"Just a Phase?"

It's two things, really.  One is that I finally gave up, and tuned out.  Nothing adaptive for the Village has happened since the end of 2016, and we elect inept, misguided, and sabotaging Commission after inept, misguided, and sabotaging Commission.  And we've had choices.  Roxy Ross and later Mac Kennedy have been our minorities of one since late 2016.  But apart from the two of them, we have selected Commissioners who don't want anything for the Village, and who don't know what they're doing anyway.  And those Commissions hire "manager" after "manager" who are similarly devoid of initiative that would favor the Village and its functioning.  Three of the four "managers" we've had since the end of 2016 haven't even had the minimum qualifications.  "We" (the Commissions) choose these people to (mis)manage the Village.

The second thing is that I happen not to be home this summer.  I left early in May, and I'll be back early in October.

So, between one thing and the other, I've given up.  The Village is content to underfunction, sometimes with dire consequences (like the choice not to provide adequate policing of our most treacherous street, leading to accidents, one of which was a near fatality).  But, like the Eloi from The Time Machine, we sit back and laze around, tuned out, mindless, carefree, and careless.

Yesterday and today, I had an e-mail conversation with one of our neighbors.  Our neighbor mentioned Louis/Luigi/Louie/"Hot Dog King" Diraimondo, who had made a fool of himself at a recent Commission meeting, and our neighbor interpreted from past interactions that Diraimondo is my "nemesis."  I said "He's not my nemesis.  He's just an immature misfit.  But Ginny's no bargain, either, and neither are Dan or Art.  [Somehow, I forgot completely about Judi.  Which I suppose is fitting.]  And as best I can tell, Mario is a loser."  Our neighbor replied "Actually I agree with you about all of those BP people you mentioned.  I am hoping that all most of what is going on here is 'just a phase' but I don’t really believe it is."  And our neighbor referred to 6th Avenue as a "speeding mess."

So I said "The 'phase' has been unrelenting since the end of 2016, and it has included a shifting cast of characters.  So I agree with you that it doesn't seem like a 'phase' out of which we will emerge.  At least not soon (enough).

"Sixth Avenue is a 'speeding mess' because the manager refuses to address it, and the majority of the Commission don't care."

We won't address the state of our medians, we won't enforce our Codes, we do painfully little for our streets and drainage problems, we don't enhance anything (any more), we keep paying more to managers and getting less from them, and we act as if it's all beyond us.  We just don't care.  We cared when we wanted a better Village, and we had agendas, and hired managers like Ana Garcia, Heidi Siegel, and Sharon Ragoonan.  And then, we just stopped caring.

I don't know what's to become of the Village.  Not nearly enough people who are in a position to make decisions (except the decision to vote) care, which either means hardly anyone cares, or it means not enough people who do care run and get elected.

But the point is that it's not clear whether this mess is "just a phase" from which we will emerge, or awaken, or if it's become our solidified new normal.  If it's the latter, it's a shame to agree to allow all of our potential, including our potential (which I would have said was also our responsibility) to provide for others apart from ourselves, to deteriorate and decompose, or float down the river to its demise, like the Eloi did.