The city manager sits on the Board of Peanut Fest. She also sits on the newly-created team that listens to the presentations of nonprofits seeking funding from the city. Of the five people on the team, one is also a city director who reports to the city manager and is also on the Board of Peanut Fest. Hmmmm. Two members on the Board of Peanut Fest who also have a HUGE say in whether or not Peanut Fest has funding with citizen dollars. By the way, a conflict of interest is a softer way of saying that something is NOT ETHICAL.
In the bigger picture, let’s remember that our citizen dollars are NOT theirs to give in the first place. By having a process in place to dole out money, our city leaders are not showing an understanding of the Constitution, and if the documents that guide us are to mean anything, they must be observed by everyone who has sworn to uphold them. Consider reading the piece, Not yours to give as a gentle reminder of the role of government in our lives.
Let’s keep asking questions. Why is a non-elected official giving away money? Why does our City Council think it can take money from us and give it to whom they think should have it instead? Why will the city fund Peanut Fest but won’t haul our trash away? Why do we have a new PROCESS in place to take citizen dollars and give them to whomever the city deems should have those dollars? Why can’t citizens just support whichever causes they choose since we certainly are capable of doing so? Why do so many of our city leaders think that nonprofits can’t make a profit? Why don’t our city leaders understand that the role of organizations such as the Rotary Club and Suffolk 60 Care is how things are supposed to work? (It’s a terrific mission of theirs to better the community by raising significant dollars to contribute to community causes.) Why can’t we rally around these groups and allow our city leaders to focus on only the things they should be focused on?
Virginian Pilot Ledger Star – Dave Forster
In funding fights, Peanut Fest has seats at table
Suffolk News Herald - Letter to the Editor by Roger Leonard
How to stop the food fight
21 comments:
Why is this NEWS? This entire city and it's leaders run everything on "ME FIRST". Did anyone notice that our Mayor was the past chairman of the peanut fest? Sis anyone notice that councilman parr got elected to rezone some property and sell it a a huge price? Did anyone notice that councilman brown is running a development company where he brokers his influence for a price? Then there is the projects like the hilton and cultural arts center and more.
So why would this be news? The city manager is only following the lead of her superiors. This is why it is not a good time to live, raise a family, and especialy pay taxes in Suffolk! Where we go from here just is unclear since we all seem to avoid recognizing the obvious nature of the "Golden Rule"
Those that have the gold-rule!
Yes, why???
These are *small* people with a psychic need to be thought important people.These same *small* people get their psychic fix by being seen by others to be basking in the glory of power and of narcissism.
Selena Glenn causes perceptions of impropriety.
Ms SCG is a true believer, that is why she has the protection and praise of the council. They are the only ones that she answers to and she is doing their bidding, so it seems that she will be safe as long as she plays ball with their views and demands. The mayor will use this as pay-back for past and future political support so that is it.
Welcome to Suffolk where you only succeed when you slid under the table to make your deal and get a sweetheart approval out of sight of everyone else.
"All that is needed for evil to succeed is that decent human beings do nothing"
- Edmund Burke
Good article and sugestion on how this should be managed by Roger Lenard in the Suffolk News Herald.
A must read and should be linked to this posting.
GO Roger!
A link to Roger's editorial is now in the main post. Good idea anon, June 18th.
Why is the city manager even on the Peanut Fest Committee? She is not supposed to be in favor of one group over another, I suppose??
She shows yet again why she does not seem to be ready to be the TOP-GO-TO-GIRL in city hall. She seems to be making so many errors in judgement that we should fear the other decissions she is making behind our backs. IF she can not see a conflict of interest, she reall does have a huge problem and so do we! she seems to have the same view of the world as the Ex-Illinios Gov. Blogo. Where is her ethicals, that preception is a big deal and she is on the wrong side of this issue where she denies others infavor of her choice and association? Bad deal, bad idea, bad plan, and bad thinking!
I also agree that Roger's editorial letter was right out of the park! Why is it that we can't have people like this leading our city? The conflict of interest in the manager's actions by setting on the PF Board and making the decisions on funding that competes for the same dollar as the group she is part of just boggles the mind. Why is this COI so clear to all but the Manager, the Mayor, and the other seven members of council? Does blind-self-interest come to mind? The manager should quit Peanut Fest of her job. I vote for her quiting the job as she seems only to have the interests of the council in mind, not the rest of us!
