Mayor stifling citizens at council meetings

It seems to me that Hempstead Mayor Michael Wolfe has forgotten one of the primary roles of government.
Government exists to serve the people, not the other way around. I get the feeling that he has his own agenda, whatever that may be. At the last City Council meeting, he placed seven agenda items submitted by resident Red Foster under public comments. That limited Foster to just three minutes to make his case on all seven items combined and prohibited the council from responding. At the end of three minutes, Wolfe cut him off.
Next, former city secretary Virginia Shafer resumed her earlier complaint about improprieties with the city budget. She started her complaint last month and Wolfe cut her off without listening to her. This time he appeared to at least listen, though he did time her and cut her off again.
Each time Shafer has spoken, I have asked Mayor Wolfe for comment. Each time it’s been “no comment.”
How can Wolfe expect to represent the people of Hempstead when he won’t listen to them? Granted, Shafer now lives in Houston, but she still has interests here.
Foster went to the extreme of filling out agenda request forms for each of his seven items. As a taxpayer and resident of this community, he should have had each one placed on the agenda and dealt with appropriately. The way Wolfe is acting, it’s like he doesn’t want to respond to issues concerning the people he represents. He seems more content to focus on the things he wants to deal with.
Most of the items on Foster’s list have to do with making more information public. He was looking for regular updates on several municipal projects. He is also concerned about the way many graves of veterans are left in disrepair. These things are important, but Wolfe doesn’t seem to care. At least that’s the perception I have coming out of the meetings.
Wolfe also told me that one of the reasons he did not make agenda items out of Foster’s requests was that it would have made the council meeting last too long. Since when is the length of a council meeting an issue? Isn’t conducting the business of the people more important than finishing within an hour? And if time is a real concern, why don’t the council meetings start on time?
I write this with a bit of trepidation, as I value my working relationship with Wolfe and also as a brother in Christ. In my role as watchdog of the government, however, I have a hard time swallowing this kind of arrogance. It is my hope that Mayor Wolfe will take this as constructive criticism and not a personal attack. That’s the way it’s intended.
I don’t think these people’s opinions should be shut out just because they seem trivial or bothersome. Transparency in government and free and open dialogue are vital to the success of our democracy.

Walking the walk
This is much harder than I thought it would be. A while ago I wrote about giving up the Lone Ranger Fan Club so I could devote more time and attention to my family. The transfer to another owner is in progress and should be complete soon.
In the meantime, the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame and Museum in Waco announced it will have a Lone Ranger Fan Day on Jan. 29 to unveil a new Lone Ranger collection. I really want to go and would like to do a story on it for my last newsletter. I talked it over with my wife and she thought it would make a good family trip.
To help spread the news, I created an invitation for it on our Lone Ranger Fan Club Facebook page. I promoted it and talked it up and have two people from England and a friend from Atlanta flying in for it.
The guy who will appear as the Lone Ranger had his gun belt stolen and is not sure his new one will be made in time for the event. I offered to bring mine as a backup for him. Everything was looking good for a really fun event.
Then we got word about a major Scouting honor my son will receive on the same day. (Shh, don’t tell him, it’s a surprise.) I have been struggling internally whether to stick with my commitment to the event or break it to be at the Scouting event. My wife and I have had a lot of discussion about this.
I concluded that I will forgo the event and be there for my son. Lone Ranger events will come and go, but I only get one chance to raise my son. I love you, Wesley, and I’ve very proud of you!

