There was a time that a typical Commission meeting lasted two hours: from 7:00 until 9:00. If the agenda was lengthy or complicated, meetings were known to drag on until 9:30. Then we hit the modern era, and meetings ended at 11:00, whether we were done or not, which we usually weren't. It's amazing how long you can talk when you no longer hold yourself responsible to say anything.
Tonight's agenda was small. Very small. With about two deferrals, there was essentially nothing on it. The fact that there was nothing on the agenda, and that one of our Commissioners was absent, allowed us to breeze through the meeting, ending not long after 9:15. It was like the old days, except nowadays, you can't accomplish anything if you hold only 2 1/4 hour meetings. If you confine yourself to avoiding talking about anything at all, it only takes about 2 1/4 hours to finish.
We did have a treat tonight, and it only took about 15-20 minutes. One of our neighbors, Brian McNoldy, is a meteorologist, with a specialty in hurricanes. He gave a special presentation, in honor of the start of hurricane season, and he included a slide show. His presentation was in fact very informative, and we were all pleased to hear it.
I know you must think I'm cheating you out of the rest of the content of the meeting, and that I'm only kidding when I say there was no rest of the content of the meeting, but I'm serious. I honestly do not know where the time went. During initial public comment, several of us coincidentally made the same complaint: that some Commissioners are not activists when it comes to improving, or even upholding, the condition of the neighborhood. They seem to endeavor to keep us as trashy as they can. There could have been some discussion about this, and even protest from the Commissioners who were identified as not caring, but either they care so little that they couldn't even be bothered to address the complaint, or they frankly fully agree. So no response was needed.
Honestly, that was it. If you check the recording, and you find out I omitted something, please lemme know.
Addendum: I'm wracking my brains here. I feel as if I must have omitted something. So here's what came to mind. There was some discussion about the Boards, and how desperately in need of members they are. How it's the Commission's job to find and approve members, and they're not doing it. I complained, yet again, about Noah's having removed a long time, valued, devoted member of Code Compliance, and replaced him with someone who has asked three times to be on this Board, been appointed three times, and never attended once. Would you think Noah would get it by now? If he weren't arrogant, stubborn, and devoted to the undermining of Biscayne Park, he would. Someone else complained about two members of Parks and Parkways, who have not attended for 9 months and 12 months. Bryan Cooper, who felt an urge to criticize the Board, but couldn't remember if one of the truants was his appointee (there's real commitment for you), declared that the two truants chose truancy because the Chairperson of the Board drove them away. So there, there's another topic we discussed: the contempt some of our elected officials have for this neighborhood and for those who are active in it and devoted to it. And Noah had a final non sequitur. In his ongoing effort to reduce us to a lowest common denominator, to degrade the Codes until there is no one of even the most meager and marginal means who can't satisfy them, he started to say something about boats. But he immediately, with no identifiable segue, talked about some (apocryphal?) elderly woman resident who for some unspecified reason couldn't maintain her property. Noah urged "compassion" over order and livability for all. This is why it's so important to keep Biscayne Park dumbed down and trashy. There might be some resident who can't afford proper upkeep. Municipal codes, and perhaps all laws, are really only suggestions, meant to provide a hypothetical concept for how life and the behavior of citizens could be, if it's convenient.
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