Why I say and do what I say and do

I've been voicing my opinion lately about neighborhood politics, specifically about West Meadowbrook Neighborhood politics. Occasionally, I go to http://www.star-telegram.com/ and check out the headlines and comment on "What do you think?" section that the Telegram has attached to certain articles. Today, I commented on the article titled "Fort Worth residents stepping up pipeline fight." http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/771551.html . My comment was:


It is wrong to use neighborhood residences and streets for Intense Industrial and dangerous uses and it shouldn't take the voters to come out in force before a City Councilperson starts having "discussions" and "meetings" about this type of thing. I thought the purpose of electing a City Council person was to have a "watchdog" and strong voice for the District and neighborhoods without the residents having to do all of the work, first. Also what good are Neighborhood Associations if they don't find out or care how the majority of the membership feels about an issue, if the membership even knows about the issues that affect our neighborhood, and act accordingly? And people wonder why East Ft. Worth is crime ridden, code violation ridden and having to fight to keep dangerous pipelines and drill sites out of our front yards. Take a look at the leadership of a few of the Neighborhood Associations, City Council reps, and local politics and you'll know why we have the problems and issues that we have in East Ft. Worth.
Posted by: Suzette

As I was reading thru the comments today, I came across the one below:

SUZETTE! You have no idea how hard the leaders or West Meadowbrook Neighborhood Assoc. Have been and ARE working on this issue as well as many others for the betterment of the eastside. Also the leadership was put into place via elections to do the jobs for the membership. By doing so we have given them the power to work on our behafe without needing to bring every item before the membership for approval. That is what election are about. If you feel you can do any better there are elections held each year, usually near year end. I would ask, what have you done to make your neighborhood a better place? I have read other comment writen by you and all I every see that you do is put everyone down for doing what they feel is best. It may not meet your level of approval but it is better then putting someone down at every turn.
Posted by: Jan

I know that if you didn't really understand me or know me personally, you may come to think like Jan does above and I understand that; however, if one reads my blog or my comments on other blogsites such as http://www.westandclear.com/ or http://www.thewhitedsepulchre.blogspot.com/ or http://www.fortworthology.com/ , you may get the feeling that Jan has --that "all I ever do is put everyone down." Let me explain myself.

First of all, I believe in the following ideals (with much passion!):

1. meaning what you say and saying what you mean
2. honesty
3. accountability

I think I can say that those three topics are paramount to who I am as a person at my core.
With that in mind, let me respond to Jan. Jan is probably correct, I don't really know what the leaders of West Meadowbrook are doing or "how hard the leaders are working for the betterment of the Eastside." I can tell you that no one works harder than Mike Phipps! All I can tell you is I do not ever hear from Wanda Conlin (Director of City Affairs for WMNA) or Don Boren (President of WMNA and Wanda's husband) via email on anything concerning the betterment of the Eastside. Granted, I'm not a second year member, however, even when I was a member, I didn't get any sort of correspondence from them and neither does any ordinary member (someone new or outside of the power circle, Advisory Council of WMNA). All of us who live and/or work in WMNA boundaries should KNOW how hard the leaders of WMNA are working and we don't. Jan is exactly correct, IMO.

Secondly, yes, I understand the reason for "elections." First though, guess who was the Chairperson of the Elections Committee last election of WMNA President? None other than Wanda Conlin's son, Jim Conlin. In the elections, did WMNA put forth the names that were nominated and give those nominees a chance to sit before the WMNA meeting and tell the membership WHY they think they should be elected, what their plans/ideas were for the hood? No.

Thirdly, no not every item should be brought before membership, however, certainly the important ones like dangerous pipelines coming thru the front yards and houses of the residents should be a major point of discussion at WMNA meetings! As far as putting people down for doing what they think is best -- hell, Hitler thought he was doing what was best -- does that mean no one should not have put him down for it? I think not. Mayor Moncrief probably thinks what he is doing is for the best, does that mean we shouldn't put him down if we feel compelled to do so? No. I believe that "the leaders" (Don Boren, Wanda Conlin, Louis McBee) of WMNA are way too closed minded, they do not want to listen to a differing opinion on anything that "they think is best," they carry City political baggage from decades back on their cuffs, and I'm sick of it. I feel it is hurting the neighborhood, I think it is holding the Eastside back from progressing to a better Eastside and I think it's time for new leadership, new blood, new ways of communicating with people (members especially), new level of accountability for our council rep, Kathleen Hicks, that they are in bed with, IMO, etc. Do I think Wanda Conlin or Don Boren and their family are bad people personally? No. I just don't agree with the way the lead the Neighborhood Association and I voice this opinion. I am not scared of doing so like many others. They don't own any part of me, my business, etc., and I have every right to speak my opinion, politically correct or politically incorrect -- the form and way I choose to do it is my choice, no one elses. When Kathleen Hicks calls Wanda Conlin and says, "don't come down to City Hall for a certain issue and Wanda Conlin calls people and asked them to not go down to City Hall because Kathleen thinks it's best if we wait" and we don't all fall into place behind Kathleen and Wanda and allow them to dictate what we do and Wanda snubs you from that day forward because you didn't "follow orders" that's wrong! Plain wrong! It's all the hipocritical ways of conducting business that Wanda, Don and Louis McBee accuse the Mayor & Danny Scarth of conducting business, it's personal political baggage from way back and it is hurting West Meadowbrook Neighborhood, IMO!
Thanks for reading.