The dirty words used to be making Biscayne Park "A Better Place to Be." Tonight, we heard about the "Love Fest" held for our Manager. The term was mentioned by four people, three of them sarcastically and derogatorily, and the fourth referring to the phrase uttered by the other three. A "Love Fest" is where people present themselves at the special session to consider the Manager's performance and her contract, and they like her. A lot. Non-Commissioner residents like her a lot. Three of five Commissioners like her a lot. Her coworkers and subordinates like her a lot. Even the people who were critical of her in any way talked about how likeable and effective she is, but the fact that that is what was said repeatedly rubbed some the wrong way. So saying you like the Manager and think she does a great job, and saying this in the context of a meeting in which receiving and evaluating feedback about the Manager is the point of the meeting, is a "Love Fest."
But here's the problem. Every non-Commissioner resident who spoke spoke positively about the Manager. Even those who had any criticism spoke positively. And the two Commissioners who were negative about the Manager are negative about everything. So it seems the conclusion really is that our Manager is that good. So if she's really that good, and if almost everyone with anything to say says she's that good, then why is telling like it apparently is a "Love Fest?"
Calling tonight's meeting a "Love Fest," or criticizing the Mayor for her ambition to make the Park "A Better Place to Be," isn't an assessment. It's a posture. It's a ploy. It's being a misanthrope. Pure and simple. It's what some people do: they make it their business to complain and find fault. There might be fault to find (as the Manager said, no one is perfect), or there might not, but the self-appointed task for some people is just to grouse. If there's something to grouse about, they're all over it. If there isn't, they grouse about nothing. But they don't say it's about nothing. Wouldn't they look foolish if they said they were whining because they like to whine. Or because they're just unhappy and poorly adjusted people. They twist and distort a matter until they've wrung from it something they think they can portray as a problem worthy of complaint. Or accusation. That's become a pretty consistent offering from some people around here.
One Commissioner accused the Manager of not meeting her responsibilities to the neighborhood. But that Commissioner never comes to any Village events except Commission meetings (of which he misses more than any other Commissioner). It may be that he doesn't think coming to Village events is his responsibility, but I don't know anyone who agrees with him. He has also never turned in his Manager evaluation from a year ago. When he was confronted about that tonight, he said he had completed it, but not submitted it, and that he had "legal advice" that he should not submit the evaluation. His angle was that he considered the Manager under some kind of investigation, and that somehow that meant he shouldn't turn in the evaluation he claims he did and which was due a year ago. And tonight, he was one of two Commissioners who advocated strongly that Manager evaluations should be required to be in writing. You can see how twisted this is. It's actually tortured. And it's all about whining and complaining and accusing and being dissatisfied. But there's no real content. What is presented as content is ethereal. All it really is is bad attitude disguised as righteous scrutiny. Nasty, nasty stuff. Divisive, ill-tempered, and hypocritical.
And for the record, I completely agree with both Commissioners (Bernard and Cooper) who said they thought evaluations should be written, not just verbal. But they're both such miserable people that by the time they get done taking swipes at everyone, any feeling of accord with them is gone for me.
So that was our gathering for tonight. I'm happy to report, though, that when all was said and done, those of us who were in love were still in love. The "Fest" wasn't spoiled. The Mayor remarked at the amazing resilience of the Manager. It came through again, and it buoyed all of us. She really is a gem.
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