After reading Arnold York’s editorial with his take on the Chili Cook-off fundraising issue, what occurs to me is that there is a word being bandied about in national politics regarding the present administration that never seems to come up with regard to our sainted City Council. The word is “competence.” In the wake of Katrina and the disaster in Iraq, competence becomes extremely relevant when looking at public officials. Arnold York feels our council members are guilty of “terminal naiveté” but their hearts are in the right place. Do you vote for people because their hearts are in the right place?
The issue is not the Ozzie Silnas, Steve Uhrings, John Mazzas, or even the heavy-duty environmental types that Arnold seems to scorn. The issue is competence in government. Again and again we see the failures of this council and still the c-word is not uttered.
I wondered for months about these things. Where were the high profile, fundraising efforts and events? Who was going to be the highly visible head fundraiser, devising clever and effective ways to raise money? Where was the direct mail? Where were the phone calls? Why no tables with information at the markets? So much money was spent to promote Measure M, couldn’t we have created something just as omnipresent as that campaign?
Everyone knows you have to spend money to make money. All that was visible, at least to me, was the anemic-looking thermometer on the corner of PCH and Webb Way?
I guess everyone thought that the rich people who can afford to give more would automatically do so. Being rich and famous does not automatically result in civic-mindedness. Why should our neighbors be different? As a working person, I gave what I could. I wonder why, when we knew this time was coming for so long, that people who were getting paid to work for the best interests of our city brought us the result we are now facing. I hope we do borrow the money and buy the site, but you can hear the drumbeats of blame already starting if it doesn’t happen.
Kathy Sullivan