Our radio appearances, like our blog, are efforts to bring real accountability to city government. No one is going to agree with us 100% of the time, sometimes we disagree with each other, but the point is to be public with those ideas and discussions. Ted Baker, the WGVA host, makes copies of our interviews available to us digitally, so that we can include the sessions in our Radio Archive. They are totally unedited and unscripted. In listening to these recordings, we’re struck by how many of the ideas we’ve brought forward on air, in our blog, or from our Council seats find their way into other agendas across the City.
Yes, the very people who take pleasure in denouncing us publicly, in personally attacking us, seem to like our ideas and want to attach themselves to them. The irony! First they attack the messengers, then they steal the message. The Republican platform about a new way of doing business in Geneva? More council control, less city manager interference? Sounds like ‘the blog way’. Council taking charge of local safety issues and getting people together to brainstorm solutions? Great idea! Public disclosure of executive session topics, applying for a grant for shared services, acknowledging that the tax rate is a disincentive for business and trying to get a handle on it? All sounds familiar, from our posts.
To be clear, we’re not interested in taking credit for the good things that have happened in the past few months. The very point of this blog is that no one person (or even two people) can do everything. This city needs collaborative, creative leadership to move along! We just find it funny that those who object to the blog most, want to take credit for the “offensive” ideas they find on it!
So, take a listen to our latest WGVA interviews (August and September) and see what else might be in store!
Wednesday, October 3
Attack the Messengers, Then Steal Their Message? Critics Want Readers to Focus on Us, Rather Than on Our Efforts
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4 comments:
I do agree that you are paying the price of being the first with many ideas that are now in the platform's of all the candidates. And that is the price that leaders always pay.
I also agree that not every idea is a good one, but it does need to be talked about and examined.
In the next few weeks I look for you to explain to the voters not only what your slate of candidates has done but will do to continue the growth of the city.
I do agree that giving a larger percentage raise to the City Manager is unfair to the rest of the City workers, but it that way in private industry also. And frankly, I cannot see where much can be done about that.
There are two questions that I would ask; 1) Is the City Manager doing a good job and 2) how does his compensation package compare with the package of other Managers of Cities the size of Geneva?
Tom,
We don't mean to say that we aren't getting lots of support for our ideas, the blog, the WGVA interviews, and our work on Council in general. On the contrary, we've seen a real groundswell of support from regular residents. It's the 'powers that be' that aren't fans! But that support and its ability to move Council (e.g., making sure social justice was achieved in the rightful sale of City land to the Hispanic CHurch of God, passing the Gun Amnesty proposal, achieving at least a O% tax increase for next year-- if not a decrease, etc.) has overcome any petty sniping because we have the facts on our side. The attacks come only from insiders who benefit from the current system and are threatened by changes for the common good.
The local paper's reporting against the blog hasn't helped matters. All the Finger Lakes Times ever did was print some half baked quotes about alleged lies and such. Never did they ask for or print one example of a supposed lie or falsehood in the blog. Also, they never even interviewed anyone who actually reads the blog, except a few of those insiders who couldn't handle the truth. It is safe to say the FLT has been a part of the problem of reforming City government in so far as they are cheerleaders for the status quo. They take everything stated by the administration as gospel truth, despite real evidence to the contrary. Their recent editorial about the need for candidates to 'stick to the issues' ignores their own coverage of the apple and straw hats gimmick. It's as if they don't realize the true power of the pen in shaping political discourse.
But when folks actually come to the blog, they like what they read, and repeat readership is high. You're right, it is not necessary for everyone to agree with all our ideas, and that's certainly not our goal. We just want disagreements to be fact-based, for councilors to do their homework before making decisions, and to stop letting personal attacks cloud the real issues.
You asked about "our slate of candidates." Actually, our blog is not affiliated with any of the City Committees and we don't have our own slate of candidates, per se. Hopefully the blog will help voters form the kind of complex and important questions that the candidates should address. "No Strings Geneva" is, of course, our demonstration of how we make decisions and what our goals for the City are!! You could say our campaign is 'an open book'. If any voter wants to know where we are on the issues, it's all right there. Our readers are right to expect that insofar as this campaign is vital to the health of the city (as we believe it is) we should offer some further discussion. But this is also budget time, so we have quite a bit on our plate as far as upcoming posts are concerned.
Tom,
Since Council voted the latest round of raises without an evaluation, and since they have not completed the current evaluation, the only answer we can give is that whether or not the "the City manager is doing a good job" has not been formally determined as outlined by the Mayor.
As for other salary benchmarks, the Canandaigua city manager's salary is $90,000; the city manager of Auburn (with a population 2 times greater than Geneva's) just signed a three year contract at $108,000; the Wayne County administrator's position was just advertised at a salary of $95,000.
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