East Coast or Northern hell hole anymore than we need to
emulate their form of city government by changing to a strong mayor system.
Apparently, the Park Cities crowd are tired of buying our city council
members and have decided to run one of their own and control at least one of our
council seats. That's how we got that wacko Beth Ann Blackwood (Bah Bah Blacksheep) involved in Dallas politics. She needs to go back to the
bubble. I got criticized for buying a home in District 6 and running for
office after living in Oak Lawn for most of my adult life. Bah Bah
announced her council candidacy last year a few months after moving into the
city.
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Council
attacks strong mayor push;
Advocate says it would cut bureaucracy; Miller contends it goes too far
Tuesday,
October 19, 2004 By EMILY RAMSHAW / The
Dallas Morning News |
Dallas City Council members on Monday
slammed a local campaign to increase the mayor's power by eliminating the
city manager position.
Beth Ann Blackwood, a District 14
council candidate and president of Citizens for a Strong Mayor, is leading
the charge to collect enough signatures to put charter amendments
strengthening the mayor's powers on the ballot in May.
But Mayor Laura Miller, who favors
more power for the mayor and hopes to bring her own charter amendments
before the council next month, said not having a city manager would be a
disaster.
... Ms. Blackwood said ...
it would cut down on the bureaucracy that keeps great ideas
from becoming reality.
... Ms. Miller said Ms. Blackwood's plan would be
a logistical nightmare. Included in the amendments is an item requiring the
mayor to appoint every board and commission member across the city, Ms.
Miller said.
... In 2003, the Charter Review Commission
recommended maintaining the city manager-city council style of government.
This summer, a consulting firm investigating how to improve Dallas'
government said it wouldn't explore changing the structure of the
government.
... The mayor said her own recommendations for a
stronger-mayor system are "a lot more limited in scope." She said she would
approach council members next month with her proposed charter changes, which
could include the ability to hire and fire Dallas' city manager and
line-item veto power during budget negotiations. ... |
As dumb and unworkable as is
Bah Bah's plan, her timing could not have been worse. Here, we are in a
national search for a city manager and she's calling for a referendum to
eliminate the position. Get that bow head back to the Park Cities.
She is not ready for the big time.
One of the funniest comments in Emily Ramshaw's
report was made by Princess Velveeta:
"This is basically a political ploy to
get some attention," said Ms. Lill, whose final term in office ends in 2005.
"The petitioners are more interested in a monarchy than in a representative
government."
In the first place,
Princess Velveeta (Council member Lill) has her own candidate she intends to
succeed her on the council to carry on the Lordi Palmer reign of terror and
dominance. Seeing an uppity Park Cities babe steal headlines does not
sit well with Princess Velveeta.
In the second place, what Veletta Lill knows about representative government
would fit on the head of a needle. She has always surrounded herself
with suck ups and absolutely brokers no dissention among her subjects.
She's the one who gave herself the title of "Princess of Preservation". |
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6/24 James Northrup:
The city
manager list reads like a rogues gallery of the weak but willing,
a bunch of lower middle management government technocrats. Only one
with any big city management experience.
Scraping the bottom of the barrel
already, does not help with council making noises
about need for a "strong mayor".
We've had "strong mayors" before -
like Bobby Folsom who simply carved the town up
for apartment deals, then annexed Renner for himself, then
moved on to Plano, the teen suicide capital of the
world.
The argument for a stronger mayor is more clearly defined by those
with every motive to retain control over their
zoning fiefdoms, and someone who has no axe to grind, other than leaving a
legacy of doing the right thing - namely Laura
Miller.
In this regard,
Miller is right, since it makes complete sense for the Mayor to be
able to hire/fire the City Manager, City Secretary
and Police Chief, provided there is a 2/3 override by the Council.
None of these additional powers
would be subject to the kinds of rampant
corruption found where "strong mayors" run every department, and take every
kick back they can. Namely, they do not involve
zoning cases, contracts nor patronage jobs.
Let's support a bit of sanity and
responsibility for the way the city is run. |
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Veletta Lill forced unneeded and unwanted zoning changes on Oak Lawn.
Because community leaders in Oak Lawn wanted to split council districts 2
and 14 at Central Expressway, she took it as a personal affront to her --
even though she only had one more term to run regardless of what the
district lines looked like. She has done everything possible since to
destroy a 20 year old community group, The Oak Lawn Committee, while
promoting a coven of 4 or 5 witches and warlocks. |
We do need to give the Mayor's
office more power, but we need a professional City Manager who has the autonomy
to run the city.
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The Mayor should be able to nominate the City Manager, City Attorney, City
Auditor, City Secretary and the Chiefs of the Police and Fire Departments.
It should take a 2/3rds vote of the council to deny the Mayor's nominee.
