Thursday, September 11, 2008

NB 5

I just got back form our neighborhood board meeting. It was better than some - certainly not the worst. We had a record zero members say they were just concerned for the children, although there was one anti-rail comment that was disguised with an "I'm just concerned for the disaabled."

I only had to get blunt once with the divas.

Nothing of import was discussed or decided upon. We will host a candidates forum next Tuesday, though the mayor won't show up and the Board doesn't want him to send a rep (he might send ... and I'm not making this up ... "one of those professional media people" instead, and they "might be smarter than us and make us look stupid," and the Board wasn't going to tolerate that).

At the end Duke Bainum's rep came up to debate with me. He was one of those guys who only speaks in talking points and spin, and who doesn't engage in conversation so much as try to score points. I didn't have the grace to hide my feelings. When he tried to tell me that HOT lanes stopped traffic congestion completely in Tampa and that every single city in the mainland uses HOT lanes - and I clarified and he repeated, every single one - I just threw up my hands, told the ceiling that there was no point talking to this guy, and walked away. How can you debate someone who lies?

Part of it was my disgust at learning that Duke Bainum is Cliff Slater's bitch. I can't believe we're going to get stuck with this guy representing us. And while I'm not a fan of our mayor, the two alternatives in this election are so bad that I'll end up voting for him out of default.

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