Funny how much bad news has come out of City Hall since the election. Announcements of impending water-rate hikes, police sex scandals and now parking garages getting ready to collapse have all come since the incumbents were safely returned to office.
The silence before the election has continued, it seems. In The Herald-Sun‘s story today about City Manager Patrick Baker’s defense of his silence on the parking garage issue not one single elected official is quoted, even though it’s going to cost most of a million bucks to make repairs.
Today’s story was a report of a City Council work session but the mayor and council members must have had duct tape on their mouths. Did the reporter ask any questions of our elected leaders at all? It would be nice to know their reaction since they have the authority to discipline, hire and fire the city manager who, we are asked to believe, chose not to tell them about this potential catastrophe.
Baker, The Herald-Sun says. “didn’t think it was essential to go public” on this when he learned about the problem in the summer. Hmmm. One has to wonder if that was a unilateral decision, or did some individuals facing strong electoral opponents decide that silence was the best course?
