Oh, Come On, Janey, You Know I'm Just Jerking Your Chain.

Janey, I'm just funning with you.  You and Bob, and a number of other people, are complaining about Tracy/Jenny/Will/Betsy, as if they had disappointed you, but I know fully well that you knew what we were getting.  We all knew.  It was, as I say, obvious.  You didn't support them because you wanted this.  You supported them, because you felt they would be the lesser of two evils, so to speak.  And because you subjected us to this, I hope you were right.  At least, I hope you still think you were right.

We were just coming out of a bad Commission when Tracy/Jenny/Will ran, and many of us felt we had to have "anyone but Fred."  And when we said "anyone," many of us meant "anyone!"  We all knew Tracy Truppman, which was reason enough not to want her on the Commission.  And no one knew Jenny Johnson-Sardella or Will Tudor, and later Betsy Wise, which was reason enough not to want them on the Commission.  So, we were desperate.  We were grasping for "anyone" to save us from another day of Fred.  And another two or four years?!  Unbelievable.  Impossible.  So, we settled.  We had to.

Fred was one of the worst Commissioners we've ever had.  He joined Roxy Ross and David Coviello in depriving us of our Village sanitation workers, and in imposing on us outsiders to take away our refuse.  And the fact that we saved ourselves a lot of money is no consolation.  He sided with them again to force Village residents to have some of their tax money used to renovate the log cabin and build an administration building.  He made us "the worst we could be," which is clearly what he set out to do.  He even said something like that.

And besides, he had a horrible attitude.  He was undiplomatic and impatient.  Not only did he insist that his neighbors be sensible and consistent (and coherent), but as far as I could tell, he didn't have much reverence for Bob Anderson, or Barbara Watts.  And he should have.  Bob was a fixture, and Barbara was hopelessly dizzy.  You have to be deferential to people like that.  Fred should have been.  And I always thought he seemed bored and annoyed to be sitting through four hour meetings that he claimed should have taken less time.

And what might be worse, Fred was unreliable, at least about one thing.  He sat on the Commission for three years, did his damage (which was considerable), and then mercifully told us he wouldn't run for re-election.  At least we would be rid of him.  But no.  He then claimed that he didn't like the choice of people running to replace him, and he said he changed his mind, and ran again anyway.  Well, running was up to him, but it was up to us whether we would allow him back on the Commission.  No, we would not!!  We can only hope he got the message, seemingly evidenced by the fact that he didn't run again next time there was an election.  (And never mind that he was right about the people he didn't want replacing him on the Commission.  He said he didn't intend to run again, and he shouldn't have run again.  It's like he lied.)

But how do we know he won't run again?  Sure, we wouldn't have to elect him, if he did run (if he was that foolish), but now, we might have a new problem.  We thought we had saved ourselves, at least from Fred, by electing the Tracy crew, but it turns out we're not exactly pleased with them, either.  So, now, what do we do?  I think we're all agreed we don't want Fred.  And we seem pretty much to agree we don't want Tracy/Jenny/Will/Betsy.  But what's our choice?  It seems as if Fred got the message, and he wouldn't run again, but what if he did?  What if Tracy/Jenny/Will ran again, and Fred ran against them?  What would we do?  Hold our noses?  And choose which?

We need someone else to run.  Maybe Jared Susi would run.  H Weitz said he was thinking about it.  But someone told me they saw a "For Sale" sign in front of his house.  It doesn't seem to be looking good about Mac Kennedy.  The Kuhls invariably decline.  Someone needs to come forward to save us from the horrors we keep inflicting on ourselves.  And we do this deliberately.  We all knew Fred before he was elected.  What we got was the same guy we all knew.  Same focus, same attitude.  And the same is true of Tracy.  Same Tracy.  We also elected Jenny, Will, and Betsy, none of whom had ever demonstrated the slightest interest in BP.  (Well, Jenny sort of did, for a little while.)  So, surprise: none of them is interested in BP now that they're on the Commission, either.  We seem to know what we're getting, which we keep not liking, and we ask for it anyway.

We need to give this much more careful consideration.

