I went to my very first City Council meeting last night. I was surprised by a lot of information that I heard. I have quite a few topics I'd like to delve into here but I'll stick with just a follow up on my last post for now. Remember the burned out house on West 25th Street in Lorain? In case you forgot:
Lisa linked my previous post to her blog and she shared my indignation at the lack of information received from Howard Goldberg from City Development as to how long this eye sore was going to remain in my neighborhood.
In turn, Loraine Ritchey linked up Lisa Miller's blog and my blog. She was even nice enough to send along the links to members of City Council and the mayor! See? It's not only me that knows this is just wrong. And for that, Loraine took a lot of heat for MY blog.
Mayor Tony Krasienko called Loraine and complained to her about MY blog. Um, isn't he a mayor of the people? Am I not one of the people? Why couldn't he comment on MY blog if he had issues with MY blog? First, from Loraine's comment on my last post:
Ok, I guess I'm an idiot, but when I read that comment, I had no idea what "calling the 7th floor" meant. Is that a restaurant? A business? Mercy Hospital on Kolbe Road in Lorain only has five floors (I called to check!) so that wasn't it. Come to find out, Mayor Tony Krasienko's office is on the 7th floor of City Hall! For real, who knew?
Then, according to Loraine Ritchey, Mayor Tony Krasienko complained to her that I should have called HIM with a problem? Really? Why didn't he contact ME that there was going to be a burn? I received a flier from Tri-C Fire Academy 12 hours or so before the burn. I heard nothing from the Mayor, Tom Brown, the Fire Chief, or anyone from the City of Lorain. The name on the flier to contact with questions or concerns was Ted Huffman, the Commander of Tri-C Fire Training Academy. That was where I started. Then he gave me a name and then that guy sent me to Mr. Goldberg. I followed what I thought was the proper chain of command.
Did I think of calling Mayor Tony Krasienko for assistance? To be honest, I did think of calling him. But, I figured since his days are numbered as the Mayor of Lorain, that he would care less about my problem. Boy, was I right on that one!
I was a City Council virgin before last night. I have never been to a City Council meeting and honestly, I had to find out where City Hall was. But, we all went: me, Ron, Phil and Lisa. As Ron and I were walking in, I heard Director of Public Service, Robert Gilchrist talking to a woman. I heard him say something about "boy, did your blog sure cause a stir". I ran up to them and asked if she was Loraine Ritchey! Who else could he have been talking about causing such a stir! So, I introduced myself to Loraine and to Mr. Gilchrist and then we walked in to City Hall.
I learned so much last night from Loraine, and I learned even more from Mayor Tony Krasienko and certain City Council members.
From Mayor Tony Krasienko's reelection bid website, he listed his seven priorities, # 5 (or # 2, depending on how you count!) was to engage citizens to help make our city stronger. Really?
Is that why he took a pot shot at me during the City Council meeting last night? Is THAT how you engage citizens?
The subject of the burned out houses was brought up by Councilman Silecky and then Councilwoman Molnar added to it. (*As a side note here, yes that is plural. Houses. Please see Lisa's blog with pictures of the other house!) Then, it was Mayor Tony Krasienko's turn to have his say. Mayor Tony Krasienko said that all this was brought about because someone took "literary license and took all this out of context and made this into something it's not." Really?? Really??? That was a real professional comment!
Let's see, "literary license". I may not be an English major, but my understanding of literary license is to embellish facts or make facts up to support a story. In other words, lie. PLEASE, Mayor Tony Krasienko, tell me where I lied. What part is not the truth?
Mayor Tony Krasienko, if you read my previous post, and I know you did, my concern and anger had NOTHING to do with the house being burned. From my previous post:
I waited to see what would now happen to this house. And waited. And waited. I waited 30 days which I felt was a reasonable time to wait.From there, I stated:
I called and left him a detailed voice mail on 6/10/11 at 2:32 pm requesting he call me back with what the plans are to tear down this house.The "him" I was referring to here was Mr. Goldberg. I am not going to re-post my entire blog here but I assure you that no where in my post did I complain that the house on West 25th Street in Lorain OH was burned. My concern was and has been that no one would or could tell me when this eye sore will be torn down!
