This is definitely not meant to be a jinx

I got a really funny feeling that something weird is about to go down.
But most would say I'm usually wrong about everything.
I started getting this creepy feeling when I heard that the city was going to entertain some EPA people and others from communities around the country that are interested in brownfields.
Then there was that strange story in the Monroe Snooze about how a busload was coming in to tour the town from a brownfield convention. The thing also mentioned that Jim Tischler, once city planner and still city resident, was on one of the panels at the convention. It looks like Tischler's been the planner at Adrian.
Now it sounds like the city is going to hire a planner or development director or whatever they might want to call it.
They're going to interview applicants.
I wonder if Tischler is among them.
What with gas prices going up, you'd think he'd apply just to shorten the commute.
If he did apply, he'd have one heck of a reference. George Brown, the city manager, was city manager of Adrian before he came here.
Nah, that's not going to happen. It's way to much of a plan and the city doesn't have a planner.

More lessons from Paisley

There were a lot of Emmy-deserving performances at the Monroe City Council meeting on Monday. I could probably (and will probably) blog forever about that meeting.
But in the category of most-humble-tunnel-visioned supporting actor, the clear winner was councilman Ed (ethics man) Paisley.
Loyal followers of city doings might remember when we last left Ed in a really embarassing moment, it was when he had a supposed ethics problem involving a facade grant and a city building. Sorry. The last embarrassing moment was when he tried to ditch Andy Pinchoff from the pension board. Well there have been a lot of embarrassing moments. But the Monday meeting hit a new high, or low. Ed was lobbying hard to make sure the downtown business network didn't have to pay for the city subsidy of it's downtown arts festival. I mean the guy went on and on about it like he was some card-carrying member of the biz network who had some vested interest in the organization.
Oh wait. He is and he does.
But, oh well, Ed is no stranger to conflicts of interest. And afterall, Brian Beneteau is a member of the business network and he chimed in about how the city should waive its fees for the group, didn't he?
Oh wait. No he didn't.
Neither Ed or Brian saw fit to abstain from voting on the matter, but they probably really didn't need to. At least Ed didn't actually make the motion to table the matter.
Oh wait. Yes he did.
It really is one of those gray areas anyway. It also wasn't that controversial. If it was, the city manager might have gotten into a mini debate with someone over how much the city does for downtown businesses already.
Oh wait. He did put a stick in Paisley's eye on that one.
This is enough to sicken some sensibilities, but I'll get over it. The city's many attorneys apparently didn't have a problem with it, so I'm good.
What really sickened me was Paisley patting himself on the back for picking up litter at St. Mary's Park after festivals or moving DPS barricades after downtown events, or helping old ladies cross the street or giving mouth to mouth to injured puppies.
I mean, really, is he that out of touch or is he truly the only Boy Scout in town?
Someone should tell him how cheesy that sounded, though. I'm not gonna.

Mixed messages

I guess this is what happens when you have different department heads with different priorities.
Someone help me figure this out.
We have citizens complaining at council meetings that they're replacing red lights at intersections with stop signs. This is meant to save money.
It looks like the lights on the Martin Luther King bridge are out again. Is this meant to save money?
If we're saving money, what's with the major landscaping job that's been done at St. Mary's Park? Then, since we're such tightwads, why are we running the lorange square fountain?
I guess running the fountain and bulldozing dirt are more important than keeping the lights on.
Maybe we should shut off every other streetlight. Then there won't be too many left to turn off when the last person leaves town.