David Hernandez Couldn't Understand Why I Had Any Trouble Getting Commission Approval For My Solar Panels.

If you haven't yet encountered our new speed tables, they were annoying me.  I couldn't comfortably drive over them going faster than about 8-9 mph.  Our speed limit is 25, and we should be able comfortably to negotiate speed tables/humps at that legal speed.  So, I wrote to Krishan Manners and Luis Cabrera.  Neither of them got back to me, but Krishan apparently passed my e-mail along to David Hernandez, who is our Public Works Director, and David called me to discuss.  (The speed tables were apparently David's idea.)  In fact, he offered to come by.  So, he came over, we took a little field trip in my car, and I demonstrated the problem.

In the meantime, David also wanted to discuss my solar panels.  He could easily see the ones in front of the house, and he wanted to know more about my solar system.  While we were out road-testing speed humps, he asked me if anyone else in the Village has solar panels.  Three other houses that I know about have them, and I expanded our field trip to show them to him.  They're all very easy to see from the street, and David was impressed.  But he came back more than once to the question of why my variance application got the reception (rejection) it did.  Solar panels seemed to David like such an obviously great idea, and there was no problem with the fact that they're visible from the street at all four properties, and he remembered my presentation, which he thought was sensible, and he just couldn't understand the resistance.

David didn't get it.  He thought this was about solar panels.  I explained a few times that it had nothing to do with solar panels.  It had only to do with the fact that I was the one asking for something.  The rejection was not technical.  It was not a reflection of Code, or appearance, or what's best for and in the Village.  The rejection was simply personal.  Tracy Truppman and her girls told me no, because I criticize Tracy, and Tracy won't accept being criticized.

I pointed out to David that not only do I predictably get a "no" about a request I might make about, let's say, solar panels, but I get a "no" about applying to be on a Board.  And to show David that this was personal, but not uniquely personal, someone like Mac Kennedy gets the same "no," for the same reason.  So does Nicole Susi.  So would Jared Susi.  So do Roxy and Chuck Ross.  "The answer is no.  What's the question?"

I think that by the time David left my house this morning, he understood this better.  He understood that this has nothing to do with solar panels, or appearance, or Codes, or the Village.  It's just Tracy's personal campaign of vendettas against people who criticize her. 

And to make the matter of solar panels even clearer to David, I showed him command central on my computer, where I keep hourly track of how much solar power I get for the day, and daily track of what's happening with my FPL bill, and monthly track of how that bill compares with the bill from the same month last year.  It's pretty compelling.  David doesn't read this blog, so he didn't know how much money those panels saved me.  But once I told him about that, and showed it to him, he said what anyone else would say, and what I say: the Village should have solar panels.  And then, he better understood the consequences of diverting so much Village money to Tracy's protectors and staff of lawyers.  We can't have solar panels, because they're not cheap, and Tracy gave all that money to Rebecca Rodriguez.  And Krishan Manners.  And Christina Caserta.  Because they protect her, and carry out her aggressions.

Not that it's David Hernandez's call, but I do think he much more clearly understands what a great thing solar panels are, and how much they do for property owners, and how much they could do for the Village of Biscayne Park.  If only...

An Interesting Solar System Development

My power went out today at about 3:13 PM.  It shut down my computer and everything else for several seconds.  Then, the computer came back on, and I had to power it up again.  The lights came back on quickly, after maybe two or three seconds.

Normally, this shouldn't have happened, because I have solar power, which would have kept everything running, even if the power flickered off.  But I happened to have had my car plugged in at this time, and my car uses all the solar power I make, and more.  So I figured the power coming back on was just a flicker, as happens from time to time, and the reason things shut down was that my car was using all my solar power.

But at 3:55, I got an e-mail from FPL.  It said the power was out at my house (it reportedly had been since 3:27, although I got a notice from Tesla telling me my charging had been interrupted at 3:13), and at 43 other houses near me, and that it would be back on by 7:00.  Really?  It seems to be back on already.  It has been for over half an hour.

So, the power was still off.  But it wasn't off any more at my house.  And my car was still plugged in.  At that time of day, when the sun is dipping behind trees and clouds, it was still supplying enough power to run everything in my house, and charge my car.  Amazing.

