Today’s Coeur d’Alene Press has an article headlined Sidewalks: No concrete answer. The article by staff writer Marc Stewart reports that in the face of overwhelming community outrage and opposition to the City’s stand on sidewalk repairs, the City Council has decided to rethink its position that resulted in intimidating and threatening letters from the City to homeowners. How does one “rethink” something when it appears there had been little or no original “think”?
A person whom I very highly respect made this observation:
The Mayor and City Council in Coeur d’Alene are like little girls playing at a make-believe tea party. Little girls sit around, acting quite formal and grown-up, letting their imaginations and fantasies guide what they say and do, but never having to address any consequences of their play. They’re not drinking real tea, so there will never be any spilled tea to clean up or tea stains on their dresses.
She observed that our Mayor and Council members have been playing government in the same way little girls play tea. But now they’re being told they have to grow up. There are consequences attached to their actions. And they don’t like it. They don’t know how to be grown up.
The observation is absolutely correct! I have seen this bunch of playtime characters running the city this way for a long long time. From within ,it seems like the city of CDA leaders do not know what they are doing,and the hard working employees just shake their heads in the dark so its not seen, otherwise there will be consequences. The playtime characters are all in the same club of good ol boys’.In the city of Coeur d alene, a team player means to follow the leader so close ,they might disappear if the leader stops too sudden!
Comment by cityspy — April 27, 2008 @ 8:16 pm
cityspy,
Thanks for commenting. You made a point worth emphasizing: There are many honest, hard-working City employees who do not like what their leaders are doing. Unfortunately, the culture of intimidation exists inside City Hell, so the honest employees are pretty much at the mercy of the insiders. In that kind of corrosive work environment, sometimes the best employees are forced out.
Comment by Bill — April 28, 2008 @ 7:42 am
Bill, I sincerely hope you’re wrong on this one. All of us in Coeur d’Alene have paid for and have grown to expect top notch services. I don’t want my personal rights and protection sacrificed for political expediency.
Comment by doubleseetripleeye — April 28, 2008 @ 10:00 pm
2C3I,
You’ve precisely identified why our Mayor and City Council are so badly out of touch: People who live in Coeur d’Alene expect the same quality and consistency of services that other cities get. What has changed is that more and more people are moving here from other parts of the country. We have lived in communities with good and bad governments, and we can recognize the difference. The same is true of some city employees. They’ve been educated and trained someplace else, so they too have a standard of comparison. They recognize just how badly managed some city departments are. They recognize unwise and dishonest practices and don’t want to have their careers and reputations damaged by continued association with the people or practices. Needless to say, the Mayor and City Council do not want anyone on the inside who might spill the beans.
Comment by Bill — April 29, 2008 @ 7:05 am