Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2007 | Before the City Council and mayor go into the city sock drawer for discretionary income to hire a consultant like Dr. Phil for a few million in order to learn how to work together, let’s calm down. The reason the fearless five voted to challenge the mayor’s top down management practice may have been because the Park and Recreation Department was subjected to the BPR (business process reengineering) without input from the citizens. What works in the military of Ronne Froman and the police department of Mayor Sanders, top down management, does not work in a democracy. The Park and Recreation Department belongs to the people; its 22,000 volunteers were shocked to learn last week that the department would be decimated. It’s a people business, not a bean counting business. Donna Frye should be praised for taking the lead to remind the Mayor’s Office that public policy changes do belong to the people. So everyone take a breath, and recall the definition of public servant.
Mayor, we want you to succeed, but we don’t want you to cut out the heart of the city as you have proposed this week for Park and WRECK. Revisit this decision and stop the ugly public relations threats. Thanks to those five on the council who voted to protect the people’s right to speak out.
Oh yeah, have a nice day everyone!