Sitting in at yesterday's meeting of the officers of UCO was like sitting in an echo chamber, a selective one wherein some echoes were seemingly not heard by people and thus they voted in direct opposition to all that people said there.
One big topic was the budget and here Howie O'Brien found his own voice and when David Israel gave forth with his usual huh! kind of talk, O'Brien said not a good idea.
First echo: the roads need to be drilled down, all the way to bedrock and then redone with new asphalt. No more overlays. I still hear the echoes of all of us opposition members saying this, shouting this to the Heavens, but being ignored except to heap threats and insults upon us. And thus six million dollars went down the toilet.
Second echo: The job really should be done in quadrants, four of them. Echo, Echo, Echo..... We also maintained that the job was better off being done in a partial manner, with designated areas getting done in an order until all was done and finished. For what we go - see above.
Echo: See above. For all that we said is now being spouted by David Israel et al as if it were a new set of guidelines direct from Sinai!
Fourth echo: The usual what the hell is the matter with his brain kind of talk that he has always maintained and that is that we do not need to raise the money now as it is being done in quadrants. What difference does that make. I can buy four pieces of candy separately or four together, but in the end, they have to be paid for and if I do not have the money - as we most assuredly do not - then I must save for it. Starting yesterday! Many yesterdays ago in fact. But David says oh no and wants the budget to be flat due to an anticipated increase on the part of WPRF.
We need to start raising money NOW and run an austerity budget elsewhere, especially with WPRF whose Eva is having a high old time spending our money without end. In fact, who gave her permission to take away all the trees around the bridge area by the Clubhouse, irrigate that area and who knows what will be forthcoming - perhaps an outdoor mural????
Increasing coupon fees is a difficult and not optimal action, but if there is a need we must and watch our pennies elsewhere to cut the impact and perhaps even get some funding cut down so as to lessen the impact on us. Now Joy Vestal does not like anything I say and has intimated blackmailing me with a statement that I said if we need to pay $10 a month more for the roads, then do it. But it seems that that fee was cut down by other financial juggling and the fee would have been about $4 so sorry, Joy. Please hate me a bit later. Go lean on Don Foster's shoulder!
And speaking of Don Foster, here is where an echo comes in and is ignored. We are missing a CAM who is required by law. David Israel has decided that a CAM is not so necessary but will grudgingly get one and here is his brainstorm. Because years ago Don Foster worked at Lefrack Queens he "obviously" knows how to be a CAM. Perhaps his work with Vestal on the paper helps him - NOT! In any case, we are going to pay his school fees and when he is done and presumably licensed, he will become our volunteer CAM.
Guest after guest spoke about how wrong this idea is. He lives here. He already has umpteen other jobs in UCO and Village wide positions. But the officers all lined up obediently behind David and Joy and voted yes. Never do they hear or listen to the wordsds of the electorate. Never!! This is part and parcel of tightening the circle of people in UCO and the Village who wield any influence and power or decision making power. Echo after echo of the same thing. We make a big fuss about people who live here making a few bucks by being a guard, a thankless job, but now are going to get a CAM who lives here? Who has also gotten appointed chair of the election committee? Who is also appointed on the finance committee? Who is also asst. editor of the RAG? C'mon! Does David and claque think we are all dead from the neck up? That is Bob Marshall's job as yesterday for a while he could not remember whether he was to vote and on what and how but he finally did and of course voted as his lord and master wants. Bad, bad idea and one that will bite us in the ass soon enough.
Here is a quote from the leading risk assessor and problem solver over at NSA. Right up your alley, David.
"People tell me that I am good in solving problems, breaking into pieces and getting a bunch of people to work together on really tough problems. I can take a big problem, break it into pieces and assemble people, assign them to the pieces and keep the big picture that we can get there."
More brains from more people, more division of labor and the answer will be reached - not your way of holding it in your hot little hands and assigning pieces of it to a smaller and smaller group of people.
I have maintained ad infinitum that the truth will out. Today the government and the army are in hot water for telling lies and exaggerations about the situation in the supposed war on terror. It ain't going so great, is it and they thought they could lie and fool the public. Well, echoes of Vietnam and the body count. Lies will trap you and trip you up and the truth will appear. Same with you, David, same with you. Do the right thing and stop these echoes - for your sake and certainly for ours.
A little tidbit for you out there to chew on. Rumor has it that David Israel will not run again - too much static ... so he is grooming guess who......initials DF..... the same one who used to send me nasty comments but who stopped when I guess his new future as Crown Prince was decided by his mentor, David Israel and his adoptive mother, Joy Vestal. So his references need not be checked with an excuse that it was oh so long ago - well, maybe his methods are also old but whatever - this is not how to run the place. But by then he will already have been assigned to who knows how many more jobs so might as well just give him the only one remaining.
And that is how a dream is killed - for all of us.
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