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I have been delinquent lately but will be returning shortly.

Playing Hockey With No Air

Last weekend while playing hockey, I felt worse than I ever have while playing hockey. I felt extremely tired, out of breath, and slightly nauseous. Many other players felt the same way. One player on our team had to leave the game because he felt so bad.

Well, it turns out the Zamboni was malfunctioning and releasing excessive amounts of carbon monoxide. Someone emailed the manager and asked if anything was wrong. Here was her reply:

Thanks for the information. I wasn't called last night or I could have gotten the doors open a lot sooner for you guys. We had a clogged filter line on the Zamboni which caused all the problems. I apologize for any inconvenience and have taken care of the problem and the training of the employees for the future.
Thanks again,
Marie

Let's hope the problem is fixed. I don't want to die from playing hockey.

The Big Screw You at Big Spring Park

Why can't we stop this Summit project? I don't think I have heard of one person other than Loretta Spencer and her business cronies that supports this project. I love some of Triad Properties descriptions of the project. "Providing unique and spectacular views of Big Spring Park, the building has been designed by Fuqua Osborn Architects to create a visually rich impression of understatement, quality and stature." Unique and spectacular views for the people in the building NOT for the people in the park.

Look at your own picture of the building, Fuqua and Osborn. Do you really believe that this building creates a "rich" impression and is understated? It is a giant monstrosity. Just because you try to sell the project by describing it as the exact opposite of what it really is does not make it so. Fuqua and Osborn, you are hacks, architectural hacks. What really disappoints me is that your firm is actually based here in Huntsville. You have sold out your city and sold out the park.

I love this one too, "Visual Enhancement - Elegant design provides visual appeal to park visitors by replacing a portion of the concrete parking structure." Now while I agree the parking garage is and has long been an eye sore, replacing it with piece of garbage isn't going to make it any better. I don't go to the park to look at the "elegant" buildings; I go to enjoy the park.

Marian Accardi writes about how the building is starting to fill up with businesses. She quotes Loretta as saying "the park is going to grow. We continue to stress that." Clearly Loretta only considers the park to be a business opportunity, not as something which should be preserved and cherished.

We really need to stop this if it is at all possible. I think that maybe this warrants protests at the construction site. At the very least, email Loretta and the city council members to tell them to do whatever they have to do to stop this project.

Loretta: lspencer@ci.huntsville.al.us

Councilman Showers: richard.showers@hsvcity.com

Councilman Russell: Mark.Russell@hsvcity.com

Councilman Moon: Sandra.Moon@hsvcity.com

Councilman Kling: Bill.Kling@hsvcity.com

Councilman Watson: GLENN.WATSON@hsvcity.com

Living in a Fat State

Something for us to be proud of: Alabama is now the fatest state in the union. At least we are first in something. Who needs an education anyway? I'll have fries and a shake with that burger, please.

A new study shows that 28.4% of adults are obese in Alabama, which is a higher percentage than any other state. I often refer to myself as a disgusting fat body, but now I know that, at least, I am amoungst friends.

Seriously though, this is a problem and is typical for a state like Alabama, which is relatively poor and backward. For more on the fast food culture which makes us fat, please read Fast Food Nation and watch Supersize Me.

Let the Sprawl Sprawl

Even John Peck sounds worn out from the continuing sprawl happening here in Huntsville:

It's become an all-too familiar scene in city planning meetings: Plans are reviewed for yet another sprawling subdivision for west Huntsville. And talk resurfaces about traffic, school overcrowding and other growth concerns. Wednesday was no different as a city planning subcommittee reviewed plans for a 1,027-home development south of Martin Road and west of Zierdt Road near Williams School.

The proposed "Lake Forest'' subdivision would be a mixture of patio homes, own houses and single-family dwellings. Developer Louis Breland said prices will probably range from the upper $300,000s to around $700,000 for larger homes; $240,000 to $325,000 for the smaller ones. Construction startup hinges on approval by the full planning commission, possibly within a month or two.

Breland said Lake Forest will be "an upscale, private, gated community,''complete with walking trails, a 31-acre lake, basketball and tennis courts, soccer fields and an 8,000-square-foot clubhouse. "It will be a mixture that should attract retirees, executives and families,'' he said.

