Artists needed for "World's Largest Joint"

From NORML.org :

Saturday, October 25th 2008. With your help, along with a group of artists, we are hoping to produce a major art and media event called "A Celebration of Freedom." We plan to construct a sculpture titled,"America's Largest Joint" on the plaza along with a Marijuana-inspired mural. All of the mainstream and art-centric media will be invited and there will be live Internet coverage. NORML Foundation will provide entertainment,information about marijuana prohibition and convene a preview press party.We are anticipating a lot of media attention, and a large audience both onFreedom Plaza, and on the Internet. This will be followed by a private exhibition and silent auction of related works of art in a nearby venue. NORML is concerned that the important policy issue of Congress adopting alternatives to marijuana prohibition may not receive enough media attention in the run-up to this historic presidential election and therefore are hoping to accomplish this before November 4th. The purpose of this social justice activism production in downtown Washington, DC is to focus attention on the issue of reforming marijuana laws. In order to ensure a successful venture, we must get commitments from potential sponsors and volunteers by the first week in August.If you would like to be one of the exhibited artists on display or wouldlike more information on being a sponsor, please contact sabrina@norml.org

http://www.norml.org/

Ft. Worth's Water Going to the Birds

As you can see by looking at the actual street in the picture w/the birds, we have had just about every inch of road repaired due to water main breaks. The last one broke this past Friday afternoon and still to this hour continues to leak and water the birds. Why aren't our elected officials held accountable for this type if poor management of our tax dollars? Because enough of us don't speak up and too much of the time, we don't know who we are really voting for and what type of leader they are, if at all, when we go to the polls.

Your tax dollars still going down the water drains in East Ft. Worth

Last night, Saturday night, about 10pm, above was what I saw. Another water main had broken about 40 feet south of the one that broke Friday afternoon. I called 911 to report it and the operator sounded like there were many calls about water spewing from fire hydrants. As of today, Sunday, the water is still leaking from the corroded water pipes that our City Government has failed to maintain properly. (Which is exactly what can, and does happen with gas pipelines.) Please help me hold our City Government, especially the elected ones, accountable for their actions and non-actions on issues such as properly funding the maintenance of our water system.

Do you have these water problems in YOUR neighborhood?

I bet that in my neighborhood here in East Ft. Worth, over the past year, I have personally witnessed about 10 of the scenes that you see above. My question is; does this happen all over town? Is this more prevalent in non-affluent neighborhoods? If so, why? If not, then what is the problem? Why are our tax dollars going down the water drains? To me, the bottom line source of the problem would be our City Government not appropriating the funds to do the upkeep on our water system here in Ft. Worth. Then comes the question of "why?" Why weren't enough funds allocated for prevention of such pipe corrosion and waste of such large amounts of our city water, and tax dollars to pay for labor to do the emergency repair, and when was the issue before Council last, next to the last time and next to the next to last time!? These pictures were from Friday afternoon noon around 6pm. Today, Saturday, the FW Water Dept is going up and down our streets saying our water will be off, etc. All of this preventable, if only our government officials were doing their jobs well.

IMO, these are the things that a city council person should have to answer to at Neighborhood Association meetings and things that a Neighborhood Association should be interested in finding out for their members. I would think any well meaning council person would be the first to want to talk about it being that they are the ones who should know the answers to such issues. "City" Council, "City" Government, "City" Hall, "City" water, "City" dollars........you get the point. Right? I mean, really, does it take all that much? No, it shouldn't! This is not rocket science and residents in the neighborhood DO care about issues such as this!

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.

