In Case You're Wondering.

You certainly don't need me to tell you about our big problem.  It's a global virus pandemic.  I hope it hasn't affected you.  If you need medical advice, either consult your doctor, or, if you know her, ask our neighbor, Deborah Holmes, who's in primary care, or, if you know him, ask Chester Morris, who's a retired gynecologist, or ask me.  You're going to get some medical advice in this post anyway, but if you want more, just ask.

Here are the two glaring issues:  One is how seriously to take this "social distancing" advice many people are talking about, and the other is where, exactly, is our Commission?

1)  Take it extremely seriously.  My advice to you is not to leave your house.  Try not to leave for anything.  Don't take an exercise walk in the neighborhood, let your pet out the back door, instead of walking it in the streets, and figure out how not to have to go to the store.  If you simply must do the latter, wear a face mask, don't get close to other people, make it quick, and buy larger than usual amounts of stuff that will keep (not too perishable, canned, frozen), so you don't have to go again for a long time.  Here's the thing about this particular virus.  It's...virulent.  It will attack your lungs.  You might not notice anything, or you might get sick, or you might get very sick, or you might die.  Your goal is not to be exposed to it.  The way you get exposed is to be exposed to someone else who has it.  That person might not know s/he has it.  It is said to have a two-week incubation period.  For two weeks, you or someone else is walking around, feeling fine, and breeding large numbers of viruses, which will eventually wreak havoc on you.  But until that stops you, you're spreading viruses to other people.  Or those other people, who also don't yet know they're infected, are spreading it to you.  This is why the advice from every knowledgeable doctor is to stay home.  It's you, your partner, if you have one, and your pet, if you have one.  And it needs to stay that way until this pandemic dies out.  Right now, the numbers (of seropositive people, sick people, and dead people) are rising every day and every week.  Stay home.  Do not be one of these statistics.  Don't endanger yourself, and don't endanger anyone else.  I told you, neither you nor anyone else knows when they're dangerous.

2) Ginny O'Halpin (our mayor) and David Hernandez (our acting manager) and Luis Cabrera (our police chief) did a video last week.  If you're on the Village e-mail list, you've seen it.  They were all in the log cabin, and someone filmed them.  This was a good gesture.  There is no current plan for another Commission meeting.  They will happen again, but no one knows when.  No part of this is predictable.  That's not what you want to hear, but it's the fact.  In the meantime, as almost everyone's ability to function is impeded or destroyed, accommodations are being made.  I'm told, for example (Chuck, correct me if I'm wrong) that tax day will be in July, not in April this year.  If that's true, then our requirement to create a budget for the coming year (a requirement that starts to be addressed in the summer) will also likely be delayed.  If that's true, then nothing will change yet.  That means our tax rate won't change.  But we all still have to pay the tax, which will be dicey for those of us whose ability to earn has been limited or ended.  Unless the date when taxes are due (I'm talking about property tax, and it starts in November, if you want the best discount) is also delayed.  Which it might be.  But my point is that what we now need, as a follow-up to last week's very limited exposure to our mayor, acting manager, and police chief, is a full Commission meeting.  Last week, I "attended" two "meetings."  One was a meeting of a board of directors of which I'm a member, and the other was a presentation by a jazz group I like.  Each "meeting" was on ZOOM.  You know ZOOM.  Dan Samaria and Chuck Ross have brought us ZOOM.  In the cases of the two "meetings" I "attended" last week, all participants were in their own homes, and the jazz group had an audience of 15-20 people who were also in their own homes.  In the latter case, the members of the jazz group were in two different states, and the members of the audience were in many different states.  And it all comes together on ZOOM.  So we need a Commission meeting.  If all the meeting accomplishes is making contact with other Village residents, and informing and maybe supporting or reassuring, that's more than good enough.  I wouldn't expect the actual transaction of any Village business.  I doubt anything is urgent right now.  If something is, then it needs to be addressed.  But this is a time to hear from the Village attorney, too, to know what to expect and what are our options.

So, if you want more medical advice, go get it. Whatever you do, stay in your homes.  If you want a Commission meeting, lean on your Commissioners to figure out how to have one.  Not to be niggling about it, but you're still paying them.  Tell them, or someone, what you want and what you need.

And stay connected.  If you don't have someone at home, or if you've gotten sick to death of each other for now, reach out to other people you know.  Call your friends and relatives.  It's free, and it's safe.

I Can't Go. But You Can.

I have two tickets to a Miami Symphony Orchestra show this coming Saturday, March 14.  The show is in the design district, at the Moore Building, the address of which is 191 NE 40 St.  The show runs from 6:00 to 8:00.

