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| As seen on TV but not in the newspaper. |
PLATTSBURGH
CITY, NY -- 10/17/19
Something's
wrong when I end up getting news from Facebook, not the newspaper.
Dr.
Sylvie Beaudreau is an Associate Professor, Northern American
History, at Plattsburgh State University. Also she is a member of
the Plattsburgh Citizens Coalition that is challenging some decisions
made by city government regarding the use of DRI (Downtown
Revitalization Initiative) grant money.
On the
Facebook page Save Durkee Street Parking Lot (post dated 10/3/19) she
shared what she had observed earlier in the evening at the
Plattsburgh City Council meeting.
One
topic was a budget problem that could mean the closure of the public
recreation gym at the old Air Force base property. At the end of the
meeting Mayor Colin Read invited citizens to share comments by
stepping up to the podium.
In her
FB post Sylvie mentioned that Jeanne Clark, former owner of Zuke’s
Subs, walked up and stood across from the mayor, not at the podium.
As usual the meeting was video recorded and the incident can be
viewed here.
After
others made suggestions on how to save the base gym Jeanne challenged
the mayor on what ideas they had. Why should only citizens have to
come up with solutions? In a loud voice she observed: "You're
the mayor... You should have a gazillion solutions on how to save
the gym."
City
Councilor Rachelle Armstrong told Jeanne she was out of order, that
Jeanne could only address the mayor at the podium. (Cynical
observation: "Damn rabble! Stay behind the barricade!")
From the
podium Jeanna asked her question again. The mayor calmly replied
that at the moment it was a city council driven process. So Jeanne
asked: "So you don't have any solutions at this point?"
The mayor calmly repeated his statement about a council driven
process. That left it open to interpretation that the city didn't
have squat for ideas.
I think
such a confrontation is notable because it shows some citizens have
anger towards the mayor, the frustration they feel with his
leadership style. But the next day Press-Republican article about the meeting listed a number of
comments by citizens but omitted the one by the angry citizen.
Some
could argue that it wasn't newsworthy.
While
watching the video I noticed a reporter from WCAX-TV from Burlington,
Vt. (WPTZ-TV, once based in New York State, wasn't there. The news
team probably rushed to Enosburg Falls, Vt. to cover someone's front
lawn crabgrass problem.) So I checked online and found the WCAX News story that included a clip of the confrontation.
At least they thought it was worth mentioning.
The
purpose of a newspaper is to publish news.
2 comments:
Transparency and candidness are forbidden in polite "P.C." American society.
Charades and caricature are always the "appropriate measures" of public (and political) behavior.
It is obvious that the Save Durkee folks will pick out something that supports their agenda which looks like a personal vendetta against the mayor. Kudos to the mayor for keeping his calm to a silly comment by the woman.
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