Happy Independence Day Crestwood!
Please allow me to wish all of you a safe and joyous holiday! If you have time in your busy schedule, thank a vet. For if not for them we would not be celebrating our Independence, we would be languishing under the threat of some dictator who could "remove us" at will!
Please click on the header to be directed to a card which you can share with your children.
Tom Ford
No. 177
Please click on the header to be directed to a card which you can share with your children.
Tom Ford
No. 177
posted by Crestwood Independent at 08:48
32 Comments:
Anonymous said...
Speaking of accountability, I read where the board - with Robinson's support - on 6-0 vote gave City Attorney Golterman a raise. His retainer fee increases from $2,750 to $3,000 per month and fees for general miscellaneous services increase from a poverty stricken $205 per hour to $215 per hour. This was done while city hall and the public works property are being held as collateral by a bank.
5:57 PM, June 29, 2006
I understand that his parent legal firm requested that he ask for an increase, it was not his idea.
Face it folks, increases are going to happen, I have seen five price increases in my business this year alone!
All I can say is, I trust he shows us he is worth it.
Tom Ford
I am the Flag
by Ruth Apperson Rous
I am the flag of the United States of America.
I was born on June 14, 1777, in Philadelphia.
There the Continental Congress adopted my stars and stripes as the national flag.
My thirteen stripes alternating red and white, with a union of thirteen white stars in a field of blue, represented a new constellation, a new nation dedicated to the personal and religious liberty of mankind.
Today fifty stars signal from my union, one for each of the fifty sovereign states in the greatest constitutional republic the world has ever known.
My colors symbolize the patriotic ideals and spiritual qualities of the citizens of my country.
My red stripes proclaim the fearless courage and integrity of American men and boys and the self-sacrifice and devotion of American mothers and daughters.
My white stripes stand for liberty and equality for all.
My blue is the blue of heaven, loyalty, and faith.
I represent these eternal principles: liberty, justice, and humanity.
I embody American freedom: freedom of speech, religion, assembly, the press, and the sanctity of the home.
I typify that indomitable spirit of determination brought to my land by Christopher Columbus and by all my forefathers - the Pilgrims, Puritans, settlers at James town and Plymouth.
I am as old as my nation.
I am a living symbol of my nation's law: the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights.
I voice Abraham Lincoln's philosophy: "A government of the people, by the people,for the people."
I stand guard over my nation's schools, the seedbed of good citizenship and true patriotism.
I am displayed in every schoolroom throughout my nation; every schoolyard has a flag pole for my display.
Daily thousands upon thousands of boys and girls pledge their allegiance to me and my country.
I have my own law—Public Law 829, "The Flag Code" - which definitely states my correct use and display for all occasions and situations.
I have my special day, Flag Day. June 14 is set aside to honor my birth.
Americans, I am the sacred emblem of your country. I symbolize your birthright, your heritage of liberty purchased with blood and sorrow.
I am your title deed of freedom, which is yours to enjoy and hold in trust for posterity.
If you fail to keep this sacred trust inviolate, if I am nullified and destroyed, you and your children will become slaves to dictators and despots.
Eternal vigilance is your price of freedom.
As you see me silhouetted against the peaceful skies of my country, remind yourself that I am the flag of your country, that I stand for what you are - no more, no less.
Guard me well, lest your freedom perish from the earth.
Dedicate your lives to those principles for which I stand: "One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
I was created in freedom. I made my first appearance in a battle for human liberty.
God grant that I may spend eternity in my "land of the free and the home of the brave" and that I shall ever be known as "Old Glory," the flag of the United States of America.
Until the unforgiveable political mechanics of the past few years of this city are distant memories, the 3.5 Million Dollar LOC is paid off, and it is proved that the dollars we are paying to support the recent tax increase have and are being wisely spent, I remain a skeptic. Not a pessimist, a skeptic.
With this thought in mind, I wish to deposit my 2 cents worth on the rate increase for the city attorney. City employees are on a salary freeze, people have lost their jobs and services are cut to help bring back financial perspective. Yes, I read that the city attorney's law firm has asked all their city attorneys to raise their fees, which raises the question "why can't we shop around for a better deal?" This is not a popularity contest. Finances in Crestwood are "serious" business. Compelled or not, embarrassed or not, maybe the city attorney and his law firm could reappraise their stance on Crestwood. Or, perhaps city officials should re-set their expectance meter. The times they are lean. We are, afterall, helping pay off a debt that in part consists of legal bills (other than those provided by the city attorney) that go way beyond the norm and are both secretive and without substantiation.