Just what we need: another development. An "upscale, private, gated community" no less. Heaven forbid that any poor people might dare to drive through your neighborhood. That's a really dangerous area out there, you know.

What a joke. This is just typical. Another giant development, designed for a priveledged group of people, which not only tries to segregate itself from other people, but puts up gates to keep them out. They want to make sure no inner city kid can ever come use their precious soccer fields.

I think that these communities are inherently designed to propogate the divisions which we see in society today. They promote a culture in which the rich should be seperated from the poor; and I will also suggest that this kind of seperation often translates into racial segregation. But don't misunderstand me; I am not being a socialist. I am not saying we should redistribute wealth or anything. Nothing of the kind. But it seems like if we segregate ourselves along these lines, then we will create small homogenous pockets of culture where everyone in our neighborhood is basically just like us.

And it is that lack of diversity which disturbs me. I think the lack of understanding of people other than ourselves promotes apathy towards the less fortunate or even anyone different than us. How often is it that the guy that hates blacks or gays is the exact same guy that has no black friends or has never even met a gay person? Diversity is a strength; and the current way we develop our communites typically does the exact opposite of promoting diversity. Ultimately these development methods will make our society weaker and even more divided.

If Loretta had any guts, she would appoint me to this board so that I could fight tooth and nail against proposals like this.

GO SOX!!!

So what if it has nothing to do with local politics. Go Sox! There is nothing sweeter than watching the New York Yankees loose, and there is really nothing sweeter than watching them loose after they had a 3-0 game lead in the series against Boston. I hope Derek Jeter is crying right now. Cry, Jeter, cry! This is the year the Bo Sox win it all.

Patriot Act in Huntsville

It is about time people started discussing the Patriot Act here in Huntsville. To me it is obvious that the Patriot Act infringes on our basic constitutional rights and in a way which is not necessary to protect our security. The Patriot Act doesn't necessarily have to be overturned, but it needs to be revisited. This concept is, of course, far to complicated for many politicians to comprehend. It is easier for them to say "you are either for us or against us" and that daring to even question the Patriot Act is tantamount to being unpatriotic. After all, it is called the "Patriot Act"; that must mean that it is patriotic.

This view is, of course, imbecilic. When I ran for mayor, I strongly considered bringing up the idea that Huntsville should pass a resolution which opposes the portions of the Patriot Act which infringe on our constitutional rights. For many this might at first sound absurd. But over 300 communities and over 40 states have passed such resolutions. Here is a list of the communities.

But I must admit that I was too afraid top bring it up. I knew that it wouldn't go over well, and that it would not seem germane to the local mayoral race. But in retrospect I wish that I had. It would have been perfect to bring up at the mayoral forum at the public library, because the American Library Association is one of the biggest protagonists against the Patriot Act. I swear, if something pisses off a bunch of librarians this much then it must be wrong.

More on Spencer's Sly Appointment

John Ehinger has an editorial today about Mayor Spencer's quick and fast appointment of an acting poilice chief. In large measure I agree with him. Of course, Spencer doesn't have to notify the city council about the appointment, but the fact that she didn't is indicative of how she does not work well with the council. Ehinger points this out, but I would emphasize this point more strongly.

A leader does not lead by just doing whatever he/she wants. A leader leads by persuading others to follow them, or even by listening to others and working to form a concensus about the direction which needs to be taken. The thing is that this was one of the primary complaints about Spencer during the election season, that she seldom worked or listened to other people, and it appears that not much will be different this time around.

I basically disagree with Ehinger that the council should have acted differently. There are not always two sides to a coin. Spencer acted with disregard toward the council, and some of the council members rightly pointed out that she had done so. If people do not speak out when our elected officials do something wrong, then those elected officials can get away with whatever they want. I think that Spencer should have at least thrown out Reynolds name before appointing him to see if there were any strong disaggreements within the council or the general public. I don't know anything about Reynolds, good or bad, but that is the point. The people should know who he is before the mayor appoints him as acting chief. That is the least we should expect from our mayor.

Further Destruction of Jones Valley?