And as of yesterday, my projected FPL bill for the coming month was $9.98.  And that takes into account averaging from the weeks before that.  The actual bill on 9/19 was $31.66, and it had dropped steeply in the next few days, because I didn't charge my car, until today.

Really, if Tracy Truppman wasn't diverting so much Village money to the people who protect her and carry out executions for her (manager, attorney, finance director, code officer), and she didn't feel like doing anything else to uplift the Park (medians, streets, really anything), imagine how much money we would have to add solar panels to municipal buildings.

Julie Williamson Says I Should Tell My Friends.

I attend a unique series of concerts which are part of the Martha/Mary Yamaha Series.  I think it's so named, because it used to take place, or maybe parts of it still do, at St Martha's Cathedral on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami Shores.  But I don't attend those concerts.  I've been going to the ones at La Merced Chapel and Corpus Christi Church at 32nd St and NW 7th Avenue.  I think it's in the Allapattah section.

I have almost never attended a concert there that wasn't spectacular.  It's all early music.  The one concert I heard there that wasn't great featured a premier harpsichordist who lives in Miami, and he was so taken with himself that he decided he didn't need to practice for the concert.  But the other harpsichordist practiced, and she was magnificent.  And so were all the other concerts I heard there.

The other interesting feature of these concerts is the price.  It's embarrassingly low.  The cheap seats are $15, and the big spenders pay $25 to sit closer.  But since it's a very small venue, it really doesn't matter where you sit, if all you want to do is listen to the music, and look at the amazing art collection someone put together in that room.  I forgot if they call it "Columbian" or "pre-Columbian," but it's ancient art to go with the ancient music.  They're very proud of that venue, and when you go there, they give you a handout just to talk about the renovation project.

After the concert, they serve not particularly drinkable wine, and fruit and cheese.  It's a very pleasing gesture.

Here's how I "met" Julie Williamson.  (I don't actually know who Julie Williamson is, but I might have met her one time when I was there to buy a ticket.)  I decided that this year, since the price is so low anyway, I would get myself the big spender $25 seats.  And I further decided that I would subscribe to the season of four concerts, and I would pay $100 for the "Blue Circle" subscription.  When I tried to buy this subscription, it said the "Blue Circle" was no longer available.  I thought maybe those few better seats had already been snapped up.  So, I replied to the e-blast, asking if it was true that the "Blue Circle" subscription was no longer available.  Yes, indeed it is still available, wrote back Julie Williamson.  And she'd find out what was wrong with the listing on the site.  No problem, she later wrote to me; I can go buy my "Blue Circle" subscription.

Well, when I went back to do it, I encountered Eventbrite, which wanted an additional $7 and something.  In that I am, in fact, a cheapskate, I wrote back to Julie Williamson to ask if I could just give her a check or cash, and not pay something to Eventbrite, of which I don't approve anyway.  Yup, we can do that.  I should mail Julie Williamson a check.  And tell my friends.  That's what Julie Williamson asked me to do.  So, I'm telling you.  Do yourselves a favor, if you love early (Baroque-ish) classical music, it would intrigue you to see a remarkable church renovation with a Columbian or pre-Columbian theme, and you don't like to spend a lot of money.  And you like intimate settings.  And cheese and fruit.  (Stay away from the wine.)


You can find this series at marthamaryconcerts.org.  The first concert is Saturday night, October 12, and Sunday afternoon, October 13.  If you go Saturday night, it's more expensive.  I'm often busy on Saturday nights, and I really am a cheapskate, so...

This season, it appears there are two concerts that are not early music.  Dafnis Prieto is a jazz percusssionist, and Shelly Berg and Martin Bejerano are jazz pianists.

"I've Got...Two Tickets to [South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center]"

I have two tickets for a show on Saturday night, September 28, at 8:00.  The performer is a performance poet named Shane Koyczan.  He calls himself a "Spoken Word Artist."  Here's an example of what he does: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXcnZ2VgksU.   And here's a TED talk he gave: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa1iS1MqUy4

Why am I telling you this?  Because something came up, and it will make it unfavorable for me to attend this performance on Saturday, September 28.

