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It's a FACT: Do-nothing council has provoked formation of group

A citizens group, FACT, has been formed to voice concern over the City Council's lack of forward progress. It's a FACT: Do-nothing council has provoked formation of group

Date published: 8/13/2003

"NO PROBLEM is too big or too complicated to be run away from"--that's how the Peanuts character, Linus, described his philosophy of life.

That's also how the Fredericksburg City Council has approached the public's business for the past year. The lack of leadership at City Hall has become an embarrassment even for Mayor Bill Beck's supporters.

The council's partisans have been quick to point out everything that previous councils (in their opinion) did wrong. But this misses the point. Previous city councils faced real problems, like budget shortfalls and crumbling infrastructure, and they took action. The current council inherited a budget surplus and builds nothing. Instead, they spend the taxpayer's money on legal squabbles.

Leadership means making the difficult decisions. Nothing demonstrates the lack of leadership in City Hall better than the saga of the Thurman Brisben Center. After a year of slow torture at the hands of the mayor and his allies on council, the shelter coalition has finally accepted a site in the industrial park on the far side of the Blue & Gray Parkway.

No one who has followed this issue is fooled by the public expressions of gratitude by shelter supporters. The shelter's board has long argued that the industrial park is inaccessible and unsafe. However, Beck has been pushing this particular location since he and Vice Mayor Scott Howson pulled the plug on the Darbytown site a year ago. Note: An industrial park has no voters near it. Only Councilmen Matt Kelly, Joe Wilson and Hashmel Turner deserve any credit for working in good faith on this issue.

Leadership means putting aside personal agendas. Fredericksburg was shocked last month to discover that the mayor's long-running feud with the Silver Cos. had cost the taxpayers $3.4 million. The mayor and his council majority signed a deal last February to buy approximately 50 acres of prime riverfront land from the Silver Cos. without knowing the price in advance. The Silver Cos. had offered use of this land as a gift to the city, in exchange for assurances that Beck and his allies wouldn't try to interfere with the zoning on Celebrate Virginia (which they had publicly sworn to do). The mayor's reluctance to put commitments in writing and come to some accommodation with the city's largest taxpayer and employer has now cost us the price of a downtown parking garage.

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Date published: 8/13/2003