The city attorney mentioned he would be trying to keep his expenses at a similar rate as in the past, which means he will try to work less hours to offset these increases and not have an increase in total dollars. If this is the case, was he unable to control the hours worked last year when we started our financial decline? If he can keep legal costs equal to last years despite the fee increase, were last years too high? Can he really do the job in less time? How? In terms of efficiency, I would have to say, that under the circumstances, I would certainly hope detail be paid to minimizing fee expense and legaleese realizing that ordinances written are relatively standard and suggestions be forthcoming and continue on ways to maintain a happy medium. A joint effort, I might add, for all serving the city. Financial restraints should remain a constant even considering this city attorney position is a special service. If this position was to keep the city going in the right direction, then we should remember that this chair was on site during the indiscretions of the past few years and I sat through many a meeting and only occasionally heard a question, a warning, advice, or a peep about legalities from any party on the dais.
I saw a former city admn. take liberties that should have been questioned and halted, and a Mayor leave office in the cover of darkness; a former City A. and Finance Officer depart likewise resulting in yet another lawsuit. I saw a $14 Million Dollar unneeded city hall almost get constructed, but for the actions of the people. All a veritable maze of wonderment that produced headlines and political static and unhappy residents; employees and unbelievable debt and audits which specified "mismanagement." Somewhere along the way there seems to have been a lack of atonement, explanation and acceptance of accountability, and perhaps a lack of legal advice. We are still searcing for answers and a rock solid path of prevention.
No I don't think the job should go to the lowest bidder. But I also don't think the position should be automatic. I hope there would be other available attorneys. Residents are starting to realize that a new broom can sweep clean especially in a town like Crestwood where the old broom was fraught with a fair share of filth and mud and extravagance. Any hint of this kind of past rearing its ugly, unethical and expensive head is repugnant to those of us watching and listening and remembering.
I don't happen to agree with the decision on the Charter issue. It was not popular with many - that decision being a swift determination that it was perfectly okay to let the Charter Board meet 9 years after inception rather than the required 10 years -giving the outgoing Mayor the ability to make appontments and thus influence the changes. The Charter is our Constitution and this clever move as the last act of the outgoing mayor was not lost on Crestwood residents.
I am glad the Mayor and City A. find the current city attorney so easy to work with, so affable; however, I do not agree with the unbiased assessment. I was told this city attorney was a former alderman in Ward 2 of Crestwood. Does this provide an advantage, you tell me. We all know about the pros and cons floating about on the issue of the private Swim Club next to city hall and its financing. Each of us has an opinion on this and I am sure that includes our city officials, our city attorneys, our city employees and the State's Attorney General. Perhaps the time has come to dig beneath the surface absent those who would have a conflict of interest.
In all fairness, I will take the city attorney at his word that he is committed to helping us stay within budget. I also thank him if he succeeds. I hope he does one better and brings it all in "under budget." At any rate, I hold the Mayor and the Aldermen to their commitments, too. That being getting me and you the "best bang for our buck." On all fronts.
Thank you Alderman Miguel for being the one, as usual, who is always front and center in this endeavor. Even though it gets you up to your neck in alligators sometimes, I find your courage and advice just what the Dr. ordered.
With Crestwood's financial problems, can the City really afford to pay a City Attorney (on a hourly basis) more than the cost of the Mayor, the Board of Aldermen, the City Administrator, the City Clerk and the Department Heads combined at a Board of Aldermen Meeting? Where is Alderman Miquel and Mr. Maddox when such an extravagant situation exists?
Blogger at 6:30 7/2/06. I commend you on all your comments. Every one of them are the whole truth and nothing but the truth as far as all the information we have. Your remarks smack of awareness, research and intelligence. Something that several persons on this board, as well as previous mayors and city administrators concluded that the citizens of this community lacked. But we fooled them! We were taken for granted and ignored. But No More!
Bravo for you blogger, whoever you are for stating it very well. We need to keep paying attention and never let up so that this never happens again in Crestwood.