I paid $25 each for the tickets.  If you'd like to go, and you're willing to reimburse me for the tickets, that's great.  If you're willing to go, but you can't or don't want to pay me for the tickets, you can have them.  I just don't want them to go to waste.

Let me know.  Obviously, the sooner, the better.

fredjonasmd@gmail.com
305-891-5030

Solar System Update

I got my FPL bill today.  It's for $31.66.  My September bill last year was $119.14.  It appears that I saved about $88 this month.  I had solar power during the day every day this month, and I did not have solar power last year.

This is somewhat unreliable, because bills on corresponding months from one year to the next are never the same anyway.  My bill last month, which included one week of solar power during the day, was $98.05.  The corresponding month last year, the bill was $134.68.  The July 18 bill this year was $107.40, and the July bill last year was $149.10.  This year's June bill was $122.36, and last year's was $131.81.  So I was already using less electric power monthly this year than last, and I don't know the reason.  I don't think I did anything different this year, although it looks like I must have.  One difference is a new central AC unit I got, which was in July last year.  It's possible that it resulted in a decrease in my electric power usage, if it was much more efficient.  I usually turn on my central AC in about May.  This past May, my bill was $85.20.  The May bill from last year was $111.72.  So, I saved myself about $26 without the solar panels.  My June savings was about $9.  The July savings was about $42.  It's hard to make sense of savings, except to say my current bill, in a very hot month, is really low compared to last year's bill for the same month.

So, the question is, about how much are these solar panels worth to me on an average monthly basis.  For the moment, I have one month to use as an example-- imperfect as that example is-- and the suggestion is that it could be around $88.  I said before that after I get my tax credit, the panels will have cost me about $13K.  If I saved an average of $88 every month, it would take me about 148 months to get back the money I spent for the panels.  That's almost 13 years.  The warranty for almost all of the components of the system is 10-12 years, with one component warranted for 25 years.  The expected degradation of performance is about 0.6% per year.  So, by the end of the 13 years it will take for me to get my money back, the panels will be about 8-9% less efficient.  It might, then, take me more like 14 years to get my money back, unless the panels stop working after the warranty period.

In the meantime, I get the intangible benefit of knowing I'm using less of the non-renewable sources of electric power.  That would please some people to know, and other people wouldn't care.  In my case, it pleases me to know it.

There are two other things worth mentioning about solar panels at my house.  One has to do with my car.  It's purely electric, and when I plug it in, it uses much more electricity than does everything else in the house.  On days I plug it in, which I do during the day, it uses all the solar power I make, and significantly more.  This usage lasts for about 4-5 hours, until the car's batteries are full, at which time it doesn't draw electric power any more.  If not for my car, my electric bill this month would be about $10.  It's a tricky business to know when to plug in the car.  If I plug it in during the day, I'm using (free) solar power as part of the electric source.  This is good.  But electric power I buy from FPL is more expensive during the day than it is at night, so the power I'm buying during the day, which is only part of what I need to replenish the batteries, costs more per kWh than electric power I would buy from FPL at night, of which I would need to buy more, because I don't get the solar boost at night.  I haven't figured out how to calculate which is a better deal.  I'm working on it.

The second feature of solar power is that if the power goes out during the day, I still have power, at least for about 7-8 hours.  And it's enough to run everything in the house, except powering the car.  I can run the AC, the refrigerator, lights, the computer, whatever I need to run in the kitchen, and do laundry.  But only during the day.  I have no power at all from late afternoon to about 10:00 AM when the power is out.

That's my solar system update.  I still say solar panels on Village buildings would be a great idea, if we weren't diverting so much money to the attorney.

Dumbing Down Doesn't Get Much Dumber Than This

Today, Gary Kuhl resigned from the Code Compliance Board.  He cited various problems related to lack of current Commission and administrative support of the Board.

Among other things, Gary complained about "the Code Officer's history of repeatedly failing to provide the board with backup material in a timely manner, cancelling meetings at the last minute, [and] bringing items to the board that were literally months past their compliance date."

