Monday, November 05, 2007

Short memories, not negativity, plague campaign

Our friend, Lex Kuhne, writes:

Dear Clinton,

With all the hoo-ha that's been flying around this last week of the commission campaign, I keep coming back to a quote we all know: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." --George Santayana. Yes, some could regard the Residents for Birmingham PAC's positions as harsh, but it's only because the PAC has been trying to jam four years of discourse into two months of campaigning.

The forgetting has been annoyingly rampant:

* The Eccentric decries negative campaigning, yet forgets where this tone started, perhaps from lack of institutional memory. I've been around here long enough to remember when the Antis coined the phrase "bigfoot" as a pejorative for what the city's residential market was (and is) demanding, but which has since become synonymous at the Eccentric for larger new homes. This nasty tone first started with the anonymous fliers in the early '90s predicting Birmingham's death from Bigfoots, and became entrenched with the bogus (anonymous) allegation of an open meeting violation at Dick O'Dow's, which put civic volunteers under criminal investigation, probably as payback for their political positions. It got worse when Birmingham threw in with Bloomfield Township on the 425 plan to keep Pontiac from developing Bloomfield Park, and venom was directed at those who opposed Birmingham getting involved in property five miles from its borders. (Gee, didn't that turn out well for Birmingham?!?!) Good people like Mike Wooley and Archie Damman and Coco Siewart and Bob DeLaura got off the commission after the smearings of those early Antis.

* Speaking of so-called "anonymous" mailings, I find it interesting that the same people who are calling the PAC's mailings "anonymous" have somehow figured out that Chris Longe is behind them and know exactly how much money the PAC is spending. I wonder how? Is it maybe because Residents for Birmingham is fully registered with the county and has filed all the necessary paperwork, and so is anything but anonymous? These people forget campaigns past where Antis sent out truly anonymous -- and illegal -- mailings tinged with racism.

* Dorothy Conrad forgets her bouts with Antis in the 1970's when her vision for Birmingham included reasonably priced housing, and it got her driven out of office. I'm sure she felt her position constituted progress for Birmingham, but she now questions any and all progress or change in the city.

* David Bloom forgets to mention that he's Seth Chafetz' campaign manager in his letter to the Eccentric (and the Eccentric forgets to correct it). He also forgets that Seth had his time to get the city moving post-2016 Plan, and consistently obstructed development, both residential (hello, tree ordinance!) and commercial.

* Mr. Lanzetta is correct in his letter to the Eccentric that he has graciously stayed away from city politics for four years, and I'm sure you will join me in thanking him for doing so. However, he forgets that while he was schmoozing his way up the ladder at SEMCOG and scoring a fellowship (both of which are greatly admirable, but neither of which he was elected to do), he arguably took his eye off the ball in tending to the business of his hometown. As they say, "Familiarity breeds contempt," which I imagine goes both ways after 18 years. His one line that I remember is, "If you don't build it, they won't come," which is as good an explanation as any why Birmingham's now in the crosshairs of Bloomfield Park and the Pavilions of Troy. Just because you're gone, Mr. Lanzetta, your actions on the commission haven't been -- can't be -- forgotten.

* Whiny types who bemoan the Buzz and the Residents for Birmingham PAC as "negative" forget what negative campaigning entails. I haven't seen any personal attacks toward anyone on either the site or the mailers -- no name-calling or questioning of patriotism or lifestyle. Nope, just questioning and opinions on policy positions and behavior and conclusions drawn therefrom. It's negative only to those who disagree with the conclusions. I quote Harry Truman: "I don't give them Hell. I just tell the truth about them and they feel like they're in Hell."

The bottom line is that Tom McDaniel and Scott Moore are good people who have done good work and deserve re-election.

I enjoy my encounters with both George Dilgard and Seth Chafetz and respect some of their work, but I can't give them my vote. I can't vote for Seth because he had four years on the commission to press for the things that have happened the last four, and he didn't, plus he has contributed nothing to the Library Board. And, though I was on the same side as George on the Shain Park bond vote, I can't vote for him because of the way he has damaged the city's advisory board process by regularly end-running the Planning Board majority (which he's usually not in) to lobby the commission (e.g. Don Carney) directly, creating the illogical new ordinance on detached garages literally on the fly, as well as fostering chaos that threatens the city's operations.

To vote for Shelli Weisberg and Gordon Rinschler for the last two seats is pretty obvious to me. Shelli has been a dedicated civic volunteer for forever, and will bring all sorts of governing and budgetary experience from her time on the Birmingham School Board. Gordon, too, has a connection to the School Board through his wife, but has done steady, creative, bridge-building work on the Historic District Commission and Design Review Board and has a ton of new ideas for how the commission can operate. They're great people, and will bring a new level of creativity and civil discourse to the peoples' business.

If you like most of what has happened in Birmingham since 2003, you should vote for McDaniel, Moore, Weisberg and Rinschler. I do, and I will.

See you tomorrow.