I also say bravo to Ald. Miquel and his astute knowledge and use of his intelligence. Those who have now left because of term limits and the few left on the present board, should mirror him and do what is right for this city and leave politics alone.
We refuse as citizens of Crestwood to settle for anything less. All elected officials better do their jobs because we are not brain dead and will not tolerate the escapades of the past.
Thanks.
This is from Jacque Stocks cousin serving in the Air Force in England, and its just wonderfull! Thanks for sharing Jacque!
This is truly an awesome piece of music, and more so because it was written, composed and sung by a pair of USNA grads. How did they end up in the music business? I strongly suggest you take the time to listen to it by clicking on the Internet link below.
Bierstock, 58, and John Melnick, 54, of Pompano Beach - a member of Bierstock's band, have written a song: the mournful "Before You Go" does more than salute those who fought in WWII. It encourages people to go out of their way to thank the aging warriors before they die.
"If we had lost that particular war, our whole way of life would have been shot," says Bierstock, who plays harmonica. "Every ethnic minority would be dead. And the soldiers are now dying at the rate of about 2,000 every day. I thought we needed to thank them."
The song is striking a chord. Within four d ays of Bierstock placing it on the Web, the song and accompanying photo essay have bounced around nine countries, producing tears and heartfelt thanks from veterans, their sons and daughters and grandchildren.
Bierstock and Melnick thought about shipping it off to a professional singer, but because time was running out for so many veterans, they decided it was best to release it quickly, for free, on the Web.
They've sent the song to Sen. John McCain and others in Washington. Already they have been invited to perit in Houston for a Veterans Day tribute - this after just a few das on the Web. They hope every veteran in America gets a chance to hear it.
Now here is the link...
http://www.managedmusic.com/beforeyougo.html
I saw in the Journal that Roy Robinson is taking credit for the City's financial stability.
As an employee of the City, I would just like to let everyone know that when this year's budget was adopted earlier this year, the then City-Administrator Don Greer announced that this year's budget was in the black, and so was that for the 2007 budget-year.
Now, before everyone starts with their anti-Greer sentiments, this isn't about him, but rather our illustrious Mayor taking credit for something he didn't do. This is the kind of thing that causes the morale problem among employees. We are not immune from what is printed in the paper, and we often know the other side of what those stories are. Before everyone starts applauding Mayor Robinson, ask him what he did do get us in this financial position.
I do see your point. As a Robinson supporter, I too am getting concerned. He seems to take credit for a lot of things.
I'm also concerned about the city attorney's raise and the switch of healthcare providers to GHP.
Blogger at 6:16 PM, 7/4. Well Happy Independence Day to you whoever you are. It is funny that we are celebrating "we the people" today, as well as our freedoms, and you should bring up the one person who was the most responsible for taking freedom away from the employees. Don't go bragging about Don Greer and expect me to swallow it.
You obvious believed his tripe when he said that this year's budget was in the black as well as the budget for 2007. Is this the budget, HE put together? If he says it is in the "black", to me it would mean just the opposite. That's your first mistake, believing remarks made by a man without a conscience.
If the only thing Roy Robinson did to this city was eliminate that self-serving demadifite from Crestwood, he and the board of aldermen need to be congratulated. We are a decent and God-fearing city. We don't need a man full of himself and nonsense. WE, are the people. WE deserve honesty and integrity. WE got NADDA and we are paying for it today.
Feel free to say whatever you want, and I shall do the same, but if Don Greer were still here, most employees - even you, would be waiting for the next shoe to drop in fear of being dismissed from the city. The reason? Don Greer didn't need a reason and he will tell you exactly that. Talk about the Declaration of Independence? He ruled Crestwood. There was no independence for employees when he was there. If you were a good boy or girl and did what he asked, even though unfair and unprofessional, you were awarded. If you were part of the previous administration, or too old, you ended up on the sidewalk.
So let's not talk about what Don Greer has said because in his deposition, you can see what Don Greer is all about and it isn't truth and honesty.
It's a shame that you don't understand that because of all those monies spent by him and his illustrious financial genius side kick, you are suffering for it with cut backs that needed to be done. If you are angry about things that have happened, at least put the blame where it belongs.