And he pointed out that the Commissioners who want to replace the Board with a magistrate have never even attended a Code Compliance Board meeting.  How do they know what they want?  How do they know what they don't want?

As a frame of reference, Gary pointed out further that the Board's record is "unblemished," in that no Board decisions have been appealed to the Courts.

I don't know if Gary was just being diplomatic about it, but he said it was the manager who recommended replacing the Board with a magistrate, and he interpreted a "total lack of respect, professionalism, and integrity" that was "made worse by the Commission supporting [the manager's] recommendation."  As I said, Gary knows BP well enough to know who makes "recommendations," and who "supports" whom.

It's a tricky business when neighbors pass judgment on other neighbors, and when fiscal fines are involved.  Gary himself in a recent Commission meeting talked about concerns about "partiality," or the appearance of it, with an arrangement like that.  And I agree with him.  We went through that when we had a Code officer who was a Village resident, and there was a feeling that not all residents were treated the same, and impartially, by the Code officer.  Even if that wasn't true, people worried about it, and thought they sensed it.  There's no need for concerns like that.  And I don't know if anyone ever felt that way about the Code Compliance Board.  If no one appealed a Code Compliance Board decision, as they could have, then it's unlikely they did feel unfairly treated.  But that kind of dynamic could be a legitimate reason to want to have a Code Compliance decider who has no basis for partiality.  And that's the problem with this decision at this time.

The fact is that everything in Village government and management right now is personal, and personalized, and partial.  The Commission has been grossly patent about treating Village residents differently from one another, based on the personal likings and dislikings of the Commission (really just the mayor).  And the "proposal" (apparently already under way) is for the Village government (really just the mayor) to select a magistrate, with no input from anyone else, and that magistrate will be specifically beholden to the mayor for his or her gig.  And it's not a low-paying gig, either.  It couldn't really get any more personal, or partial, than that.  The mayor now has at least two Commission colleagues who are her stooges (whatever that's about), a manager who is her dutiful stooge, an attorney who is her stooge, and a Code officer who is her stooge.  She will now add to that a Code compliance decider.

And the mayor is so unashamed about this power grab that even though many Village residents complain publicly about it, she doesn't stop.  She doesn't even pause or slow down.

This is the opposite of representative government.  It is a minor fiefdom.  With decisions made by someone who is incapable of making them, and supported by people even less capable, and frankly uninterested.

Poor Judith Gersten

Judith Gersten told us she's lived in BP for 26 years.  And she's seen lots of Commissions come and go.  Some were mediocre, and some were bad.  And none of them did a thing for BP.  Until now.

Judith says the present Commission has done lots of great stuff for BP.  And they're the only ones who ever did.  She didn't specify what this Commission has done, but she was so authoritative about it-- and 26 years is more than long enough to know-- that you just knew she had to be right.

But the thing that really irked Judith was that little and insignificant knot of people who just get up and criticize this wonderful Commission.  Judith made very clear that these whining and angry people most definitely do not represent the residents, and certainly not the voters, of BP.  These people just have bad attitude.  And anyway, what do they know?

Frankly, I suspect Judith might have been talking about people like Mac Kennedy, who's only lived in BP for maybe, what, 4-5 years?  What does Mac Kennedy know about the history of BP and its governments?  You know, Judith made the point that she's not one bit concerned about stuff like bills from attorneys.  "You should be," Mac pointed out.  Judith diplomatically ignored Mac.

Hey, Judith could have been talking about me.  I've only been here for 14 years.  That's just about half as long as Judith has.  Judith has much more perspective than I do.  OK, I myself was a Commissioner, and Judith wasn't, and I was on Planning and Zoning, and the Code review committee, and the Foundation.  But she's been here so much longer, and seen so much more, that I really have to concede to Judith's greater history.

I bet Judith was talking about Chuck and Roxy Ross.  They've only lived here, what, let's see, maybe about 30 years or so.  Why, that's not much longer than Judith has lived here.  And fine, Roxy was a Commissioner for nine years, and Mayor for two, but Judith has been paying attention.  Judith has watched from a distance, and not been distracted by getting all caught up in things, as Roxy has.  And what's the big deal about Chuck?  Is he supposed to get points for being the CrimeWatch chairman for maybe 8-10 years?  Says who?

