On Monday, May 25 Americans will celebrate Memorial Day. How will you celebrate? For many this day is a Federal Holiday and a comfortable day home from work. For others this day is an unpleasant reminder of loved ones lost. But no matter what your connection is to military service, Memorial Day, if properly understood […]
Thank you Chief DeLeo for speaking up! And thank you Gerald Ensley for revealing a major problem in our community. DeLeo, our police chief, who appears to have more courage than most, publicly stood up for the men in blue. And in doing so, he irritated the “Village Square Crowd.” On Tuesday, at a ceremony […]
The recent discussion about the Ban the Box initiative at the City Commission is a clear example of how a politician’s ambition can get out of hand. We all know politicians have ambition. However, good politicians can tie their ambitions to policies that are consistent with the constituents they represent. And really good politicians can […]
A few years ago I became so frustrated with what was going with our politics at the federal level, I began to disengage. Like someone coming upon a horrible car accident that chooses to look away, I too looked away. I looked away because I knew there is nothing that I could do to change […]
The Florida Bar has a conflict of interest rule which states a lawyer must not represent a client if the representation of one client will be directly adverse to another client. Maybe this rule needs to be applied to campaign consultants. In the recent primaries for the City Commission, the political consulting firm of Vancore-Jones […]
The meaning of a word can change over time. For example, “bully” used to mean darling, sweetheart or fine fellow. It now means harasser of the weak. “Gay” used to mean light hearted or joyous. It now means homosexual. “Freedom” used to mean escape from the controlling authority of others. The meaning of that word […]
There are a number of world-class musicians who live and work in Tallahassee. Pam Laws, Marcus Roberts, Scotty Barnhardt, and Marvin Goldstein come to mind. Several weeks ago 60 Minutes did a piece on Marcus Roberts and watching it reminded me that a number of years ago, when we still had a Chez Pierre, Chez […]
Public money for private greed. This is the true mission of the Community Redevelopment Agency or CRA. The result is a massive redistribution of resources from people at the bottom of the economic ladder to those at the top. It is as if to say that the people in Frenchtown and South City have too […]
His name was “Marie-Joseph Paul Roch Ives Gilbert Du Mottier, Marquis de Lafayette.” He was a wealthy French nobleman and was responsible for giving Tallahassee a special historical tie to the American Revolution, therefore to the cause of liberty around the world. In 1777 at the tender age of 20, Lafayette sailed to America with […]
The City Commission vote against the Ethics Advisory Panel (EAP) recommendation for an appointed Ethics Officer was bad enough. But to think the probable future Mayor of the City of Tallahassee could not see the wisdom put forth by the EAP is even more troubling. When the Tallahassee Democrat, Martha Barnett, the former President of […]