Be sure to say the three little words

With apologies to my mother who first misunderstood what this column was about, I present to you a little gem I wrote for the Longmont (Colo.) Daily Times– Call in 2004.
It’s a timeless piece meant to bring warm feelings – among other things. So sit back, relax and enjoy this little flashback:
Three little words. You know them. You’ve heard them since childhood. They are the words that express how we feel to those who are closest to us. They are not words you say to just anybody. Those three little words convey a feeling you carry deep within yourself. They connote closeness. They say “you are welcome in my space, in my life as long as you can stand it.”
I don’t remember my own father saying those three little words to me, though I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. My mother to this day has never said those three little words to me, though I know how she feels about me.
I have learned to be more open and expressive with my family. I only say those three little words in jest to my wife. But they’re very meaningful to my children. When I say those three little words to my children, they know that I am expressing my joy and my pleasure with them. They feel accepted and welcome.
Contrary to popular belief, most women don’t care to hear those three little words. They don’t share in the exhilaration of the moment. It doesn’t mean the same to them. But in a man’s world – the world of a father – those are the words that bond and unite.
They’re the words that men say to each other in manly moments. They are the three little words that we long to hear from our own fathers because we hear them so little.
Those three little words spread love and make the world go round. They’re the three little words that no child should ever grow up without hearing.
Guys, please, if you haven’t said them in a while, go home tonight, gather your children or your closest buddies around and share these three little words with them: Pull my finger!
Do it today and feel the love.
But seriously folks I’ve had to kind of pull my own finger to get that one out of my system. I’ve been trying for a long time to get that bit of humor formulated in my mind and out of my head. But it leads me to a much more important message.
When was the last time you said the real “three little words” to your family? What will be the last thing you say to your spouse and children when you leave the house today?
Every time I leave my family I make sure to kiss them and tell them I love them. I always want their last memory of me to be an expression of love. You never know when you will see your loved ones for the last time.
As I walk out the door – no matter how rushed or stressed I am – I always have that warm feeling of peace in my heart and the pleasant memory of my family in my mind as I head out to work or wherever.
I don’t normally carry thoughts in my mind that I may never see my wife and children again. But I’ve been in this business long enough to have seen too many cases where people never had the chance to say I love you and goodbye. I don’t want that to be said of me.
I’ve conditioned myself to share my love with my family every chance I get. Sometimes things happen and I get angry or frustrated and I blow my top. But I always come back with love, peace and forgiveness.
Some guys have a hard time saying the words. Some guys can say it, but don’t show it. I do my best to say it and show it. It’s not always easy to do with three rambunctious boys – one with ADHD and two in the throes of the terrible twos.
But they know you love them when, after having called them the third time without response, yelling at them, applying the appropriate attention-getting measures, that you can still tuck them into bed at night, snuggle them up, kiss them on the forehead and say to them, “pull my finger!”

A bad sign of the times in Hempstead

The Hempstead City Council made a big mistake last week when it denied Vicky’s Italian Seafood and Grill’s appeal of the Historic Preservation District’s denial of its sign because the letters are too big.
Restaurant owner Virginia Wences went to City Hall for all the necessary permits and paperwork to open a new restaurant at the corner of 10th and Wilkins streets. Other restaurants have operated in the building before.
Unaware of the small print in her documents informing her of the restrictions on letter size for signs in Hempstead’s historic district, she erected a sign very similar to what had been there before. But the letters were six inches too big and the sign police nailed her.
Wences was scheduled to go before the Historic Preservation District’s board, but missed the meeting due to a miscommunication. Because she wasn’t there, the board denied her request for the larger letters.
She appealed to the city council, which, following the direction of Mayor Michael Wolfe, also denied her appeal. Their main points were that the sign was in violation, she had been given the information about the signs, and the council did not want to set a bad precedent by overruling the historic preservation board.
To the city’s credit, the blame for the mistakes is undeniably Wences. The economic and public relations blunder, however, rests with the city. What the council did not consider was the anti-business message it sent. What it did was cause an unnecessary hardship for an upstart business, which the community desperately needs.
The way I see it, the historical board and the city council have violated the pitch they made in creating the historic preservation district last year when they said the purpose was to protect the historical integrity of the town, not to nitpick every little thing with business owners.
The building is being used for the same thing it was last used for – a restaurant. The sign is consistent with prior signage. There was no significant alteration to the building or the sign on which the offending letters are placed. As an added insult, the city made Wences cover the sign until it can be brought into compliance.
She was willing to change the letters, but was asking for a two-year exemption to give her time to get established and to have financing to do it. Granting a two-year exemption is not the same as going against the historical board. If it were a permanent exemption, that would be one thing. If the sign were completely new and gaudy and offensive to what city hall wants the downtown to be, I could see denying it. But to pick nits over something that is essentially the same as what came before it, that is too much.
If I ever had any thoughts about starting a business in Hempstead, they would have been dashed by the city council at the last meeting. I would want to run a business in a community that welcomed me, made me feel wanted and worked with me to make my business a success.
I wholeheartedly agree with the need to preserve historic buildings and to establish building codes. At the same time, I dislike government meddling in this fashion and telling a business owner what can and cannot be done to their own property. There has to be an acceptable middle ground here somewhere. This however, is far from it.
This is also far from the only complaint I’ve heard from business owners about the historic preservation board. It’s high time the city rein in the monster it created.