I can't go.  Something came up.  But I already bought the tickets, and they're being held at the venue.

If you (the two of you) want to go, take my tickets.  If you tell me you want to go, I'll contact MiSO, and let them know to expect you in my place.

I really enjoy MiSO performances, and normally, I wouldn't miss it.  This is unavoidable.  Contact me directly and ASAP.  You can write to me at fredjonasmd@gmail.com, or call me at 305-891-5030.  That's a landline.  Don't send me a text message.

Apparently, the Answer is "No."

It's still a little bumpy at Commission meetings.  Ginny O'Halpin is still trying to get her rhythm and sense of command, and she gets help from various places.  To help herself, she relies more than is necessary on some of the suppressing methods of her predecessor.  I'm thinking particularly of her reliance on the three minute public comment clock.  Mac Kennedy, too, is a little more reliant on stringency than I thought he would be.  I'm not complaining.  I'm just making note.  Attorney John Herin is a lot of help.  Acting manager David Hernandez is less help than he thinks he is.  Roxy Ross was seated for the first meeting of her supposedly short fill-in term.  (I really hope she reconsiders, and runs in November, but it doesn't seem like she's willing to do it.)  She provided some grounding, too.  Although she and Ginny and Dan Samaria were having more inaudible pow-wows than they really should have, and it was a bit distracting.  Dan, by the way, is back from abdominal surgery, and he was close to fully functional.  He seemed a bit lost many times, but that happens to him sometimes anyway.

Will Tudor showed up.  Good, no one took my bet.  I would have lost.  Will is the last remaining Mohican, and his continued involvement on the Commission is a mystery.  If it was never about anything before (it never was), it's about even less now.  Betsy Wise pressed the "eject" button on herself, and Jenny Johnson-Sardella wasn't far behind.  With all the drama and disruption that had to accompany it, Her Royal Highness, the Empress Tracy (Big Mama) Truppman made her own dramatic exit.  It was complete with rumors that Tracy claimed to think her life was in danger, and undercurrent concerns that she might sue the Village (for who knows what).  And if she really might have, then she might still.  Whatever that could possibly turn out to be about.

So, as the dust was finally settling, and Will Tudor was either walking out of meetings, or missing them, I sent him an e-mail.  I asked him to do the right thing, and resign.  I asked him to do this just after Tracy resigned, and we thought we would have to have an election anyway, and it would be convenient to fill two seats, instead of just one.  But I never heard back from Will.  One theory was that since he no longer had a role or any identifiable meaning at Commission meetings, he would just run out the clock, continue to fail to show up at meetings until the Commission expelled him for too many unexcused absences, and he'd keep getting those checks from his neighbors' money for the extra few months.  But no, for who knows what reason, Will did show up last night.  The result of his being there or his not being there was the same thing, but he was there.

The meeting started with mention of Roxy Ross' return.  We were happy to have her back.  And because Roxy was there as a new Commissioner, we again voted for mayor.  Roxy nominated Ginny, who was already mayor, and no one nominated anyone else.  We now have a five person Commission.  And the vote to keep Ginny mayor was...4-1.  It didn't make any sense for Will to vote "no" on Ginny's election, and it didn't accomplish anything, but that's what Will chose to do.  It's true we "don't have [Tracy Truppman] to kick around any more," but Will made sure we didn't forget her.

And then, we had the big, big event of the evening.  Some of us wondered if Krishan Manners would show up to defend himself, or if he'd just fall on the sword Tracy carefully left sticking up for him.  He showed up.  It took us a good long time to rehash all the ugly material that was settled on Krishan.  And I know it wasn't Krishan's fault.  I know none of it was his idea.  Tracy Truppman, and her first lieutenant, Rebecca Rodriguez, set him up.  But he always did what his Mama told him to do.  And I always rooted for him not to.  But he needed his Mama, and that job, and that paycheck, a lot more than he needed to please me, or to make himself look like the decent person I know he really is.  So, it was one bad act after another.  And Krishan's assertions that nothing anyone said he did was true.  The end of it was that Roxy Ross made a motion to fire Krishan with cause (no settlement paid to him), and someone or other seconded.  And the vote was...4-1.  Will voted "no," and he did what anyone would have expected him to do.  He made empty excuses, and he threatened that firing Krishan would expose the Village to some unspoken legal jeopardy.  He was Tracy's boy, and he tried to defend Tracy's indefensible pet.

The rest of the meeting accomplished too little, and it took too long to do it.  We extended the meeting time twice.  Once, we extended from 11:00 to 11:30, and then, when we ran out of our extra 30 minutes, we extended for another 10.  And at that, we had several noteworthy agenda items untouched, so we have to have another meeting next week or the week after.  See you then?