"The challenges that this community is facing in trying to get the community to support things have increased many fold.
I (will) probably not make any friends right here, but I'll tell you that our friends in the media don't support the community like they used to. I think I am qualified to say that, not only as a person that's worked as a journalist and as an editor, but also as a person that's worked in public life.
It's not like it used to be, there's not the depth, there's not the scope, there's not the understanding on the part of the media, on the topics that they're covering. On top of that, we have this internet thing that's going on now, with this blogging stuff, where people used to, if you wanted to say something, you had to put your name to it, now, there's this anonymous character assassination that is encouraged in order to sell newspapers or other media outlets. It makes it very difficult to get your message out.
People in this room can tell you questions that a person from the media will ask you about some person in this town that everybody here has known of for years and the person who's charged with covering that has never heard of them.
How do you get a message out to the public, to the people that you're elected to represent if you no longer have a medium to do it with? It's a big challenge, and how do you get, with the amount of time and effort that it takes these days to deal with these issues, to get qualified people to step up to serve? You know, the only thing I'm banking on, and I'm betting on Springfield because this town has always been a town that when you presented a challenge, rose to it...." - Mayor Carlson, from his state of the city report, June 5, 2008.
Listen to the entire podcast here or here.
5 comments:
"It's not like it used to be, there's not the depth, there's not the scope, there's not the understanding on the part of the media, on the topics that they're covering. On top of that, we have this internet thing that's going on now, with this blogging stuff.."
Dang. Used to be you could fool some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time. Now we got these dang bloggers asking questions about the square, the parks, the city, the budget. Dam uppity citizens!
The thurd largest city in the state run by volunteers! Staff recommends approval!
"The challenges that this community is facing in trying to get the community to support things have increased many fold".
We don't have the monopoly that we used to have, damn people are starting to ask questions and they are putting a strain on staff by questioning our authority to spend their money in any manner we see fit. I really wish that people would listen to Ralph Manley on our professionalism and just get off our backs.
Yes we made a mistake in the police/fire pension plan, however the voters weren't supposed to understand how that shortfall came about. Were is your patriotism ??
When council ask for more money you are advised to just accept it after all WE are well aware of what the city needs. YOU are just a person that lives, works, and plays here don't concern yourself with matters you don't understand.
Most of us sitting on council have college degrees which means we have superior intellect on matters which pertain to the city of Springfield.
staff recommends approval INDEED...
Who is this whining person who is impersonating the Mayor? It's certainly not the confident, no nonsense leader at the City Council meetings. "arainbo" has the following information to pass on to you. One thing for this impersonator to consider is the influx of citizens that were not raised in Springfield. They are not part of the "good ole boy" network and feel quite free to question the actions and motives of City staff as well as the City Council. In addition, the Springfield citizens raised here are now more informed and empowered, particularly since they saw what their voices did to the comprehensive immigration plan. The environment has indeed changed Mr. Faux Mayor.
I don't find podcasts on either of those links.
You should be able to find the podcast in the archives at CityConnect. CFP may have removed it or failed to include it in the online supplements as it was originally posted on the home page of the Web site and not in supplementals.
I would suggest you look at the archives at CityConnect for the month of June.
Thanks for your interest. :)
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