And who else complains really?  No one.  Well, when I say no one, sure, the Kuhls complain.  But they haven't been here more than maybe, oh, I don't know, 35 years?  All right, fine, so they've seen a bit more than has Judith.  And yeah, Gary Kuhl has been on Code Compliance for years, and is the chairperson.  And he was on the Code review committee for several years.  And Barbara's been on Parks and Parkways for who knows how many years.  And both of them attend Commission meetings, Barbara without fail.  But they're probably just, I don't know, jealous.  Yeah, that's it, they're jealous.  Neither of them has ever been on the Commission.  They just complain about the fine people who are, because they're jealous.

So that's it for the critics.  I mean except for the Andersons.  When did they move in here?  I'd say not more than, oh, 35-40 years ago.  And what do they know about Commissions?  What, because Bob was a Commissioner for 20 years, that means he can tell a good one from all the bad ones?  He was never on a good one.  He sure didn't pick up how good this one is.  Why, it wasn't more than a month ago that Bob was publicly announcing that he had supported this Commission, but they had been a huge disappointment, and he didn't approve of them any more.

And there you have it.  No one else criticizes.  Yeah, OK, so what if Linda Dillon, who never has a bad word, or much of a word at all, to say about anyone, criticizes the only Commission Judith says ever did anything for the Village.  Linda hasn't been on 115th St more than maybe 40 years.  Or so.  It sounds like a lot of time here, but it's somewhat less than twice as long as Judith has been here.  And if you think Linda has seen it all, because she never, ever misses a Commission meeting (Judith more or less never, ever attends Commission meetings), and she's been on Code Compliance for years, you're...hey, you might be right about Linda.

Anyway, Judith told us what's what tonight.  This Commission is the real deal.  They accomplish things, and no other Commission ever has.  And just tonight, for example, we saw what this Commission has accomplished.  We had a presentation from our long time lobbyist, Dave Caserta, and our state Senator, Jason Pizzo, and they told us what they've done, and what they're still working on for the Village.  No, no, that had nothing to do with this Commission, but this Commission expressed appreciation for the accomplishments.  Hey, if you thank someone for doing something, that's just as if you had done it yourself.

And our finance director, Paul Winklejohn, made a presentation.  He let us know how under control are our finances.  Sure, a nod to Roxy Ross, and Chuck Ross, for giving him some vital heads ups, but the person to whom he says he speaks "every day" is Tracy Truppman.  Wait, Tracy calls him "every day?"  That's what he said.  Tracy tried to shut him up, as if there was some problem with her talking to him, taking his time, for which he bills us, every day.

Tracy doesn't like things like this distracting from her real accomplishments.  So, when Dan Samaria had an agenda item to talk about those massive and uncontrolled legal bills, Tracy did what you might expect her to do, to reduce the unnecessary distractions: she tried to get this agenda item pulled.  Hey, no need to be looking into this.  And anyway, if we're questioning legal bills, then we can't do it in front of our attorney (for some reason).  And if we should have an attorney, but we can't look into legal bills in front of the attorney, then it appears we really can't look into legal bills at all.  Like the one Roxy Ross mentioned, for about $4000, representing over 20 hours, IN ONE DAY!  And four of the hours were billed by...our attorney...when she attended a Commission meeting to make a presentation to see if she could get hired.  She billed us for four hours, to attend a meeting that was her job interview.  And two of her associates came with her, and each one billed us separately for the same meeting.  Who can question this?  Well, it appears no one can.  And Judith Gersten is just perfectly fine with that.  And funny enough-- crazy enough-- Judith is...an attorney!  I guess she's an attorney first, and a BP resident and taxpayer second.  What a waste of 26 years.

There was very little on the agenda tonight.  In the old days-- the Mayor John Hornbuckle days-- a meeting like this would have been worth two hours or less.  Tonight, it was around four hours.  And it included accomplishments like Betsy Wise supposedly reporting on her April "branding workshop," but trying to explain why she wasn't actually going to report on it at all.  And arguing over how much we should pay a magistrate we can't hire anyway, because this highly functional Commission never changed the Code to allow for hiring a magistrate.  So that was an empty waste.

