Ludington City Hall, Sanitized for Your Children's Protection

[XLFD]

Two years ago there was Safetygate, a troubling over-response by multiple public agencies of a non-threatening posting made on this website.  To summarize if you haven't read the provided link, a member of the LT named "John Streeter" made a post of a hypothetical meeting of the city council where some of the officials behaviors were odd at a meeting where they had the Foster third graders attend.  The post was first noted by the leader of the Hart Michigan State Police post, passed on to a FBI Task Force, then dissembled through other local Ludington public agencies. 

Unclear what to make of the post, and fearful that it had some of the officials acting violently or perverted, the Ludington school leaders and city hall decided on a remedy:  cancel the meeting and reschedule it that night, then schedule a safe meeting where the Ludington City Manager would go over an edited video of the rescheduled meeting.  A Third Grade spy of mine, noticed that my five minute comment did not make the cut, a reasoned argument about why the mayor was holding two incompatible public offices and how the City Manager entered into an illegal contract with LIAA. 

Since that time in 2014, the city and Ludington School District (LSD), have decided that the third graders should be sheltered from the realities of going to a real city council meeting.  A lawsuit that I filed regarding the improper non-posting of the 'third grader' meeting held in 2013, could also have led to the decision, even though the city wound up successfully defending themselves with a 'substantial compliance' defense coupled with suppressing incriminating video evidence.  The city would hate to be bothered by trying to do the minimal steps in following the Open Meetings Act.

My daughter alerted me to this year's event taking place on Thursday, May 26.  Her interest in civic affairs is commendable; she has attended plenty of meetings by her own free will, where she wasn't forced to by teachers.  She had already decided to take the day off from regular school to help with the Fourth and Fifth Grade Relay for Life event taking place out at Oriole Field.  She wanted to attend the first session at city hall with me, because it happened just before that.

We arrived at city hall about 5-10 minutes late, and caught Councilor Kathy Winczewski's presentation to the third graders.  Other officials in the council chamber attending were Mayor Ryan Cox and City Manager John Shay, along with several teachers and aides.  We took a seat and observed, wishing to learn how a city operated. 

Councilor Winczewski exhibited a polished approach to making her points and showed several characteristics of a good third grade teacher.  Her pedantic approach illustrated why she frequently comes across as patronizing to those adults attending meetings who hold issue with her Progressive/Liberal orthodoxy. 

The approach worked well with her showing how her job works by taking it to the kids level in considering whether ten minutes should be added on for lunch recess or not.  She and the kids mulled over the pros and cons of what would happen.  The kids got into small committees with their 'elbow buddies' to talk it over, and then two of these committees presented their reasons and it was eventually voted down. 

You may find it odd that third graders would turn down an extra ten minutes of recess, but the councilor artfully introduced and played up some of the negatives of such a proposal.  Third graders would undoubtedly wonder why their parents would vote themselves a raise in taxes, but our government has its own subtle ways in playing up to a supposedly more sophisticated audience.

City Manager Shay then took over the floor and explained most of what the city government does for the community.  To his credit, he balanced his delivery with enough questions and student input to keep the young audience interested, and covered the basics.  An interesting portion of it was him telling of how the city gets you fresh water and rehabilitates your used water.  He did keep the discussion on point around that time, just in case one of the kids asked a question about why the air in Ludington smells like a sewer. 

Most telling was his discussion on who was the boss in Ludington.  He appropriately told them that he had eight people as his superiors, and told them about the LPD and LFD and their chiefs, but then asked whether anybody knew who the chiefs' boss was.   A few answers missed until somebody guessed that he was, which he immodestly admitted to being the case. 

Unfortunately, there was no young XLFD or even a young John Streeter who inquired that if that's the case then how can Mayor Ryan Cox be CM John Shay's boss while Shay is the boss of LPD Chief Mark Barnett who happens to be Mayor/Reserve LPD Officer Sergeant Ryan Cox's boss? 

After Shay took a few extra questions the time was up; it was somewhat surprising that Mayor Cox who was present hadn't really made any presentation (unless it was just an introduction at the beginning that we missed), and after we left, I asked the daughter, who had also attended a real city council meeting four years ago as a third-grader, whether she thought this was better than an actual meeting. 

She admitted to liking this format enough to be entertained, but preferred her introduction at a real meeting a little better.  It made me feel a little better that she did, for I felt the same way.

It may be educational and refreshing to hear our local officials tell how our local government is set up and how it should be operating.  But it is more educational and refreshing to hear the actual conflicts and other points of view that citizens bring to the table at an actual meeting over issues of public policy and how the officials handle it. 

These hygienic introductions to city hall offer only support for the propaganda that Councilor Winczewski and City manager Shay put forth, that your local government is always benevolent, caring, efficient, and iconic of democracy and republican ideals.  This actually is far from the case in Ludington which is why they shield these young impressionable minds from reality. 

Kids will look at this visit to the city council just like they would regard a book without any captivating storyline, memorable conflict, or meaningful conclusion.  They will read it once for credit, but not pick it up again.

[John Doe Jr]

LoL Priceless. Yes, kids should question why adults pack them into a room to lie to them. Bizarre. Look at the things that have happened with those adults since the John sarcasm post. I think John was correct in warning kids from them,lol. Funny how they attack honest people to cover their misdeeds.