Same Old, Same Old......

From the Feds to the Locals

Let’s be honest, politicians DON’T want to hear from the people. When you send an email to your congressman or senator, you get a form email thanking you for writing. That same email comes whether you have sent them a curse filled letter or a fluffy ego building thank you. If you think the president cares, I just might have a bridge to sell you. All over the nation, we have seen school boards cut mikes, city meetings cut mikes, and cities that don’t want to hear from their citizens at all. WHY?

You are not one of them. I am not one of them. This is a social club akin to the royalty of old. If you think it is only the Bush, Clinton, Cheney, Obama, Kennedy’s of the world, you have been living under a rock. This same thing goes on all over at every level of government.

In some larger cities, the elites in one political party or another control the government and the system. In smaller cities it might be a family, a group of friends, or an industry. From federal to local, this is going on, on our watch. We the people let this happen.

Here in White House, it’s no different. The people who have lived here their entire lives know who is and who has been running the city. The same names, the same families, same old, same old……

What do all of these things have in common with my first paragraph. Stay with me friends. They, (those in political or financial power) do not care what you think. I can say that in a general sense, but I can also say that in a very specific with concrete evidence sense.

In September of 2020, one alderman added a line item to the city meeting agendas. That line item added public comment to the city meetings once a quarter.

This change would allow citizens to speak on ANY item or ANY thing once a quarter. Fifteen people on the same block could come in and tell the BOMA that their street needed to be repaved. Five people could come in and thank the BOMA for the splashpad. The citizens could come in once a quarter and tell the BOMA what they think about the job they are doing. This was voted down.

Hutson, Decker, Bibb, and former mayor Arnold voted NO to adding line 17 to the ordinance. Once item 17 was stricken, they all voted for it. Read that again. They do NOT want to hear from you. Why? Well that is an excellent question. You could ask these guys, but you can’t do it in public because they said you can’t. You could email them. All of their emails are private emails. You could email your alderman everyday for months, and there is no record of that at the city level. At that point he can vote however he wants, and we the people would have no idea that he got 100’s of emails saying no. In 2018, 200 citizens spoke up and said no to The Parks. The Tennessean even covered that one. We all know how that ended. Do you know why? Well, by the time the citizens were allowed to speak at the “public hearing,” The Parks had already been approved at meetings. The “public hearing” is simply a legal dog and pony show of including the citizens.

You can show up and speak at meetings. I have done so, and my friends have done so.

As you can see from last year, four of us spoke up at the July meeting. We had the room packed, but it didn’t matter. This was at least the 4th meeting held about Jackson Farms. If you look at the minutes, there is nothing in there about what was said. It only states that we spoke against the ordinance. If the meetings were recorded, we would know what each of those individuals had to say. We don’t. That’s one reason I started going to these meetings and taking notes.

Can these meetings be recorded? YES!!! In fact, it was done during Covid. It could still continue. The Chamber of Commerce managed to live stream and record the candidate forum for the open alderman position. They did that in the old auditorium. The new building is set up even better, there is no reason that each meeting isn’t streamed or recorded. We the people should not have to wait a month to know what the votes were in any given meeting. I found a website to upload my cross country videos to for free. It took me all of a few minutes. I’m not all that tech savvy. I’m sure the city has better and brighter tech people, they could set that up pretty easily. But….that goes back to transparency and the fact that they do NOT want to hear from you.

In the next two months, Clif Hutson will be running for mayor as will John Corbitt. Ask both of these men their opinions on who they work for and how often they want to hear from their bosses. Read these again, and then tell me who is being honest, and who just wants your vote in order to continue the same old same old…..

If you like what I’m up to, send me a cup of coffee….. Venmo- @Nicole-Taylor-262