The first part of your column makes no sense. I couldn’t quite piece your point together through the barrage of too-too-clever-clever “Family Feud” allusions.
Are you trying to claim that Amarillo citizens are complaining about the new skate park and renovation of McDonald Lake? And are you insinuating that people have no right to complain because the city surveyed 560 Amarillo households to ask them what they wanted from the Parks and Recreation Department? Do you then insult half the city by dismissing scornfully the assertion that the southwest side gets more attention from city government than the east side? Did you also scold the citizenry of Amarillo for not attending public City Commission meetings?
Because that’s what I got out of it.
Okay, first off, I get kind of tired of being regularly scolded by the Globe-News editors for not attending City Commission meetings. My excuse for not attending— I’m at work at 3:00 pm on Tuesdays— is, I suspect, shared by many.
As for that survey, is it good enough to just take a survey, which you then ignore? You state that the last survey showed that Amarilloans wanted
hike-and-bike trails, improvements to the city zoo and more baseball/softball fields.Um, are any of those things lakes or skate parks? Granted, the city is building a hike-and-bike trail down Plains. Oh, wait, they’re building it with a Rails-to-Trails grant— not with city money. It’s hard to find Henry’s evidence that the city is listening.
Finally, Dave, I grew up on the east side and now live elsewhere largely because the city supports the west side first. You laugh this claim— accepted as gospel by large numbers of Amarilloans— off without really providing any evidence that it is not true. Since you throw out a bunch of dubious and confusing assertions without backing them up, I can only assume that you are covering the City Commission’s backs.
A newspaper should speak truth to power, Dave. You apologize for power.
SPACEDARK
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