This is the last in a series of five “In Her/His Own Words” posts on the Library.
Regular Meeting
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
XI. Orders of Council
A. Review the Organization Study of Library Operations from John Goss of Ralph Andersen & Associates and provide policy direction.
After the public hearing was closed, Mayor McCloud made the following comments.
“I would just like to say thank you all for your input and your thoughts and concerns, but I would also say you should look at this as an opportunity. I think Carolyn made the remark that something that we should not be making a change. No. I don’t think we are making a change, but the world is making a change.”
“One of the people you forgot to thank, and I don’t mean this critically of anyone, is the Carmel-by-the-Sea Garden Club, who is just put a large sum of money into re-landscaping the library to set it off for the exceptional building that it is. And hopefully you will see that completed rather shortly.”
“But, I think this is an opportunity. Technology is out there, our younger generation, there are some of whom are seeing coming back to town, have different demands than those of us sitting in this room with more white hair than dark. And I think we need to think as we’re doing the garden, or we’re doing other things, as we start to make investments into the library or maybe fine tune how that’s done that we need to plan for the future…being in the enviable position of building a state of the art library over there at MPC that sits up there on the hill. And it’s wonderful. And that’s about all that we are sort of talking about here. How can we, if we’re going to invest 10 or 20 or 30 thousand dollars, that’s a lot of money for us, compared to 20 some million to the MPC Library, and maybe there’s a better way that we can use that money."
“And certainly we thank the Foundation and all that they have done, but I think this is an opportunity we should look at and the glass is half full not half empty. So it isn’t the time to threaten all these well meaning people up here, who are simply trying to look a little bit into the future of how we’re going to do things and what kind of resources we’re going to take and thy will change. We didn’t have computers…So do look at this as a positive thing that we’re trying to do, and Lord knows we can run our own homes more efficiently with some of the technology that’s coming and we’re just I think we’re just taking a pause here, to ask, is there something that we can use, in the way we do business, whether it’s the library or the other departments hate we’ve looked at, we’ve had PG & E come do an energy survey of the buildings here to see how we can save money, so it’s just a normal thing you would do as people who as custodians of funds for the city.”
COMMENTS:
• Based on Mayor McCloud’s discursive and nongermane comments, it appears that she neither heard, nor listened, to the “thoughts and concerns” of the public speakers.
• In the context of the library, Mayor McCloud stated, “if we’re going to invest 10 or 20 or 30 thousand dollars, that’s a lot of money for us...” Yet in the context of the Community Housing Trust of Monterey County, Mayor McCloud initiated the reversal of an October 2006 City Council decision not to support the Community Housing Trust of Monterey County and voted to approve a $100,000 expenditure to the Community Housing Trust as an adjustment to the FY 2006/07 budget. To alibi her action, she cited private complaints from people about the City Council’s “unwillingness to support the Community Housing Trust.” Yet public complaints from residents about not expending the already approved $35,000 expenditure to restore library hours to Harrison Memorial Library and the Park Branch are not met with a similar response from Mayor McCloud!
• Consultant John Goss crafted a methodology which lead inevitably to “what the city wanted to hear” conclusions.
4 comments:
Sue McCloud and her right hand man, Rich Guillen, have become famous for non germaine responses and non responses. She is equally well known now for trying to put a positive spin on damage she and the city council are doing to Carmel's economy and health. Her method is to speak in glittering generalities while avoiding anything factual.
Contrary to the belief that the mayor did not hear or listen to the critiques presented by the public speakers, she heard and listened only to well. Hence, her transparent attempt to distract attention from the public's substantive criticisms with extreme wordiness signifying nothing. Brings to mind Macbeth, "A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
There is a phrase in the mayor's comments which speak to her state of mind. And that is, "it isn't the time to threaten all these well meaning people up here." The mayor really feels personally threatened by criticism. Any and all criticism is seen as an attack on her person. Moreover, she is incapable of distinguishing between performance and person.
Individuals, elected to public office, who feel threatened by criticism can develop a revenge philosophy leading to the abuse of their position by attacking their perceived enemies.
It is in the interest of voters, then, to not elect individuals who feel threatened by criticism because their potential for abuse is too great.
Say What, Sue?
If Sue was smarter than she is she would keep her mouth shut. Even Stanford Univ. can't give someone brains if they don't already have them.
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