Sedona AZ (September 17, 2018) –
Friends, Sedonans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Council, not to praise it.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Council. The noble Bluster
Hath told you Council was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Council answer’d it.
Here, under leave of Bluster and the rest-
For Bluster is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men-
Come I to speak in Council’s funeral.
It was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Bluster says it was ambitious;
And Bluster is an honourable man.
It hath brought many tourists home to S’don
Whose ransom did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Council seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Council hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Bluster says it was ambitious;
And Bluster is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented it a kingly crown,
Which it did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Bluster says it was ambitious;
And sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Bluster spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love it once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for it?
O judgment! Thou art fled to bullish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me:
My heart is in the coffin there with Council,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
Shakespeare knows that of which he speaks, and I hope that I might as well, seated as an elected Councilor, not seeking reelection. One might think, that with some of the comments made about the current City Council, that it deserves to be wholly replaced. Throw the bums out and put an end to rampant malfeasance and incompetence in a body acting merely as a toady for the City Manager. Alas, poor Council, I knew it well! Well, such comments are hogwash and belittle all the good that this City Council has accomplished over this term. I know all the Councilors and the Mayor and Vice-Mayor, and they deserve your thanks. The City Manager does a tremendous job and is ethical and visionary and should have your support.
They are all hardworking men and women who take their responsibilities seriously. They do not get kickbacks from big corporations for their votes, no condos in the Bahamas to use as a perc, no special treatment. They stay focused on doing the job for which they were elected despite the Half News that is being distributed by many from both sides. I say Half News because you only get half of the news that supports their side. I see signs that say, “Vote Yes for Traffic” and “Vote No for Traffic”. I don’t even know what they mean (okay, I do, but don’t have time to go into it here). But, you must be asking yourselves, “What the heck is going on?”. I think it boils down to a group that wants more tourists fighting a group that wants no tourists (or at least fewer tourists). And it all revolves around traffic as the catalyst. Unfortunately, it has been linked to the passage of Home Rule or a Permanent Base adjustment, neither of which will provide an answer to traffic. It will only affect the budget.
The real answer can only come about if we talk to each other. Yet, no one ever contacted me to discuss any of the options available (and a three-minute ultimatum at a Council meeting open forum, demanding one at that time, is ludicrous and not a sincere attempt at discussion). Such discussions can occur but need time to analyze and consider. I encourage any of you to do so in good faith before Sedona becomes a town in which no one will want to live, torn apart by divisiveness.
Disclaimer: These opinions are my own and in no way represent the City of Sedona nor City Council.