“Chainsaws topple park trees”

That was a headline in our local paper yesterday. More than a dozen trees were removed because they were dead, dying or in danger of contracting emerald ash borer. The editorial cartoon took exception. Tree lovers are outraged.

I googled “cutting trees” and found news articles from coast to coast with similar stories. Cities and Utility Companies cut down trees for a variety of reasons and catch hell every time for doing it. It is a no win situation. After all nobody cheers a tree coming down. But, come down they do.

Let me go out on a limb (pun intended) and give my approval to such cutting.

If trees have the potential to cut off my electricity by falling on the lines they have to go.

If dying or dead trees in public areas have the potential to fall and cause bodily harm they have to go.

Does that make me a bad person?

I don’t know of any city that hasn’t had a sidewalk battle. During street construction/reconstruction it comes up all the time. Many cities go through the angry mobs descending on the City Council every year. Including my city.

My city had another sidewalk battle last night. The sidewalks won.

The fact a sidewalk referendum passed in 2000 with over 60% of the vote does not deter citizens from objecting to the placement of sidewalks in front of  THEIR  home.

I am an unabashed supporter of sidewalks. No apologies for it. It isn’t fun chairing the meeting when the angry mobs appear, but it is a political battle well worth fighting.

I have made a note to myself to send a Thank You note to the Council members who stood up to the mob.

They have earned it.

It’s my birthday today. Not a special one, just another one. The Pontificator turns 58 today. While the birthday itself is not significant a couple of other years are significant.

This is the year of my 29th Wedding Anniversary. That makes half my life I have been married. She’s a saint.

It also marks over 30 years of being involved in local politics. I started as a local newspaper political cartoonist, then 25 years ago I wast elected a Mayor. I’ve been fortunate that about half of those past 30 years my full time occupation has been local politics. When not a full time occupation, a full time interest.

The great thing about local politics is you have never seen or heard it all. Every year new issues and people appear.

I’m at the age when I get the question “When you gonna retire”? 

Retire? Not in the foreseeable future that is for sure. Why would I? I have a job I love. The Realtors® Association actually pays me to go to local government meetings and participate in discussions/decisions that will have reverberations for decades to come.

The best thing I learned this year?

I learned to wear wrist supports when I type at the computer.

What would I wish for if my cheesecake had candles?

The Brewers winning the World Series.

What can you do for me for my birthday …?

How about buy my book if you haven’t already.

Now if it just gets up to at least 50 today I think I will go golfing.

Try it. I dare you.

Google the benefits of  pigeons and you can get over 1 million pages, but not one benefit.

Every city large and small has pigeons.  But, no way to legally control them.

The flocks just keep getting bigger and bigger.

Has anyone found a way to “control” pigeons?

Eliminate them?

If so, please post comment below and let the world know.

PLEASE!

I don’t get it. 

Why would someone want to raise chickens in the city?

But,  I’m a dog guy.

I was having coffee this morning with the normal crew.

One of the guys had surgery at the VA last year on his shoulder. He was telling us about how he has to go back to have it done over again.

He tried to explain to us what the problem was but he wasn’t sure himself. All he knew was he was in constant pain.

His parting remark was, “Hopefully, they will get it right next time.”

I thought … What a great commentary on government provided services.

Lots of talk about the Obama-Chavez handshake.

Good … Bad … Indifferent?

I remember years ago when I was first elected Mayor. There was a neighboring City which was a long time rival. The rivalry went back  even before they actually stole the County Seat/records in the middle of the night from my city. Long … bitter rivalry.

Their Mayor had invited me down to his City for a milking contest. I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to shake his hand and I didn’t want to try to milk his damn cow. I knew it from the start I shouldn’t go. But, I went. I shook his hand. I tried and failed to milk even a drop out of the cow. I had a horrible time. Trying to get along with old time rivals isn’t all it is cracked up to be. Burying hatchets is for wimps.

I have never liked Barron.

I will never like Barron.

I wish I would have never shook his hand.

I have often referred to myself as a “Devout Capitalist.”

It was therefore with very mixed emotions I read the following on Governing.Com.

Planning to run for governor in 2010? Or 2014? Or 2018? Get your domain name now. Don’t let a cybersquatter shake you down for the Web site name you’ve always dreamed of.

It happened to Meg Whitman, former chief executive of eBay, now California gubernatorial candidate. A Santa Monica man bought the rights to several Web sites, including WhitmanForGovernor.com and MegWhitman2010.com, according to a Washington Post op-ed piece.

Negotiations, Internet arbitration and litigation to get those sites back failed. Instead, she wrote a check to the cybersquatter for “an undisclosed sum,” which sounds like a lot of money might have been extracted from Whitman, a billionaire.

Whitman’s not the only one snagged by a political domain-name snatcher. Someone bought RudyForPresident.com eight days after 9/11. BarackObama2008.com was taken within hours of the then-senator’s speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

The op-ed writer, a political law attorney, suggests a “.pol” domain be created by the administrative body that runs the Web that only political candidates could register for. “A .pol domain would significantly reduce the extortion, confusion, fraud and reputation exploitation associated with political cybersquatting,” writes Matthew T. Sanderson.

