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"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.
Leadership means planning for the future. The need to do something about crumbling James Monroe High School is an issue that goes to the heart of any community's priorities: the education of our young people. But when the mayor published a list of his priorities for the city, he proposed only to create a committee to study the problem. In 2004 we will "begin the planning process." By 2006 we will have made a decision whether to renovate James Monroe High School or build a new high school. At the March work session, the council tentatively decided to keep pouring money into an old building whose future use and serviceability is uncertain.
Leadership means taking responsibility for your positions and decisions. Beck and his council majority have demonstrated an aversion to conducting their business in public. This secretive council has held an unprecedented 24 closed sessions since they took office last July. As Councilman Hashmel Turner said in frustration last fall, "Gentlemen, the program is supposed to be out here, in public."
If the public's business had been conducted more publicly, disastrous decisions like the Embrey Dam easement might have been avoided. Experienced city employees might not be leaving on an almost monthly basis. We might actually have a fruitful debate on the future of our schools.
Instead, the mayor's majority discusses measures to limit public comment at their open sessions. Their reaction to the Concordia project has bordered on the paranoid.
In the interest of public debate, we have formed FACT--Fredericksburg Area Citizens for Truth. It is open to all residents concerned about the lack of leadership in City Hall. It is time for us to put an end to the "Linus syndrome" and address some of the problems facing this city.
CLYDE MATTHEWS and DOUGLAS CARTER are co-spokespersons for FACT. To learn more about the organization, visit fredfact.com.