Lucky Tubb coming to Ft. Worth

This nephew of Ernest Tubb has an awesome band and his music is like no other. I saw him at the Boerne Beer Fest, Oktoberfest or something along those lines and his was the heaviest, fast paced toe tapping band I've ever heard. Even if you don't like country music, you'll probably appreciate his uniqueness, talent, voice, band, retro outfits, attitude, etc. He will be playing at the Aardvark in Ft. Worth August 22nd. Hope to see some of you there.

http://www.luckytubb.com/ http://www.the-aardvark.com/august_2008.html

Chesapeake's propaganda & West Meadowbrook's Neighborhood politics

So if you live on the Eastside and you happen to be on the email list of various eastside neighborhood activists, you get emails saying there is an important meeting tonight concerning Chesapeake's High Impact Well they want to put in our neighborhood as well as a pipeline. You get there and, IMO, there is no "meeting." It is a poster show of propaganda that Chesapeake has put together and you walk from poster to poster and ask questions of a paid mouthpiece for Chesapeake. That, IMO, is NOT a meeting!! Very disappointing. On the bright side, there were cameras and microphones there. Oh and our City Council person, Kathleen Hicks, was there to get a head count. Not to do any leadership stuff, but just there to see which side she should pander to according to the numbers.

I saw Wanda Conlin there, she is the "Director of City Affairs" for West Meadowbrook Neighborhood Association. WMNA, has large titles for a bunch of bullshit work!! The Treasurer, Mike Phipps and Gigi Goesling do the work for our neighborhood, Wanda Conlin and her hubby, Don Boren (President of West Meadowbrook Neighborhood Assoc) are the puppets for Kathleen Hicks and the ones who do all of the "important backroom deal making." YUK YUK YUK!!

What exactly is the point of a Neighborhood Association if the leaders don't communicate with the members? Take votes on positions of the issues at hand, etc. IMO, there is no point. It's all abuse of power. It's sickening.

I asked Wanda Conlin tonight if WMNA was opposing the Scott Ave well site and if so what had her and her husband Don Boren done on behalf of WMNA to voice their opposition...she said "Suzette, we have written the City Council and Mayor -- leave me alone." RED FLAG RED FLAG.....anytime someone doesn't want to answer my questions, alarms go off in my head.

WMNA's leadership is for the birds, IMO which is why I am not a second year member!!

"Petty Politics" in East Ft. Worth

So some our really caring neighborhood activists like Mike Phipps, Don Young and Jerri Horton are really up in arms about Chesapeake considering gas drilling on the eastside, neighborhood street of Scott Ave. (Beach St. & I30) and I agree, we don't need all those heavy industrial trucks tearing up our neighborhood streets that we pay for out of our hard earned tax dollars! Funny thing is, Don Boren & Wanda Conlin (married couple in charge of the Neighborhood Association and Neighborhood Newspaper) hold the following positions:

Don Boren, President of West Meadowbrook Neighborhood Association
Wanda Conlin - editor/publisher/owner of "Greater Meadowbrook News"

Neither are no where to be found on the issue of gas drilling on Scott Ave in the neighborhood (Chesapeake tearing up our neighborhood streets and disturbing Tandy Hills Park), why? My guess would be Chesapeake has bought many expensive ads in the "Greater Meadowbrook News" (Wanda, Don and family paid) paper that Don & Wanda own, produce and distribute throughout Meadowbrook Neighborhoods. Our Councilperson, Kathleen Hicks loves Don & Wanda, in fact, Kathleen calls Wanda, "Mama Wanda." Sickening, Disgusting and causes me and many others to turn away from WMNA (West Meadowbrook Neighborhood Assoc.)...politics at its' best!! YUK!! YUK!! YUK!!

Why are City Council members paid $25K/year?

I don't understand the job of a City Council member in Ft. Worth. I mean, come on, they make $25,000 per year off us taxpayers. That is not a salary for a full time job, that's part time salary, IMO, if that!! So, what is the purpose of a City Council person? How many hours per week are they suppose to work for the voters? Are they just there as a pawn for a hidden group of people w/in their District, how much of it is strictly about money, in other words did some Corporation "put" them there thru thousands of dollars for campaigning? I'd love to have a neighborhood activist named Mike Phipps run for Council in District 8, but hell, who can live on $25K per year? Only the rich? Only the well connected and paid by perks people? Kids of politicians, who? And who exactly do they represent?