Of course, if you too, are totally hypnotized by Mr. Don Juan Greer as many are, you better thank God you were never on the side I, myself and others were on. Did he threaten you? Well he threatened me! Did he reward Jim Robertson for his misdeeds? Sure did! He covered them up. What about all the documents that were shredded by him and Ms. Madrid when he got power! See once you get power, nobody questions you! And it doesn't matter how you get it if you are Don Greer!
You as an employee now, are suffering for the sins of Don Greer as well as others who mismanaged Crestwood. Roy Robinson had nothing to do with that mismanagement. So put the blame on the real culprits and either stay with Crestwood or go some place else to work. But get your facts straight and stop blaming the wrong people.
poster 7:11, did you not read what the other posters said? Are you so full of hate for Greer that you can not see what they wrote was not a praise of Greer but concern for the actions the Mayor is now taking since Greer left?
How long will this sickness of your soul prevent you from seeing anything in this world but Greer 24/7 as the root of all evil? And by doing so you are lossing valuable life minutes, which turn into hours and then days and then, well you know what that turns into. Get a life already, the man is gone if you havent noticed and without him our Mayor is starting to go down a path that should concern you greatly.
Here are quotes lifted directly from the Journal article:
"This group is phenomenal."
"We've got a lot of good people here, they just needed an opportunity to perform."
Robinson cites the following as moves that put the city in good shape: the hiring of a new city administrator, personnel changes, consolidation of duties for remaining staff, a better informed board, more timely financial reports from staff, and passage of Prop. S.
6:16 blogger, which quotes in the article lead you to believe Mayor Robinson is taking credit for the city's financial stability? It appears from the article that he is crediting the board, the city staff, the citizens for Prop. S, and the new city administrator for the financial turnaround.
What did Mayor Robinson do to get us in our current financial position you ask? He made some good decisions, that's what he did. As the article clearly indicates, he could not have followed through on those decisions without the help of those people he credited.
It sounds like the bloggers at 6:15 and 6:23 on the 4th are one in the same. At least wait a couple of hours if you want to make a rebuttal to your own comment. Sounds to me like Roy praised everyone else for the city's SOMEWHAT of a turnaround. Morale isn't bad all the way around, believe me.
Blogger at 9:53 PM 7/4. I agree with the blogger at 10:22 7/4. Read the Mayor's statement in the press again and note that the Mayor didn't make himself look like a hero, he gave credit to all those persons who are assisting in a Crestwood turn around. It's a team effort and there is a lot more work to do but at least they are working together.
You, on the other hand, are the one who fails to see that what we are going through today has much to do with the Robertson/Greer administration and the Fagan/Greer administration, and especially Greer who hired, fired, harrassed, used scare tactics to get what he wanted, refused to go by anybody else's rules but his and everybody let him get away with it.
Thanks to him, 70% of the civil service rules were changed, even though we paid a company good money to make it more comprehensive.
As an employee, this should have made you angry. The company threw up their hands and left. They told me that everything they wanted to incorporate in the new manual was changed by Don Greer. His way, his motives, his plan instead of basing it on what was fair and for the protection of the employees.
When I read your blog comment, I really don't think you are an employee. I think you are an imposter. If you are an employee why would you also not be upset at a person who took your rights and threw them out the window. Happy Independence Day! Maybe what you are concerned with about is the insurance being changed, but you blame the wrong person. That's what I am speaking of. Cuts were needed. WHY? Because of all the wasted money that has left Crestwood broke. WHY? Because others in the city left everything up to one bad individual.
I have a life, and maybe the people whose lives were crushed by the self-motivated standards of Don Greer and company are gone but not forgotten. Too bad you feel the way you do, cause you may have been working in a multi-million dollar police facility we couldn't pay for, and maybe you would have been cut from the payroll, because Crestwood couldn't pay for your salary any longer. The City Administrator doesn't drive a brand new BMW and let the City pay for it! Everyone is taking a step back.
Maybe you shouldn't judge me if you didn't walk in my shoes and the shoes of many other employees in Crestwood whose lives were torn apart by the likes of the Robertson/Greer regime. Then your thinking might be a little different.
Too bad you have no compasion or are not the least bit interested in listening to why we got in this mess in the first place, as you are much too busy slamming and blaming the Mayor for things he had no control of as well as slamming me for hating the injustice. No more rebuttals from me on this one. Like I said, it's Independence Day, take your best shot.
