Monday, April 09, 2007

How long will the city council meetings last if Sheila wins?

From the Channel 6 story -
Simon says, if elected, she would like the city council to approve every item, in a multi-million dollar budget.
I realize that Sheila is just going around without thinking or understanding what she is saying these days, but this quote strikes me as particularly silly. Since Sheila has proven she doesn't have time now to understand the budget overview, how could the city council possibly have time to "approve every item?"

Would the meetings last until 3:00 AM and be held every week? Stick of chewing gum, all in favor? Will the city council be paid by the hour? No one can budget like that, it just doesn't work. It is a proposal of micromanagement at its worst.

Sheila has fallen into a trap of saying things to attack Brad, to try to win points (or pander) with the voters, instead of just saying why she could run the city better. It make her look silly.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought you liked it when our elected officials spent a lot of time on the job? Now, you don't want them to work? Why do you care how long the meetings last? They aren't being paid, so what do you care?

PeterG said...

Actually, I like it when they get things done, instead of wasting time. For most city council members, meeting to do every line item on the budget would chew up all the time they have for the city and more.

Good side fake, but it is still true that Sheila is talking about things that she doesn't understand here. Running a meeting and a budget are chief among them.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous,

I must insist with the "double- standard, double-talk, internal contradiction," whatever you want to call it, how can Simon propose to weigh and manage every single penny of a $42 million budget, and yet commit to working only part-time? You have to grant that this is unreasonable. I'm just trying to make logical sense of her arguments and it's not adding up.

If you've ever held any leadership position before in which you had to manage the fixed budget of a large group, you'd know that making good on everyone's wishes is an impossible task to achieve. People should be heard, and their opinions weighed for sure, but seeking to please everyone sets up conditions for failure. Waiting for absolute consensus to manifest would prohibit actual accomplishment of anything (in either direction!), and paralysis helps no one.

I'm just being logical here...

Sincerely,
Concerned

Anonymous said...

See what I am saying about meetings? :)