Bartol - stage right
Short-term-appointed-never-elected-past-councilman Bartol made his regularly scheduled appearance at the June 12 council meeting with three lines to recite.
He claimed that most Maplewood residents don't want the Gladstone master plan to be adopted. How does he know this? Because he held two meetings aimed at opposing the Gladstone plan and asked those who showed up what they thought about the plan. This is like declaring all citizens love bowling after asking around at a bowling alley. This sort of thinking is not foreign to the mayor, who reported at a council meeting early in her tenure that everyone at her church that hung around to talk to her wanted to shake her hand, so clearly she had majority support.
Bartol might like this reasoning by bowling analogy since he reported a family dilemma as an analogy to the Gladstone saga. He shared his desire that his son become a doctor, the best profession ever, even though his son wants to be an engineer, just like daddy. What to do? Force him to become a doctor? Unlike what his son might be facing, Maplewood residents are not the hapless children of authoritative fathers, but adult citizens of a democracy who elected a government that created a process that went to great length to gather professional and resident input into the creation of a plan with the best chance of succeeding. What to do seems pretty clear, both for Maplewood and choices made by young adults.
Bartol closed his soliloquy with an admonition to the new council members to serve those who elected them. Never mind the quaint idea of serving all the residents of Maplewood by seeking the public good. As Molly says, You Got to Dance with Them What Brung You.
Update 6/13: minor edits, because I can.
He claimed that most Maplewood residents don't want the Gladstone master plan to be adopted. How does he know this? Because he held two meetings aimed at opposing the Gladstone plan and asked those who showed up what they thought about the plan. This is like declaring all citizens love bowling after asking around at a bowling alley. This sort of thinking is not foreign to the mayor, who reported at a council meeting early in her tenure that everyone at her church that hung around to talk to her wanted to shake her hand, so clearly she had majority support.
Bartol might like this reasoning by bowling analogy since he reported a family dilemma as an analogy to the Gladstone saga. He shared his desire that his son become a doctor, the best profession ever, even though his son wants to be an engineer, just like daddy. What to do? Force him to become a doctor? Unlike what his son might be facing, Maplewood residents are not the hapless children of authoritative fathers, but adult citizens of a democracy who elected a government that created a process that went to great length to gather professional and resident input into the creation of a plan with the best chance of succeeding. What to do seems pretty clear, both for Maplewood and choices made by young adults.
Bartol closed his soliloquy with an admonition to the new council members to serve those who elected them. Never mind the quaint idea of serving all the residents of Maplewood by seeking the public good. As Molly says, You Got to Dance with Them What Brung You.
Update 6/13: minor edits, because I can.
posted by drawnLeftward @ 11:22 AM
1 Comments:
At 1:18 PM,
Frostbrand said…
I appreciate the summary. My notes from this part of the meeting read "David Bartol -- Blah Blah Gladstone Blah Plan Future Blah Blah. Tortured Anology Blah Blah Blah"
I think your summary does a much better job of capturing the content of his presentation. Actually witnessing him speak just made me feel as sleepy as Hjelle looked.
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