What_the_what?

Just another endorsement: Please attend the Council meeting on Tuesday October 5th (see Poyea's entry). We want a HUGE presence - this is making a positive impact on council members in attendance. BRING OTHERS YOU KNOW WHO CARE ABOUT THIS ISSUE! Important*** If you want to speak you MUST call BEFORE 11:00 am on October 5th to reserve a right to speak. If anyone from the City Government contacts you after you have scheduled, ASK FOR THEIR NAME. Council members and their staff have called people who are going to speak to "inquire" about their views in the name of "grouping" opinions before the meeting (more BS). If they ask what your position is simply say that you are undecided and that you prefer to give your feedback AT the meeting. If you hate public speaking you can still make an impact keeping it short with a simple "I don't support this" statement. I've heard a lot of encouraging information and if we remain organized and driven we will get whatever percentage of votes/signatures/retractions/whatever that this BS Council tries to impose.

That's the kicker! But we CAN vote against anyone she endorses. This has become quite a drama of dirty politics - who needs the movies when we have this engaging battle? We WILL get the 25% votes and we WILL fight the each step of the way. I made a plea to the Houston Press to come to the GRB since they write opinion pieces but I don't know if they were in the audience or not. I spoke to Rich Connolly. I think if they dug through these posts they would have a great report. I'm picturing the nasty illustration on the front cover right now...

Just arrived home from the meeting. Lovell was presumptuous and condescending as usual. It made a block walker out of me. How do we organize? Through the Responsible Historic Preservation group? I was part of the "winning" vote to get a chance to...vote. Happy to be part of the intelligent dissension. It is a strange feeling to feel marginalized as a person who doesn't care about the neighborhood or who doesn't appreciate preservation. I do! Must I give away ALL my property rights to be counted among those who "care"? This was my third meeting and I was relieved to see that we've at least let Council know that they can't blast this through without some opposition. Lovell's personal anecdotes in lieu of real data were sad and maddening. I can't base a vote about my property on the fact that she had a friend who bought a house for "X" and sold it for "Y" in the 6th Ward. Data anyone? Statistics? Facts? Argh.