There are a whole bunch of vast and half-vast political activities and projects I have been commenting on over the past year and I think it’s about time to recognize the heroes and villains of our ever-playing Eastern Shore drama.
But first a warning to the reader (Disclaimer):
See the word at the very top of the page, way up there. Yeah, over the title: it says COMMENTARY. That’s what I write. It reflects my opinion and biases – no attempt at balance. And to give the topics some pizzazz and make it maybe, possibly a little entertaining I sometimes try embellishment, dramatic imagery, verse, satire or even sarcasm. Maybe other stuff too, but that’s all I can think of right now. And it’s not reporting and don’t think of it as such.
But I gotta be fair, if you are used to the local daily, you’re probably unaccustomed to having opinion expressed in one place and reporting of facts in an altogether different place. End of Disclaimer and on to Eastern Shore Bravos and Brickbats. And here are the biggies:
Bravo (Transportation Category): To Baldwin County Commissioner Wayne Gruenloh for proposing that the county build roads to accommodate planned growth – grow the roads along with development. Currently they wait until traffic flow is more like a clot. Then they count cars, declare the roads to be inadequate and start planning the fix. Always years late and always playing catch-up.
Brickbat: (Same category): To those anonymous people (I’m guessing humans were involved and, if they were, understand why they would conceal their identities), who designed Daphne’s infamous “Malfunction Junction” (US 98 at Main Street). Sure, you’ll get through, but will it be today?
Bravo (For land use planning): To Dick Charles of Fairhope’s Planning Commission for applying the city’s Master Plan guidance and recommending approval of the Fly Creek mixed-use development in the face of rabid opposition.
Bravo (Fly Creek project): To the Fairhope City Council, Bob Gentle, president, for trying to get the two opposing sides to reason together.
Brickbat (Same project and to the same folks): For not applying the city’s own rules to the Fly Creek development and letting the opponents conjure up new requirements (obstacles) at will – even during the council meeting.
Bravo (For Investing in the Future): To Dr. Hollis Wiseman, Fairhope resident and force behind the new library. It’s big, but designed to meet the needs of the community for many decades if not generations.
Brickbat (For Taking the Short View): A shared award presented to library opponents Mayor Tim Kant and Council member Mike Ford. It isn’t that they didn’t want a new city library, they just didn’t want to have to pay for it.
Bravo (In the Education Category): To Fairhope resident and recent activist, Leslie Anne Tarabella, for leading the drive to save the K-1 Center as just that – a school for young children and not as an expansion site for the USA Fairhope campus. And she did this while the leadership of FEEF and the parent-teachers organization all took a time-out.
Brickbat: (Education): I call it a tie between Fairhope resident and Baldwin County School Board member Bob Callahan and Fairhope’s Mayor Tim Kant. Callahan for not only advocating abandoning the K-1 Center, but also trying to silence the opposition by declaring there was no issue – closing the center was a done deal. And the mayor for being so committed to giving USA anything they want that he ignored both the unique value of the school and the sentiments of a fair number of his constituents.
Bravo (For Protecting Quality-of-Life in Daphne): To the City Council, Greg Burnam, president, for finally passing a High-Rise Ordinance.
Brickbat (Same as above and to the same group): For taking over 18 months to do it, with special recognition to Council member Cathy Barnette for being the principal reason it took so long.
Brickbat (For Protecting Quality-of-Life in Fairhope): Another win for Mayor Tim. This one for meeting with Wal-Mart over a year before they bought land at the city’s doorstep and then treating the discussion as so trivial that he failed to mention it to anybody. In the campaign to keep Wal-Mart out, he gave the big-box store the element of surprise – from which the citizens against the project could never recover.
Brickbat (For Contributing to Hurricane Unpreparedness): To John Eckenstaler, who in addressing the Daphne City Council on behalf of the Baldwin County Home Builders’ Association, discouraged adopting the more stringent national standards for construction in hurricane-prone areas. A casual listener might have concluded that “Hurricanes don’t damage houses, falling trees do,” (and obviously the code can’t protect against falling trees).
One thing I was going to mention was Mayor Tim Kant’s use of Fairhope police to drive him to and from the Pensacola airport (Short title: “Driving Mayor Tim”). But I couldn’t decide if it were a “Brickbat” (For something like: Questionable Use of Police Resources) or a “Bravo” (For bringing humor to politics, or laughter to an otherwise dull affair)
I could go on, but see I am becoming progressively more negative and increasingly focussed on Mayor Kant. Both are easy to do but it’s time to conclude; my allotted space is just about full.
It’s kind of fun to wrap up issues I have been writing about in a winner-loser, good- bad format. It’s an efficient, shorthand communication technique for sharing my perspective, my take on goings-on on the Eastern Shore. You may not agree with me, but I hope you find this entertaining, maybe even a little stimulating, and most of all fun.
Contact Pete Gleszer at jubilee@lagniappemobile.com.
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