Has her high-and-mighty SCG decided who gets our money yet? I have not heard what happened with this. I am sure that Peanut Fest will get theirs and more, but they will not see a dime of my money this year except for wht SCG gives to them.
The issue of splitting up $225,000 is small fry compared to almost three times as much given out to the other groups like the Culture Center $450,000, Hotel subsidy $500,000, and even the Hampton Roads Partnership gets $15,000 and many others like this with their hand in our pockets every year. This is just like the Matoff scandal, but now it is with our money. What would they do in the treasures office if we just did not pay for it? Seems like it is time for revolution in Suffolk, just like in Central America. I rue the day that I agreed to allow Suffolk to incorporate my area of Nansemond County into this sham city. I only have a few more years to suffer this bad decision before I pass on, but I will always think how much better things could have been if Suffolk was only deciding what happens in thier own few square miles of downtown! Times changed, but this is for the worst and is getting even more so as people like Mr councilman Parr and his buddies rake us all over the coals for their own benefit and pocket our money. Johnson is not any better as she and her husband cash in on being mayor!
I cannot in good conscience spend one dime on the Peanut Fest or the Ruritan's Shrimp Dinner. The city has already taken by force my tax dollar and given it to an event that promotes the status quo. I will tell my friends and neighbors to do likewise and punish the sponsors for piggybacking their business on the citizen's tab by way of a boycott.
I will be absent this year from the Shrimp Feast and Peanut Fest for the first time in years. I will not support a group who is given such improper use of our taxes, where the City Manager uses her authority for the benefit of this group over worthy others that meet the needs test better and are truely needy.
Ms. Manager, where is your heart?
The purpose of government is for those who run it to plunder those who do not. Throughout history, governments have used violence,
intimidation, coercion, and mass murder to enforce this system. But
governments' first line of "defense" is always a blizzard of lies - about its own alleged benevolence, altruism, heroism, and greatness,along with equally big lies about the "evils" of the civil society, especially the free market.
The current economic crisis, which was instigated by the government's
central bank and its boom-and-bust monetary policies, among other
interventions, has once again been blamed on "too little regulation"
and too much freedom.
Will Americans ever catch on to this biggest of all of government's Big Lies?
I say no and Suffolk is a prime example of all of these excesses. Look at the rise in local taxes, fees, and costs to validate this thesis. It now cost more for a family to live in Suffolk as a share of income and ability to pay that it ever has. It also looks like this rise will continue due to the policy of those who perpetuate the thinking that government knows better, how to spend our money!
Any decision on who gets to spend our tax money yet? It seems clear that the ideal solution is to keep it quiet in the hope that no one will notice when they give it all out to the "Friends of Selena"!
Well, Peanut Fest made out about as well as possible, given the shortage of funds. In a year that saw so many hard choices, the City Manager has proven to be making about as good of decissions as any reaonable person could expect.
Thanks Selena!
I hate to go on a tangent, but please take note of Dave Forster's July 18 article in the Virginian-Pilot about our City Manager proposing to move the Christmas, oh excuse me, the "holiday" parade from downtown to Harbour View. It sounds like North Suffolk should secede from the rest of the city because of the obvious polarization.
Also, the article mentions people taking buses or trolleys up there. Hmm, why would many downtown residents who can walk to the parade use spare time and money to go to the parade in "NoSuff?"
Here is the link: http://hamptonroads.com/2009/07/suffolk-city-manager-proposes-moving-holiday-parade
Queen Linda claims that she does not have a position on the issue, sure...
What the mayor means is that she doesn't have a position that she is willing to share.
You see begging does work for Mayor Linda. She begged the City Manager for a Holiday Parade in NOSU and she'll get it.
The way it works is the Madame Mayor told the City Manager Girl what to do and it was done. Madame Mayor is going to get her way and Curtis can Suck Wind! Or he will make a deal for another dead project for Peanut Park again!
These people!
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