Strange Statement?
by Ron West
For many months, I and
others have been attempting to open the local government in NRH to the
public. We have inquired, sought
information through Freedom of Information requests, sent emails on specific
issues to the council and spoke before them countless times. Until now, we had been totally unsuccessful
at “forcing” any of the old incumbents to address any issue. Now – when Suzette Christopher apparently
utilized old internet information on Eminent Domain to inform citizens of
expected future actions of this council – and when she failed to give the
credit on of our self-righteous council members feels is so important – he says
he is “forced” to respond.
Since
I personally know Ms. Christopher, I know what she was trying to convey and it
was to benefit the citizens of NRH by alerting them to possible plans to use
Eminent Domain for private interests in our city. She might have been able to do it better and
she probably should have given credit to her source but she did what she did
with very good intentions. When this was
called to her attention, she withdrew the article from her own website. Our councilmember, however, writes a mean
spirited response – for his own political gain – to
discredit and attack her and then claims he is “forced” to do so? I guess he wants a pint of blood.
Since this councilman is so called to respond to his
own identified wrongs in our city by his personal attack on Suzette
Christopher, perhaps we can force him to address the following positions
endorsed by the old incumbents on the council.
The following positions of his should provide interesting reading for
the citizens of
Mr. Lewis is this the kind of government you want?
Mayor Trevino, Councilman Metts, Lewis, Welch, Whitson
and JoAnn Johnson have expressed support for the following issues:
1)
Ever increasing taxes on Seniors & Disabled - All expressed opposition to the TAX FREEZE. If they continue in power, they may cut or
reduce the current senior/disabled exemption for future retiring seniors. The option of removing the exemption was
presented to the council in June 2004 and was the only $0 cost option presented
2)
Ever increasing spending. They did not
cut one item out of the proposed budget that was submitted to the public and
have increased spending significantly faster than population and inflation for
the past 12 years. Slush funds and
reserves continue to grow! Park funds
from contributions have been diverted to an “Economic Development (slush) Fund.
3)
Closed Government – They do not want you to know what they are doing. New ordinances are not published on the web
even though it would be easy to do so.
Discussion on new ordinances is almost non-existent in public
meetings. Since there are no public
discussions, how do council members know how to vote? Even discussions in council meetings are now
being restricted.
4)
Unethical Benefit from Position on Council – All incumbent council members support City Attorney
George Staples who directly benefits from every new lawsuit against the city –
even if he is the cause of the action!
One incumbent directly works for city governments and has to occasionally
abstain from voting. The Mayor used his
position to secure the use of BISD land for personal gain. He is also on the Regional Transportation
Council even though he bids on DOT highway & road projects.
5)
Unethical Actions – The current Mayor and incumbent council limit citizen input to two
minutes or three minutes in hearings.
They then take all the time they desire to berate and ridicule any
presenter before the council that they don’t like.
6)
Illegal Ordinances – The current city sign ordinance is in violation of Texas State Law
and is being enforced by city personnel anyway.
7)
Taking Your Property Without Pay – Recent actions by the council effectively took
control of the front 9 ˝ feet of your property without pay. This despite over 130 petition signatures and
speakers that asked for moderation in this taking. Councilman Lewis has expressed strong support
for Eminent Domain proceedings to take private property and praised the actions
in
8)
Disrespect of the Citizens – The Mayor and incumbent council basically ignore all
input from citizens. A quote by The
Mayor has been paraphrased effectively saying “don’t listen to the little people”.
9)
Skimming tax money to their private control – TIF#2 tax money is controlled by a closed board
comprised of the Mayor and incumbent council.
They can spend this money without voter input or approval. Records are hidden and hard to come by. Millions are planned for spending while these
funds would have normally gone to provide necessary city services.
10)
Beautification at any cost – Ignore laws and citizens – beauty is justification
for any actions of this council.
11)
Illegal Electioneering – This group uses the city newsletter and city cable
to promote their programs and issues. We
believe this to be illegal electioneering using taxpayer funds.
12)
Lies – The
city newsletter published factual lies to discourage votes for the Tax
Freeze. They also published factual lies
to enhance your perspective of Hometown NRH by overstating tax revenue received
by 1000% (10 times actual.) How can the
Mayor say trust the city when such false information is presented to you? Even their recent “correction” in the water bill
insert tried to justify this distortion.
13)
You staying home – They don’t want to hear from you, they know what is
best for you and they do not accept criticism well. They don’t want you to vote. Their exclusive club of developers, real estate
people, city employees and expensive neighborhood associations is not large
enough to defeat a grass roots movement for responsive city government.
14)
Rude & Discourteous Behavior – Everyone needs to tune in on the Council
meetings. Mayor Trevino and company are
not civil to the new members of the council nor to
citizens in the audience.
One member of the council
also disregarded ethics guidelines as published by the Texas Ethics
Commission. These are voluntary standards
that were violated by a letter from one of the incumbents in the May election
that was filled with slander and lies.
Mr. Lewis is this the kind
of local government you want?
Since we have previously
been unable to draw these folks into meaningful discussions, perhaps this
article will allow the councilman to deal with the above real issues even
though he and his cohorts like to label them as “distortions or
misrepresentations”. So far their
labeling is their way of attacking any criticism of their actions but they do
not seem to be able to offer specifics of any of their claims.
It will be interesting to see if he feels
“forced” to respond to this column.