Let's face it. Jones Valley is pretty much already ruined. It has become a true suburban nightmare of turning a beautiful pastoral area into a commercial hell. Now it may be getting worse. John Peck reports that "Throngs of south Huntsville residents jammed City Hall on Thursday night over a controversial rezoning one critic warned would turn scenic Jones Valley into "Condo Valley."" The controversy here is that the rezoning paves the way for a Georgia company to develop another large condo complex geared toward south Huntsville's "aging population."

When I was a kid I had a paper route that went along this portion of Four Mile Post and it is so sad to see it developed to death. To me this is a good example of the local government caving to the interests of the developers rather than protecting the interests of the particular neighborhood. Interestingly though, it sounds like the neighborhood is only upset that the development is too concentrated; that it is condos instead of houses. In my opinion, more concentrated housing within the city is what we need to strive toward rather than just building new spread out developments on the edge of town. But I have almost no faith that these developers will create a complex which is asthetically pleasing or geared much toward the needs of the residents. I suspect that their only incentive is too make more money by shoving more people into the same space. Every building will most likely look identical to all the other buildings; modern development is so impersonal.

Not to mention the fact that this raises the question of what are we doing with our elderly? Why are we segregating them from the rest of society? Why does there need to be a condo complex specifically geared toward the aging population? Probably because the developers can charge more for it; a higher profit margin.

But maybe I am wrong. Here are a couple thoughts from The Pattern Language:

40 Old People Everywhere

155 Old Age Cottage

Five Points Improvement Project

The city council approved a measure to go ahead with the Five Points Improvement Project. The Times article only says that the "plans call for landscaped sidewalks and benches, lantern-style streetlights, a more narrow, pedestrian-friendly Pratt Avenue embedded with replica trolley rails, and other improvements." Also, parts of the original Auburn study have been scraped, such as the controversial closing off of Holmes Ave. at Andrew Jackson. That is a good thing, but I hope that the rest of the changes are well thought out. I am currently trying to get an electronic copy of the plan to post here. Although, now that the resolution is passed it may be too late to do much about it even if there are some stupid changes planned. Nevertheless, we Five Points residents have to keep our city government honest. So if there are things we don't like, we need to raise hell about it and raise it quick.

Loretta Chooses a New Acting Police Chief

Loretta names Reynolds as acting police chief. My only question here is why did Ms. Spencer not even tell the city council about the appointment before she made it. Is this what she considers working well with the council? There appears to be a severe disconnect between the mayor's office and the city council. Nevertheless, she has only made Reynolds acting chief. An appointment is supposed to be made within 60 days after the job opening is made official. So the next 60 days will serve as a vetting period for Reynolds. Hopefully the council and the Times will take that opportunity to delve into Reynolds' background to make sure that he is indeed the right man for the job. This is one of the most important positions that the mayor appoints, so we need to diligent in considering who are next police chief will be.

Living in a Redneck State

Surprise, surprise, surprise. Guess what? Roy Moore is against a cnstitutional admendment to be voted on Nov. 2 that will remove "long-unenforceable language from the state constitution," with the intent to erase "the last vestiges of Jim Crow provisions from Alabama's law." When will Alabama be rid of these clowns which just reinforce the image of Alabama as a racist redneck state? Why does anyone even bother to listen to people like Moore? But what does Alabama do? We elect him to the Supreme Court, and we will probably elect him to be our governor in two years. I'm sickened by the prospect.

Back in Business

I took a vacation of sorts after the election, but now I am back. There are tons of blogs out there. Most of them are typically just about the blogger's life. The famous blogs tend to deal with national politics. Although I would love to do a blog about national politics, the fact is that there are people out there who can do it better than me. We don't need yet another political blog...unless?

What we DO need is a blog which covers local politics, so that people can see what our local government is doing without it being filtered by the often inept local paper and local television stations.

I have to find out about it, but I have heard that the city planning department has finished the much talked about but seldom seen Five Points plan. Now it is up to us to make sure that they haven't completely messed it up. I hope to visit the city planning office by the end of the week to look at the plan. Why isn't stuff like this immediately available on the internet? More coming soon...