In spite of all the emotional pleas to Village Council, this past Monday, and the flurry of letters to the Kumbaya Times, this week, I still feel the same way I did when I last addressed this issue in this column: the Bradford pears along downtown Xenia Avenue aren't worth fretting about. These are not beautiful old elms or sycamores; not giant sequoias or lovable old walnuts. These are a man-made concoction, a hybrid that, some experts are telling us, has the potential to do harm - think Monsanto. In any event, they have reached the end of their useful lives and need to be euthanized. The village doesn't plan to leave Xenia Avenue barren of vegetation. They will be replaced with other trees for us to hug, better, more lovable trees.I'm all for fixing the infrastructure and getting it over with. But, let's do it without altering the basic nature of this burg, i.e. funky. Let's not install cutesy street lights. Let's install environmentally sound lights with solar collectors and help save the planet, while we are saving our downtown. Meanwhile, you might want to peruse this article in Rolling Stone. Maybe we are already doomed and should forget about this project, anyway.
No matter... Let's get on with it.
I hear that a certain person in village government is starting to grate on people's nerves with her head-butting style. Reports of confrontations with individual residents are flowing into the Blog like hard water from the Yellow Spring. Leno and Letterman would just love to have somebody like this on the national level. Suffice it to say, your blogger is enjoying this. Politics makes for strange bedfellows, indeed.
And remember: Keep Yellow Springs funky!
-vh
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9 comments:
Some let their emotions get the better of them. Everyone has a right to their opinion without being labeled, insulted, told how they feel is wrong (yay or nay), and getting emotional to the point of hateful rhetoric, angry actions, public officials haranguing peaceful protesters, or people demeaning the feelings of others (for or against) is wrong.
"Everyone has a right to their opinion without being...told how they feel is wrong..."
Wrong. When you present your feelings as an argument in a public policy debate, for someone else to present an argument as to why you should not feel that way is a perfectly legitimate response.
"Wrong. When you present your feelings as an argument in a public policy debate, for someone else to present an argument as to why you should not feel that way is a perfectly legitimate response."
"legitimate" would indicate that the manager of a village/city should be able to listen to the concerns of citizens served without losing their mediation, interpersonal, or other managerial skills with confrontation and tactlessness.
Respectfully disagree Les :) but you are entitled to your opinion .
@Anonymous—Is there going to be another situation like the WMOL controversy, where people whine about how they were treated by the Village Manager, but no one will say what it was she did?
Virgil,you have always been Mayor of Funkytown! Keep up the good work your Honour!!
Can anyone explain two decisions by the village manager about the pool usage.
1. increasing the age to 11 that a child can swim alone after season passes had already been sold?
2. why people swimming laps for exercise need to do it "her" way?
People swimming laps need to do it her way..? You're kidding me!
Well, I was going to start doing laps at the pool this week...
......what on earth is doing laps "her way"???????
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