God Bless Crestwood
Don Greer, yada yada yada yada yada BMW yada yada yada yada Tom Fagan yada yada yada yada yada yada, Swim Club yada yada yada yada yada, $14 million cityhall/police station, yada yada yada yada yada, Ms. Madrid yada yada yada yada yada, Roy is a good/bad mayor, yada yada yada yada yada yada, Charter review Comittee, yada yada, yada yada yada yada
......and a big Yadda back atcha Bud.
Who is this yada and does he work for the city?
Did you hear about the guy that had to have some of his colon removed?
He now has a semicolon.
Blogger 12:17 P.M. 6/5
Did you have a miserable childhood, yada yada yada
Let us know how you really feel about buried tanks, yada yada yada
Are you still in black over the administration change, yada yada yada
Or are you just lost without your mentor and his awesome Beemer, yada yada yada
Was it the loss of Taj Mahal, yada yada yada
Is it about all the sweat over the swim club, yada yada yada
Maybe the fact that no one thinks your outbursts are cute anymore, yada yada yada
Are you flush with faded glory, yada yada yada
Do people look at you like "who is this person," yada yada yada
Has politics dealt you a low blow since April, yada yada yada
Did your face fade, yada, yada, yada
Did those binders give you heartburn, yada yada yada
Are there some residents out there keeping you up nights, yada yada yada
Does progress in our city bring out the pit bull in you, yada yada yada
Is this term limit thing knawing away at you, yada yada yada
Did you quit believing in Santa Claus, yada yada yada
Reality Bites doesn't it, and man by now you must have West Crestwood Virus, yada yada yada
Get some knot free shorts, a new tie, this could just be your problem
We will all forget the woeful tales of Crestwood's past when we get darned good and ready and not a minute sooner - on that you can depend, yada yada yada
It's not that I lost my originality, it's just that I kinda got hooked on your yada's. I found them wonderfully soothing.
Yawn!
Got so hooked on the yada's I said 6/5, meant 7/5
yada, yada, yada
woo wee
"woo wee" that about sums it up.
Good grief! What's this? A tennis match going on here with all these yada's?
That show was marketed to the lowest common denominator, and as such was not funny, and now you cary it over to this blog, and on Independence day?
I got yada
You got yada
We got yada
Who could ask for anything more
Yada today temporarily took my mind off the axis of evil, foreign aid, our dwindling list of allies, the national debt, leaking borders, Aids, starving Africans, the Pentagon charade, talking heads who shout and ramble and interrupt, unaffordable Prescription Drugs, the premature birth rate in St. Louis, Yellow Cake, why isn't Bob Novak being sited for something, IBMs and Patriot Missiles, North Korea and Iran, the closing of the STL Ford Plant, $75.19/Barrel for oil ($2/gal soon), 9/11, stem cell research, Valerie Plame, how can I get on Warren Buffett's list, Forest Park Forever (or at least til they sell it all off), child predators, the American political imbalance in DC, the pros and cons of liposuction, protecting the Constitution, what the heck is head-on, head-on, head-on, internet pornography, slimy lobbiests, drunk drivers, the rabbits who are eating our hostas, Highway 40, secondhand smoke, female bishops, pediphile priests, the lack of a prescription drug which would erase the damage done by: 2 recent former mayors, 1 former city administrator and his clones and their personal brand of yada, how to afford healthcare for illegal immigrants(not to mention the working poor, homeless and veterans who are Americans by birth), how to keep kids in school in the city and crime and teenage pregnancy down, how to rationalize minimum wage of $5.50 for the surfs and $3,500 raises for royalty, seatbelts in school busses, how to keep Pat Robertson out of politics, Fiber, should municipal employees have unions (some,none or all) while Budweiser union drivers get busted, New Orleans, to build or not to build, why did we separate SBC and AT&T and then reverse that decision, animal cruelty, drugs in sports, are political parties passe for the savvy, sell out crowds for the Dixie Chicks everywhere, is Ann Coulter guilty of textbook plagerism and is she godless, has Martha Stewart paid for her crime, do I really care that Rush uses Viagra, a few worries over the space capsule, is the no-call function working, guns or no guns, why all the good TV programs vanish in the summer, does hair dye cause cancer, does one bring in the flag when it rains, will Michael Moore, Howard Stern and Cindy Sheehan ever get larangitis, hopes the St. Louis Zoo's eminent elephant birth goes well, will the real President please stand up, what is the expiration date of Paris Hilton, which roll has the most sheets, where for gosh sakes is Jimmy Hoffa, will Scooter get pardoned, and keeping the Cardinals in 1st place.
