Eureka Springs Mayor Dani Joy wanted to give a bolster-up speech at the Council meeting of July 28th.
Turned out to be more like we were listening to a down-and-out cheerleader at a losing game, no time left, with almost the whole field to go.
Of course the Mayor said she was half-way through her term, a year-and-a-half-plus into her four-year term. That was the first clue something was wrong with the game.
Second clue was her claiming the sewer plant as her very own when she hadn’t “shopped” the plant, figured out what we would need for our tourist overflow, hadn’t seen to the major designing and building of it– done anything really to make it come into being. Of course she had enough sly words, blame words, to go around, no credit where credit is due.
Sidewalks Oops!
Third was our Mayor’s brag on the sidewalks down North Main, an area clearly secondary to the downtown where the sidewalks are dangerous– in fact, have caused physical harm.
Not to worry. Our hip-hip-hooray! Mayor promised those downtown sidewalks would be dealt with, more or less like a cheerleader in a lost game promises something the team hasn’t shown itself capable of to date, as wounded players limp off the field.
That is, she said the Donaghey Plan needed to be followed re: sidewalk development. In case our readers do not remember, it was the Donaghey Plan that the Planning Commission and the Council violated in allowing the Crescent Park Condo Development, which specifically marked off the condo development space as green space (i.e., not to be used but to be left green)– and was a development which the Mayor supported, and her husband had worked for, for pay.
In this same line of bad plays in a bad game, we heard the Mayor rant against the Planning and HDC regs that hamper development. It sounds all too reichwing for Eureka, with developers like Roenigk, Moyer, Feldman, Bullock, John Cross, etc., at it again.
More! More! More!
“Thousands of dollars of grant money” the cheerleader also hurrayed about, but we certainly cannot imagine “thousands” is enough to keep a good team going. It all adds up, according to a response to an ES Folk FOIA to less than $100K, $11,000 of that in travel and training. Travel and training is of course all to the good, and we support it. It’s just that what’s remaining leaves even less for substantive projects.
Then again, on the bolstering side, we heard that the Domestic Partners Registry had brought in 224 couples from 11 states, a pitiful poor showing given we are the only place in the entire southern area that offers validation to Lesbian and Gay couples.
That fact alone erases the CAPC’s tiny increase in collection fees for June, when it could have gotten much more mileage if the CAPC commissioners had taken responsibility and seen that Executive Director Jim Williams would go with the lavender market more than the tiny two “coop” ads, all of which missed the high point of the Gay Pride season and parades. It would be in these seasonal publications that Lesbians and Gays would look for places to go (and yes, there is an openly gay rep on the CAPC who talks a lot but does little about advertising to the lavender market).
We also heard that department heads are finishing up the promised five-year plans, a year-and-a- half after they started.
Entertainment Downtown
We understand that the Mayor will “support and endorse” an entertainment district for the downtown– in 2009! It could be with, or without, closed streets, the Mayor promised, carefully cheering to both sides of the stadium at her alleged half-time. Joy referred to “a pedestrian mall of sorts that would feature music, restaurants, shopping, theater, and bars for entertainment.”
Since we already have– or could if the restaurants and shops would stay open– all of the things Joy listed, we’d want to make double sure of what an entertainment district means. If it would go primarily to the bars so they could stay open to some later-begotten hour, we might want to consider just what an entertainment district would mean for Eureka beyond the bars (or hotel with bar, like the Roenigk/Moyer Basin Park). Since entertainment districts are also touted as ways to increase development on the Hospitality Association’s (HA) web site, we might want to look into this aspect as well. The HA will be introducing the enabling legislation Joy will support.
One Down
There was one down, at least if it is made fair and square. That’s Joy’s promise that she is going to bring in outside help to provide “administrative and research services” to the Planning Commission and the Building Inspector. Assuming the person is knowledgeable, and has the guts beyond toady, we would welcome this opportunity to move Planning and the Building Inspector beyond their current ineffectual, when not downright illegal, tactics.
Unique
In closing Joy said, “We are the only surviving example of Victorian middle class living.”
Oh.
That’s an interesting hyperbole that many another city with Victorian architecture might dispute. We do wonder who the Mayor thinks her listening audience is.
But never mind, the oomph is in the cheer, not the truth.
–Except what if it’s a down-and-out cheerleader at a losing game, no time left, with the whole field to go?
The Mayor’s Game
Eureka Springs Mayor Dani Joy wanted to give a bolster-up speech at the Council meeting of July 28th.