Cold enough for you?
Let me first say that I do not like the cold. If I had to choose between living in Phoenix or Anchorage, I’d be a long time in Arizona. That being said, I find it amusing to hear people complain about how cold it is with temperatures dropping near the freezing mark at night.
At the same time, many of my friends in Colorado are posting lows on Facebook that range from 10 degrees to -20 degrees. I went to Adams State College in Alamosa, Colo., and it was not unusual to reach the -30s. I don’t know how many times we had to trudge to class in sub-zero temperatures. But hey, it was a dry cold.
From there I moved to Minnesota. Same frigid temps, but the humidity gave cold a whole new meaning.
Having grown up and lived most of my life in colder climates, I can say that what passes for cold here is just a chill. But it’s a humid chill and I’ll be very happy when it passes.

$5 gas will put economy in the tank

Here’s a simple prediction: If gas hits $5 a gallon, as the experts anticipate, our economy will tank again.
Does anyone remember what happened in 2008 when it reached $4 a gallon? People stopped buying things and going places so they could afford to fill their gas tanks. The result was a recession that we’re just now crawling out of.
The laws of supply and demand do not justify the rising price of oil. It’s driven by the greedy speculation of commodity traders (traitors?) who would stick a knife in the heart of this country for the sake of making a buck. I would hope that smart investors would learn their lesson and not speculate so high on oil. If they value the rest of their investments, they won’t.

Well, duh!
Did you see the news last week that the baby boomers are now afraid Social Security will run out before they do? As the Me Generation reaches 65 this year, there appears to be widespread concern that this generation will use up and outlive all the savings in Social Security.
Gee, I think I’ve heard that song before. My whole life these same boomers have been telling my generation that we should not expect Social Security to be around when we retire. They said our smaller numbers will not be able to support their larger numbers. Then they proceeded to let Congress “borrow” from the Social Security savings account.
I suppose the baby boomers really are afraid of getting old before they die.

Son of a Bum
With Houston Texans owner Robert McNair giving head coach Gary Kubiak his vote of confidence, it appears that the job of defensive coordinator will be offered to Wade Phillips, son of beloved former Houston Oilers coach Bum Phillips.
I thought McNair wanted to make a winner out of the Texans? I’ll hand it to you that Son of Bum is a good defensive coordinator – at least he used to be – but his head coaching record is pathetic. He has personally decimated three talent-laden teams (Denver, Buffalo and Dallas) and now McNair wants this man to turn the defense around?
I guess if you have the worse defense in the league, there is nowhere to go but up. Somehow I wouldn’t be surprised if Son of Bum can find a way to dig a deeper hole.

Go Pink
I was recently introduced via CD to a dynamic motivational speaker by the name of Dan Pink. Some of you may have heard of him. I just did in the last few weeks. I have listened to a couple of his talks about how to motivate people and improve production. He basically points out that the carrot-and-stick approach to management is a failure and he champions the use of Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. This is also the same concept as the Results-Oriented Work Environment.
Using the AMP method, employees are given a certain amount of time (all, in some cases) to be free to create and experiment on things that interest them on the job. The results have been innovation, increased production, increased job satisfaction, healthier and happier workers, and increased profits and company growth.
The popular motivational model of increasing income for better performance has a narrow focus that keeps the employee on track to earn more money – or to leave in pursuit of it. Those given the freedom to try new things often look at problems from different perspectives. It allows them to learn and grow and gives them ownership of a project and the feeling of importance to the company. Both sides benefit from that model.
As an example, Pink gave a story about two groups trying to create an online encyclopedia. The first hired staff and followed traditional means of producing its product. The other paid nothing and got volunteers to create and produce the product. The result is Wikipedia, one of the most popular websites on the Internet.
I have to admit that the more AMP I’ve had, the better my work has been. I have not fared well under the management microscope.
Anyway, that should give you something to think about while you’re sitting at home twiddling your thumbs because you can’t afford the gas to get out and go anywhere.