6 Responses to “Traffic circle at Marshall & Adams gets dressed up”

1. posted by Roquentin at September 4, 2007 11:39 pm :
   

   HPLA might be a bit of an overstatement. Let’s say the folks at Marshall and Adams.

2. posted by Michael at September 5, 2007 8:56 am :
   

   Yes, perhaps the HPLA can now expand its interests & objectives a wee bit.

3. posted by AkinSmith at September 6, 2007 3:01 pm :
   

   Someone asked me recently, “What is the city doing at Marshall & Adams St. What are they up to now?” My response to the inquisitive fellow was that it was a neighborhood initiative and not a city led act.

   His question however, left me with the sense that people will continue to view the city in the “they” terms and never see themselves as a part of the “we” in city, or the “we” in neighborhoods, or the “we” in any circumstance that “we” face in our neighborhoods and our city.

   Does it have to be “us” against “them” or “we” vs. “they?” If so, I suggest that “we” bring as much truth to the table as possible so that “we” can bring “them” to see that this is “our” city and that “we” can eventually stop wrestling with ourselves. I am tired of fighting with my own support system. Point me in the direction of the real enemy, complacency, untruths, rumors, illusions of grandeur, false pride, negligence, greed, self-centeredness, narrow-mindedness and intolerance.

   Now that I am looking in the mirror, the real work begins.

4. posted by tg4360 at September 7, 2007 6:07 pm :
   

   We drove by here today and it does look impressive.

   Akin, I agree with you that part of the problems the “them” when thinking of the government… “They are screwing things up” or “Screwing us.”

   WE need to realize that, as someone said once… “People get the government they deserve.”

   Lets start treating ourselves to proper, professional, responsive government.

5. posted by Rudy at September 12, 2007 8:40 am :
   

   I am one of those who regularly uses the verbal “them and us” out of a sense of alienation and disenfranchisement fostered by a system of government that is no longer responsible or accessible through democratic means. Consider the fact that I live on Mount Vernon Street in Walnut Hill but share a political district with Pocahontas Island. Richard Stewart is my Mayor. The people on the even numbered side of Mount Vernon Street are not in my district although we have everything in common with respect to our physical environment, and nothing in common with Pocahontas Is.. We are politically separated by illogical and (I contend) illegal political districts. Our state district is a few yards wide and almost a hundred miles long, ending in Tidewater. This is the issue locally, statewide and nationally. Them and us , like it or not, is the measure of things currently and it is not something we can wish away or alleviate semantically. In order for it to not be “them and us” it truly has to not be “them and us”. Decorating traffic circles is one thing, restoring the functionally of a collapsed sewer and drainage system is another. That takes solid, legitimate representation and we don’t have it. Currently “we” is growing and that may lead to some real change in the future but it is going to be a long haul back to real democracy, and, it does begin with people coming together first in small localized projects that grow not just flowers, but real political identity.

6. posted by AkinSmith at September 13, 2007 6:40 am :
   

   Thank you Rudy for bringing some more truth to the table so that we can build the solid, legitimate representation that you speak of.

   Richard Stewart told my wife and I that he would not allow us to hold a festival on Pocahontas Island because of “blah, blah, blah….” you know the illogical as well as illegal political dribble that comes out of the mouths of “them.”

   So, like it or not, we went around the we vs. them thought process that he was pronouncing and talked to the good people in that particular district and shared the truth with them about what we were doing and found out that they did not declare or own RS as their mayor and in fact did not agree with the rhetoric upon which he so often pontificates.

   Again, thank you for your posting. The we is growing and I have found that the only thing constant is change. Everything that I know is subject to revision, ESPECIALLY, what I think I know about the truth.

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