Turned out to be more like we were listening to a down-and-out cheerleader at a losing game, no time left, with almost the whole field to go.
Of course the Mayor said she was half-way through her term, a year-and-a-half-plus into her four-year term. That was the first clue something was wrong with the game.
Second clue was her claiming the sewer plant as her very own when she hadn’t “shopped” the plant, figured out what we would need for our tourist overflow, hadn’t seen to the major designing and building of it– done anything really to make it come into being. Of course she had enough sly words, blame words, to go around, no credit where credit is due.
Sidewalks Oops!
Third was our Mayor’s brag on the sidewalks down North Main, an area clearly secondary to the downtown where the sidewalks are dangerous– in fact, have caused physical harm.
Not to worry. Our hip-hip-hooray! Mayor promised those downtown sidewalks would be dealt with, more or less like a cheerleader in a lost game promises something the team hasn’t shown itself capable of to date, as wounded players limp off the field.
That is, she said the Donaghey Plan needed to be followed re: sidewalk development. In case our readers do not remember, it was the Donaghey Plan that the Planning Commission and the Council violated in allowing the Crescent Park Condo Development, which specifically marked off the condo development space as green space (i.e., not to be used but to be left green)– and was a development which the Mayor supported, and her husband had worked for, for pay.
In this same line of bad plays in a bad game, we heard the Mayor rant against the Planning and HDC regs that hamper development. It sounds all too reichwing for Eureka, with developers like Roenigk, Moyer, Feldman, Bullock, John Cross, etc., at it again.
More! More! More!
“Thousands of dollars of grant money” the cheerleader also hurrayed about, but we certainly cannot imagine “thousands” is enough to keep a good team going. It all adds up, according to a response to an ES Folk FOIA to less than $100K, $11,000 of that in travel and training. Travel and training is of course all to the good, and we support it. It’s just that what’s remaining leaves even less for substantive projects.
Then again, on the bolstering side, we heard that the Domestic Partners Registry had brought in 224 couples from 11 states, a pitiful poor showing given we are the only place in the entire southern area that offers validation to Lesbian and Gay couples.
That fact alone erases the CAPC’s tiny increase in collection fees for June, when it could have gotten much more mileage if the CAPC commissioners had taken responsibility and seen that Executive Director Jim Williams would go with the lavender market more than the tiny two “coop” ads, all of which missed the high point of the Gay Pride season and parades. It would be in these seasonal publications that Lesbians and Gays would look for places to go (and yes, there is an openly gay rep on the CAPC who talks a lot but does little about advertising to the lavender market).
We also heard that department heads are finishing up the promised five-year plans, a year-and-a- half after they started.
Entertainment Downtown
We understand that the Mayor will “support and endorse” an entertainment district for the downtown– in 2009! It could be with, or without, closed streets, the Mayor promised, carefully cheering to both sides of the stadium at her alleged half-time. Joy referred to “a pedestrian mall of sorts that would feature music, restaurants, shopping, theater, and bars for entertainment.”
Since we already have– or could if the restaurants and shops would stay open– all of the things Joy listed, we’d want to make double sure of what an entertainment district means. If it would go primarily to the bars so they could stay open to some later-begotten hour, we might want to consider just what an entertainment district would mean for Eureka beyond the bars (or hotel with bar, like the Roenigk/Moyer Basin Park). Since entertainment districts are also touted as ways to increase development on the Hospitality Association’s (HA) web site, we might want to look into this aspect as well. The HA will be introducing the enabling legislation Joy will support.
One Down
There was one down, at least if it is made fair and square. That’s Joy’s promise that she is going to bring in outside help to provide “administrative and research services” to the Planning Commission and the Building Inspector. Assuming the person is knowledgeable, and has the guts beyond toady, we would welcome this opportunity to move Planning and the Building Inspector beyond their current ineffectual, when not downright illegal, tactics.
Unique
In closing Joy said, “We are the only surviving example of Victorian middle class living.”
Oh.
That’s an interesting hyperbole that many another city with Victorian architecture might dispute. We do wonder who the Mayor thinks her listening audience is.
But never mind, the oomph is in the cheer, not the truth.
–Except what if it’s a down-and-out cheerleader at a losing game, no time left, with the whole field to go?
Filed under: ES Folk | Tagged: Commentary, Editorial, Eureka Springs, Flimflammery, Mayor, Politics