Interesting idea. Will it happen?

I decided I’m against the .pol idea.

I like the idea someone with forsight and creativity has an opportunity to make a buck.

The Capitalist in me won out.

I saw the following question asked …

If a plumber we hired 6 months ago inadvertently loosened a pipe further down the line, is he responsible for its repair or water damage? 

I don’t know about plumbing … but if a politician inadvertently makes a problem worse they are not responsible. 

Just for those who didn’t know.

I know a number of Mayors. One of them called me last night. They just wanted to talk over an issue that was coming to the forefront intheir city. They knew I would treat their conversation with confidentiality. (So, here I am blogging about it?)

This Mayor wondered how their stance on an issue might effect next year’s election. What position should they take?

This discussion took me back to a quote by James Clarke who was a US politician back at the turn of the last century.

“A politician thinks of the next election; a statesman of the next generation.”

My advice to this Mayor?

Do what you think is right and let the chips fall where they may next election. If you do lose, you want to lose doing what you think was right. You don’t want to win if you have to compromise your principles in order to do it.

In short, be a Statesman.

We need a whole bunch more of them.

I visited the Vietnam War Memorial last week. I always wondered what my thoughts would be when I visited it. I found out.

But first, my Vietnam War background.

My draft number was 88. My only hope to escape the draft was my student deferment.

I would have made a rotten soldier. I still have never fired a gun in my life. I’m not anti gun, they’re just not for me. Kind of like vegetables.  My hands were made to shuffle papers. That’s why I would have made a rotten soldier. At the time the Army needed a lot more people to carry guns than shuffle papers.

Our local Draft Czar, Betty Nelson, wanted me to be a soldier. She had problems with my older brother and it was her plan to take it out on me. I know that because she told me so. She was upfront and honest about it. My brother had legitimate issues with her. If I had to bear that family cross, I was willing to do so.

Anyway, at the first chance possible, Betty revoked my student deferment. Nobody would have had their deferment revoked like I did, but it was. Call it Betty’s revenge. During my appeal process, a loophole was created for a short time that allowed myself and 250,000 others to escape the draft. Betty went ballistic! But, she was powerless to do anything about it.

So, how would this Student Deferment Draft Dodger react when faced with those names?

It wasn’t guilt. I would have been a rotten soldier. They were better off not relying on me to cover their backside.  I wouldn’t have been good at it.

It was respect. I felt overwhelming respect. Considering the treatment of returning soldiers from Vietnam, respect was probably the most appropriate feeling I could have had.

It was a moving experience for me.

While I was on vacation there was a City Council election. Don’t worry, I voted absentee before I left town. A couple of incumbents were defeated. They were both appointed incumbents. No big loss with either of them losing.

What I found interesting was the top voter getter in the at-large competition was an 18 year old high school senior. I saw a couple of yard signs for him. I know he had some buttons made up. But, not much else. Not enough to come out on top of a four way race. He did something else I am not aware of.

What’s the point of this?

Anyone can win an election if they just try.

This kid defeated a Political Science Professor and a Business Executive. He worked his base and got them to the polls. Not sure how he did it, but he did it. I suspect it was an internet based campaign aimed at his contemporaries. His victory margin was very impressive.

With 2/3 of local elections going unopposed, I tire of hearing excuses from citizens who say they want to run for office and never do. They complain about the actions of their elected officials and do nothing about it.

If Romaine can do it … anyone can.

Good luck Kid.

Here’s hoping this is the start of something big.

I just had a great vacation!

It was a 10 day trip to the Shenandoah Valley of western Virginia.

We stayed and used as a base of operations,  the Massanutten Resort.  The greatest place I have EVER stayed to take a walk. Ever.

I did not use a computer for 8 days. I did keep up with important emails (a couple that needed immediate response) using my cell phone browser, but for the most part was computer dis-connected for the first time in years. I didn’t even buy a newspaper for a few days. It was great.

Now, I have to get the pile on my desk down to a manageable level.

Next,  I will get back in touch with political reality.

Then, the  Pontificating will resume …

I can’t wait.

Insecurity. It’s a crippling disease. It keeps citizens from running for office. It keeps citizens from writing opinions to elected officials. It keeps citizens insulated from elected officials thus further empowering those who are not insecure.

The problem is just because an elected representative is not insecure and the citizen is … doesn’t mean the elected official is right and the citizen is wrong on the issues.

One of my boyhood heroes was Mohammad Ali. That was back when everyone knew who was the Heavyweight Champion. Ali was not insecure. But, he had great advice for those that were insecure.

“To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If you’re not, pretend you are.” 

That’s right … fake it. 

You will be amazed to find out how many others are faking it. They are pretending they are the best when in reality they aren’t even close. 

Your local City Council … are they the best, or are they faking it?

Your State Legislators … are they the best, or are they faking it?

Your Federal Legislators … are they the best or are they faking it?

I rest my case.

Fake it and the world is yours.

Sad but true.

Maybe, just maybe, that could be the root cause of some of our problems?