Yeah, I guess Judith thought she had a point to make.  She intended to have one.  It just really wasn't clear what it was.  What we witnessed was people who can't get enough of listening to themselves talk, and part of the ongoing collection of distortions, misrepresentations, and outright lies.  Sometimes, it takes a good deal of care, deliberation, and patience to accomplish nothing.  It did tonight.

It Appears the Commission and Village Administration Have Painted Themselves Into a Corner.

Last week, many of us received from the Village manager an e-blast.  The communication informed recipients that there were several board openings, and it asked recipients if they were interested in serving on a board.  Or, to put it slightly more directly and perhaps forcefully, it asked Village residents to apply to be on boards.  The boards-- the Village; we-- need the help.

Personally, I have been on a few boards since I moved here in 2005.  I started on Planning and Zoning, because then new Commissioner Kelly Mallette needed to make an appointment, and she asked me to be on that board.  That was in part how I got to know Kelly, whom I like very much, and it was my pleasure to participate.  As an outgrowth of being on P&Z, I also wound up on the Code Review committee.  Participation there was similarly my pleasure.  After a few years, the BP Foundation was formed, and I moved to that group.  Eventually, I resigned from the Foundation, because I ran for Commission, on which I served for three years.

When my Commission term ended, I was not on any board.  At some point, I applied again, and I was willing to be on any board, although I was thinking either the Foundation again, or maybe Parks and Parkways, would be a good place for me.

But in the meantime, I had run afoul of Tracy Truppman.  Well, you don't run afoul of Tracy Truppman without paying a price for it, and part of the price I paid was that Tracy would not permit me to be on any Village board.  (As a technical matter, Tracy cannot single-handedly prevent anyone from being on a board.  She needs confederates on the Commission for that.  She has them.  The mechanism Tracy and her confederates use is that if someone like me applies to be on any board at all, Tracy and her confederates/stooges/bobbleheads/whatever go lean on some other Village resident to apply for the same board-- I think it was maybe last year that she got these competing applications to happen on Sunday, April 1, which is pretty comical-- and Tracy and the kids just choose the other applicants.)

So, as I said, one of the boards for which I applied was the Foundation.  Tracy scared up Laura Graves and David Goehl, so she could keep me off that board.  David rarely or perhaps never attended meetings, Laura was very helpful, but now, Laura wants to be on P&Z instead.  If you're asking yourself why Laura, who appeared to have been committed and helpful on the Foundation, would want to be on P&Z instead, it's a good question.  I do know that Laura is a realtor, and P&Z have a lot to say about what construction and renovation plans are approved.  Does that create an opportunity for conflict of interest for a realtor?  I guess it could.  If it did, it wouldn't be the first time in recent years.

So, Tracy's two shills have run their courses, and Tracy is now back looking for applicants.  Or "Krishan" is.  But Tracy still has the same problem she always has.  There are people who would be happy to serve on boards, but Tracy won't allow it.  Tracy has created a problem about which she is now complaining.

And the funny thing about it is that what Tracy thinks she's accomplishing-- she thinks she's punishing or frustrating someone-- is actually the opposite of the reality.  People want to be on boards, because they feel a commitment to the Village, or almost as if they owe the Village and its residents something.  Unless you can find a way to derive personal and selfish benefit from something like conflict of interest, or you just like some sense of "power," being on a board is a task.  It's a kind of burden.  You have to attend meetings, and do research, and maintain diplomacy and deference for other people, even if you disapprove of them.  I mean Tracy doesn't do that, but normal people do.

I don't think there's any way to help Tracy.  She's completely out of control, and she lashes out at her neighbors and undermines the functioning of the Village.  She doesn't have to do that, but it's who she is.  And whatever this is about, she really does have mindless or fearful confederates.  Tracy and her stooges/bobbleheads prevent the Village from functioning, because Tracy thinks this is somehow all about her.  And her antipathies.  And her wars and crusades.  And she seems to think she's harming someone like me by telling me my life is easier, because I have fewer commitments.  It's pretty sad.