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Wednesday, December 4, 2013
The 120 Minute Hate
Jim Riticher's town hall meeting was captured on video and posted to YouTube last night.
I would have made this event last night in person except my other half got home from work late.
Today is the first day since 2008 that my faith in the future of Dunwoody has wavered. Ironically, only a few days after we celebrated Dunwoody's 5th anniversary as an incorporated city.
Watch the videos. Take a good look at the faces and catch the names of the people talking.
If you think or live differently than they do, in the slightest way. They hate you.
Read that one more time.
THESE. PEOPLE. HATE. YOU.
They are "The People". If your opinion is different, you are not "the people". You are an unperson. Your voice does not deserve to be heard or acted upon by city government. Your priorities are either unimportant or harmful to THEIR community.
I invited Jim Riticher to respond to a couple of questions I posed to all candidates during the election. He blew it off. I must be an unperson too.
There is to be no compromise and no coexistence between residents of different lifestyles. The zoning rewrite attempted that compromise to maximize differing rights while protecting everyone's lifestyles. It was unceremoniously thrown back in the faces of all who worked to compose and ratify it.
In the past, I've heard stories of some Dunwoody residents who moved away because their POV was dismissed. Until this morning I thought that reaction was childish, even selfish. "Just be a good example right where you are." That's a lot harder to do than to say and I learned not to judge those who decided to leave. Group hate is a hard thing to overcome by emulating the examples of Jesus, Buddha, Gandhi, King, etc.
I'm going to continue to be a good neighbor, a good homeowner, and a good business owner, without asking permission to do so from this crowd.
Many prayers for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Update: for the members in this audience who are concerned about the public release of the charter commission's report, the link to the document is the top button of the green vertical menu on almost ever page of the city website.
http://dunwoodyga.gov/home/Project-Details/13-10-11/Dunwoody_Charter_Commission_Final_Report-1811818886.aspx
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Happy Birthday Dunwoody
In five years
We've had fights in the council chamber
Saw weird/distasteful/dirty campaigns
Seen enough red shirts to last us a lifetime
Built sidewalks
Argued about where to put the sidewalks
Paved roads
Argued about which roads were getting paved and when
Argued about who used the roads.
Learned more about our neighbors in both elected and appointed positions than we ever wanted to know.
Learned some things about the same that we wish we still didn't know
Found out the law of the state and fed and strings attached to "free" money is more complex than we imagined. Some times the money just isn't worth the hassle.
Discovered how diverse our community truly is - that there is no "voice" of Dunwoody. There's a chorus of many voices, some of which don't believe they are heard or taken seriously.
And I thank God every day we incorporated to work out our city's future for ourselves, rather than remain at the mercy of a County that doesn't give a damn what happens to us, as long as our wallets our open.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DUNWOODY!!
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Happy Thanksgiving 2013
The five of us are celebrating a nice quiet(?) holiday for once. I hope all of you are enjoying your Thanksgiving (and Hanukkah) as well.
Repeating last year's Thanksgiving article because it's still needed.
The Pilgrims had come to America not to conquer a continent but to re-create their modest communities in Scrooby and in Leiden. ... The Pilgrims' religious beliefs played a dominant role in the decades ahead, but it was their deepening relationship with the Indians that turned them into Americans
.
By forcing the English to improvise, the Indians prevented Plymouth Colony from ossifying into a monolithic cult of religious extremism. For their part, the Indians were profoundly influenced by the English and quickly created a new and dynamic culture full of Native and Western influences. For a nation that has come to recognize that one of its greatest strengths is its diversity, the first fifty years of Plymouth Colony stand as a model of what America might have been from the very beginning.
By the midpoint of the seventeenth century, however, the attitudes of many of the Indians and English had begun to change. With only a fraction of their original homeland remaining, more and more young Pokanokets claimed it was time to rid themselves of the English. The Pilgrims' children, on the other hand, coveted what territory the Pokanokets still possessed and were already anticipating the day when the Indians had, through the continued effects of disease and poverty, ceased to exist. Both sides had begun to envision a future that did not include the other.
In the end, both sides wanted what the Pilgrims had been looking for in 1620: a place unfettered by obligations to others. But from the moment Massasoit decided to become the Pilgrims' ally, New England belonged to no single group. For peace and for survival, others must be accommodated. The moment any of them gave up on the difficult work of living with their neighbors - and all the compromise, frustration, and delay that inevitably entailed - they risked losing everything. It was a lesson that Bradford and Massassoit had learned over the course of more than three long decades.
Repeating last year's Thanksgiving article because it's still needed.
The Pilgrims had come to America not to conquer a continent but to re-create their modest communities in Scrooby and in Leiden. ... The Pilgrims' religious beliefs played a dominant role in the decades ahead, but it was their deepening relationship with the Indians that turned them into Americans
.
By forcing the English to improvise, the Indians prevented Plymouth Colony from ossifying into a monolithic cult of religious extremism. For their part, the Indians were profoundly influenced by the English and quickly created a new and dynamic culture full of Native and Western influences. For a nation that has come to recognize that one of its greatest strengths is its diversity, the first fifty years of Plymouth Colony stand as a model of what America might have been from the very beginning.
By the midpoint of the seventeenth century, however, the attitudes of many of the Indians and English had begun to change. With only a fraction of their original homeland remaining, more and more young Pokanokets claimed it was time to rid themselves of the English. The Pilgrims' children, on the other hand, coveted what territory the Pokanokets still possessed and were already anticipating the day when the Indians had, through the continued effects of disease and poverty, ceased to exist. Both sides had begun to envision a future that did not include the other.
In the end, both sides wanted what the Pilgrims had been looking for in 1620: a place unfettered by obligations to others. But from the moment Massasoit decided to become the Pilgrims' ally, New England belonged to no single group. For peace and for survival, others must be accommodated. The moment any of them gave up on the difficult work of living with their neighbors - and all the compromise, frustration, and delay that inevitably entailed - they risked losing everything. It was a lesson that Bradford and Massassoit had learned over the course of more than three long decades.
--Nathaniel Philbrick
Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War
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