ZAP! #111
The staff of the CCR is forming a new organization that will alter how issues are decided and resolved in the city.
As you may know, there are currently two organizations in the city that attempt to influence issues and sitting members of the council -- Irving Voices and Irving Issues PAC. Both of these groups are well financed and have folks who are ready to pick up the pitchforks and torches to get their point across. The primary difference between the two is that Irving Issues PAC is “married” to the chamber of commerce and supports the recycling of former council members for another attempt at continuing business as usual. And this is a significant reason as to why citizen interest are being shortchanged by the actions of this group.
The CCRs new organization will immediately petition the city council for a charter amendment to suspend all future city council elections. The CCR believes that the city council is not only a penultimate body, but often lacks the strong will to make decisions that favor citizens over city staff, developers, chamber of commerce officials, special interest groups and those financing their campaigns. And for this reason, the CCRs organization will fill this void and eliminate any confusion as who runs Irving...and it isn’t your elected representatives.
The CCRs new non-civic-non-participatory organization will be called Irving LOSES. You are invited to join and be on the front line for what could be a revolutionary concept in running the city. In the CCRs group, every voting citizen loses. There are no meetings to attend. No e-mails to be sent. And no need to go to the polls to elect someone not responsive to citizen needs.
How, you may ask, will doing away with council elections benefit citizens? The answer is rather simple. Currently, the city council is not running the city. And Irving LOSES will immediately eliminate the ‘middleman‘ thereby allowing the powers that be to be vested with full control. The ‘string pullers,‘ led by the chamber of commerce, will have free access to influence city staff. There will be no need for protest marches, product boycotts and packing city hall chambers on issues germane to citizens. How can one protest when they know the fix is already in?
Should further proof be required, then tune-in to the January 24th city council work session and meeting to witness why decision making in the city has shifted to those who are not even elected. It is very apparent that the city administration, chamber of commerce and the Water Street developer are calling the shots on proposed changes (if they are made) to the city’s 60/40 alcohol zoning ordinance. When one reads in the DMN that a city staffer stated “we’re making decisions based on what we feel like is in the best interest from an economic development standpoint” then you know that citizens who actually voted for council representatives are not part of this decision making equation. Really, this important change to the community is going to be decided based on ‘economic development‘ factors? Isn’t this another prime example of bureaucrats believing they know better than citizens...especially those who vote?
Somewhere along the line, staff of the CCR actually believed that city decisions should be made for the betterment of the community at-large...not a singular developer who stands to profit on the backs of those who live, work and vote here. Guess that dates the CCR and reflects that we must be ‘old school’ in our thinking. We surely must have missed the city memo from the manager’s office that reflected ‘economic development’ is the panacea for resolving all city problems.
To kick-off the CCRs campaign of eliminating city council elections by replacing the running of the city with those now doing so, the following identifies those currently doing the job without benefit of a pesky council, long meetings and work sessions. Irving LOSES recognizes this ‘crew’ as running the city without council intervention: City manager, Gonzalez; Chamber president, Wallace; Las Colinas Association; and the Water Street developers. As issues in the city change, then the responsibility to control the decision making process will shift to others that stand to benefit or can convince city staff (read: city manager) that their pie in the sky will be served with a scoop of ice cream on top.
Remember, with Irving LOSES, you will not need an elected city council representative! And you will be able to have irresponsible decisions made on your behalf all the time. Join Irving LOSES today and just stay home and watch as the city spins out of control and circles the porcelain latrine...once again.
……………………...Mark Holbrook