The Mayor should be able to fire the same public officials, with a 2/3rds
vote of the council to override that decision. If that's what Mayor
Miller is intending to propose as a Charter amendment, I will support it
enthusiastically. |
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10/25 James
Northrup:
If we can change the way zoning variances are approved, with
stricter enforcement of conflict of interest
rules, plus let the Mayor hire/fire the Manager, Chief and Attorney with an
2/3 override, then any good manager of a mid-size
city urban city could probably run Dallas, because
Dallas can be broken down into at least 7 distinct areas - none
of which is over 200,000 in population, none of which is that
complex.
But let's find the best - another
Moses, another Kunkle. |
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The Mayor already selects the Chairs of all city boards and commissions (from
all 15 council appointees), but should also appoint all vice chairs. I
would even support a line item veto for the Mayor because some of the stuff this
council comes up with is just loony -- like Chaney wanting someone to teach
grandparents how to parent the offspring of their own children.
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Dallas Observer's
Jim Schutze has been on a tear regarding what he sees as a Dechard/Belo/ODB driven
conspiracy to take
governing and controlling of Downtown away from the city council and give it to
a self-perpetuating board of "right thinking" men from Our Downtown Betters (the ODB),
a much more powerful coven of witches and warlocks than Princess Velveeta's
little band of losers and misfits. |
Unfortunately, Schutze is so
focused on that threat, that he completely went off the reservation regarding Fantroy's recent conflict of issue transgressions.
If Schutze is not warning us about the Belo/ODB coven's plans, he's only calling
in any other issues he covers. If you could follow Schutze's logic in
P.U.!
(by Jim Schutze,
dallasobserver.com | originally published: October 21,
2004), you sure are a
lot smarter than anyone I've talked to about it.
Still, even a paranoid can be right, and it looks like the Belo/ODB coven has begun their
campaign to take control of their little piece of paradise with enough votes on
the council to get it done. In the spirit of Schutze's "P.U.!", lets call
the Decherd/Belo/ODB coven the "BO coven". See
Dallas, we have a problem
(Sunday,
October 24, 2004, by
SUZANNE MARTA / The Dallas Morning News).
Bah Bah's publicity stunt is just a diversion, and Jim Schutze's warnings look
to be valid.
If we were getting slim pickings (by some people's standards) of applicants to
replace Ted Benavides before, it might be impossible for any smart and qualified
person to consider us now. After all, Bah Bah's husband has
hired a company to get the 90,000 signatures they need to put her ridiculous
charter amendment before Dallas voters in February. Park Cities people are
tired of the unwashed masses of Dallas making our own decisions about our own
form of government without following their instructions. After all,
they are smarter than us because they were born richer than us.
With the Park Cities crowd wanting to abolish the City Manager's position and
the BO coven wanting to OFFICIALLY control the hole in the city's donut, what would be
the point of anyone leaving their job to take a temporary position?
Even when Bah Bah's plan fails
at the polls (if it gets there), a City Manager would be trying to manage a city with a huge hole in the middle that was beyond his jurisdiction -- even though
City Hall is right in the middle of the hole!
Schutze needs to stay focused on his obsession about the BO coven's planned
confiscation of Downtown. This is very serious. With so much of
Downtown's real estate (streets, library, City Hall and other public buildings
and properties) owned by the city of Dallas, the BO coven can
tax all the rest of us without representation. If they levy a public
improvement tax in their controlled quadrant, you and I get to pay for it
whether our council member agrees to the tax or not. At the next budget
meeting you attend, the discussion will be how to spend what's left in our
public coffers AFTER the BO coven decide what they want to spend Downtown.
Don't let anyone tell you there will be adequate checks and balances. The
BO coven own this council.
One council member pushing to deliver Dechard's dream is the same council member
pushing to move the homeless from Downtown to the Harry Hines site, which
will destroy the dreams of many blue collar, Hispanic families who have invested
everything they have in their homes and neighborhoods. This is the same
councilman who says the concerns and rights of homeowners and legitimate
businesses must be balanced against the rights of sex club operators and the
whores who work for them to do business.
That kind of logic
would have us balance the rights of car owners to keep their
vehicles against the rights of the chop shop operators who need
stolen cars to do business.
So, you tell me. Wouldn't we better off with the City Manager of
Carrollton running things than with any hair brain idea that's coming from
the BO coven or their flunkies on the city council? The City Manager of
Carrollton seems to put the needs of Carrollton residents and businesses before
the ever illusive wants of tourists or conventioneers.
Our big city thinking past city managers have recommended to successive city
councils spending more of our diminishing tax dollars chasing an
ever-diminishing convention business with the same underwhelming success as we
have had from Reunion Arena and the Hicks/Perot Arena.
The corn in our fields of dreams seems to be missing or a new strain that is
invisible to the naked eye.
It may be small minded of me, but I would like for Dallas to have as few per
capita sex clubs as Carrollton. I would like for Dallas to have a majority
of its streets look like any street in Carrollton. I would like for Dallas
to have the same per capita crime rate as Carrollton.
If we want a winning city, we ought to hire a city manager who has run a city
that's doing a lot of stuff right.
sb
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