Go ahead, Mayor Tony Krasienko, reread that last post. I'll wait. If you need help with the big words, try dictionary.com. My concern was and is when is this house being torn down?
Ok, so Mayor Tony Krasienko got his pot shot in to me. Literary license. What irritated me the most was the fact that I was not given an opportunity to respond to Mayor Tony Krasienko!
After that, Fire Chief Tom Brown fell on the sword and I'm assuming tried to take one for the team. He claimed that if Council or anyone should be mad at someone, they should be mad at him. It was Chief Brown that spearheaded the controlled burns in Lorain.
I don't know if I can commend him for throwing himself up like that, but I still say he's taking the blame for the wrong problem! I don't CARE about the burn. WHEN is the house coming down?
After the meeting, I was invited into an office with Council-At-Large Dan Given and Howard Goldberg! I'm not sure who thought this was a good idea but there we were. We shook hands around and I started with the literary license B.S. I explained my definition to Mr. Given and Mr. Goldberg and asked Mr. Goldberg point blank to tell me where I lied. I asked him where I got it wrong. Mr. Goldberg chose not to answer the question. That was a common theme for the night.
Then, Councilman Given explained that in a City Council meeting, it is not permitted for the public to get up and speak. I was erroneously placated by that statement until I found out later that if I was invited to speak by a Council member, that would have been acceptable! There were quite a few council people that knew I was there and why I was there. But, I feel that since Chief Brown fell on his sword, they figured this issue was over. After all, who can be mad at the fire department? The firemen are ALWAYS the hero.
I guess Councilman Given finally realized that I'm not a violent person and he excused himself from the office leaving me and Mr. Goldberg in there alone. For real, this guy likes to hear himself talk. It doesn't matter about what, but I dare you to get a word in edgewise! I know I should have walked out too, but I figured I'd stay for the show!
In that short span of time (it felt like hours but I'm guessing it was about 10 minutes) I heard that he went to Israel, I got to listen to him stammer while he read a long email on his phone (all the while telling me to just wait a second), I heard how arsenic is "indigenous in our soil" (I'm not going to touch that one!), I heard him talk about blaming Columbus or blaming Washington. Yeah, way to stay on topic, Mr. Goldberg.
Again, why someone thought it was a good idea to put the two of us in a room together is beyond me. After all, it is because of Mr. Goldberg that the entire City Council and Mayor Tony Krasienko got their collective panties in a wad. Had Mr. Goldberg talked to me like a human being instead of getting defensive after my three phone calls, and actually just answered my question, or at least told me he'd look into it and get back to me, then none of this would have happened. None of it. Good people skills there, Mr. Goldberg.
There were so many inconsistencies coming from Mr. Goldberg from the day of our phone call to last night that I'd be here all night tonight listing them. But one that struck me as funny was that during our phone call, Mr. Goldberg ASSURED me that he'd call me as soon as the funds were released and the bidding process was going to get started. If that was the truth, or in other words, not a lie, then why did he again ask for my phone number last night so that he could call me when the funds were released? Just asking.
Thanks to Loraine Ritchey for so eloquently explaining literary license to us all.
So, there you go. Literary license. By the way, Mayor Tony Krasienko, I looked at the City of Lorain's website. I couldn't find any link or information as to where I could go in City Hall to get a literary license! Since I couldn't find it on your website, I had to go out and find my own. Thanks to Lisa for the license!!
Also I just received a phone call mrom Mayor Krasienko on the subject - he explained that all fire depts attend different burns in other communities and the house will be taken down in a timely manner- he suggested calling the 7th floor with concerns..