The longer the list, the more yadas I need. Yada is my escape valve now. I say yada outloud three times, and Puff the Magic Dragon works his magic.
So, whenever the Yada Master signs in, raise that Kool Aid to the Yada of your choice. Make it work for you. A spoonful of sugar still helps the medicine go down.
Here's to you Yada!
Yah, "good grief Charlie Brown" there's something geared to the highest IQ of the readers of this blog for sure, a comic strip!
When life deals you lemons, you make lemonaid.
To blog or not to blog, your option.
Gee folks, we know something is wrong in Crestwood, but I didn't think it was the "water supply"!
The last few blogs have me a bit concerned! Could it be we have become "wrapped to tight" for this world, or are we just venting?
And while I am at it, where did the "Charlie Brown" comment come from?
Easy does it, we have a long way to go here, why were just gearing up for the charter vote (that should be a dandy!) Please don't burn yourselves out, as the best is yet to come!
Tom Ford
I read a blog on this site that asked if the city can afford the raised fees and hourly rate of the city attorney. Obviously this position is essential but relatively expensive for a small town. However, where was the city attorney when the Mayor was being shortsheeted his first days in office? Why did he not get to the bottom of the threat to the Mayor made by so called "unknown" employee and challenge her so that we did not have to pay her to get out of town? Come on, we all know who the perp was. We paid off several people just to get rid of them. I would think the city attorney should be a-political, and help us avoid this kind of standoff. Is this city attorney a-political? I have noticed things to the contrary. Will he make it his responsibility to protect my best interests, your best interests and the city's best interests. Or, can we expect more outlandish legal bills and the continuation of paranoia. Solid legal advice is an obligation on the part of the city attorney and he has said he will try to keep the costs at a minimum. I am going to be watchinig to see if he lives up to this expectation. Sorry, but politics in this city is way too expensive for our blood.
With regard to the City Attorney, the Mayor generously rewards his supporters. If you doubt this, look at how big a pay raise his (opps, Crestwood's) new police chief has been payed off with.
Blogger at 8:43 am, July 6th. The new police chief's salary upsets you? When he gets a 50K BMW and the city has to pay for it, then I'll get upset.
To the 8:43 Am blogger: What pay off? if you mean a salary increase from Sgt. to Chief, why sure he got a pay raise!
If you are employed, I think you will understand this. Let's say we move you from managing the shipping department, to the president of the company. Now are you going to take on all the extra responsibility for the same pay? No you arn't, are you.
You see a Police Chief is required to report to the scene of any major department involved police matter (accident,shooting, officer injured,) no matter what time, day, or holiday, it may be! Now I know we haven't seen that with the past Chief (no uniform, no gun, no need to respond,) but our new Chief will be doing it right, believe me!
I find it extreemly interesting that some bloggers felt fine backing the former Chief, and the former mayor to the hilt, but will not give the new ones a chance in hell. Say what you will (that's what this blog is for,) but, I for one back the Mayor, the Chief, and most of our Board of Alderman, and for good reason, they are getting the job done!
Let's all try to back Crestwood, and forget the past. If we have a specific problem with an official (that is not inuendo,) bring it up, and we will ask them. Until then, I think were on the right track!
Tom Ford
Wrapped too tight, I don't think so. Having some fun with yada, that's kinda fun. What else can ya do when some nitwit constantly fills his space with his rendition of "I hate the Mayor, the Police Chief, and Progress?" He is obsessed. It's actually sorta sad.
which board of alderman won't you back tom ford?
Not which "Board of Alderman", but "which Alderman", think about it! and while we are at it, it's Tom Ford, not tom ford.
Well, I have two of them that I am not too thrilled with, both from different wards.
I have watched both of them on the dias, and I think Crestwood could do better! I do think, however Mr. Pickel has become a breath of fresh air for Ward Two so far. He seems to be his own man, and I think that's great. I hope that does not change.
As for the yada, well, go ahead and nail em!
Tom Ford
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