Re-election Hubris. . .. Barfield Can’t Help It Sometimes

You just gotta read it to believe it. . .

(StarNews) - “If we don’t move forward on (Covanta) contract, we just wasted a half-million dollars,” Jonathan Barfield said. “It’s like going to college, getting a four-year degree, and working at a gas station.” 

Barfield is referring to the ongoing inability of the commissioners to find a solution to New Hanover County’s solid waste trash woes.  Barfield is wed to the incinerator as the ONLY option.  There’s an emotional attachment there as it was his father who helped bring this to the county in the 80s.

Sadly, the county came up short with the unrealistic R3 proposal last year while landfill space continued to run out and they’ve wasted another year hanging their hopes on a single idea, keeping the incinerator open.

Residents should expect more.  The county should have secured the permits to expand the existing landfill and negotiated a transportation deal to handle trash moving forward.  Instead we’re no further along than we were a year ago or two years ago.  For Barfield, the true despair should be the millions he was willing to spend (losing $500k/month) on the incinerator and the millions more he’s willing to spend to resurrect it now while suggesting that a 50% increase trash fees is acceptable.

The analogy is actually a bit confusing.  A better analogy would be to say it’s like spending $500k of someone else’s money to buy a Ferrari you don’t need in pursuit of basic transportation at work.  He should accept the responsibility for the waste rather than casting blame elsewhere.

While complaining about the city’s inability to solve problems, here’s hoping the county will realize they aren’t moving very swiftly to solve problems either.

Also, don’t forget, Barfield was an ardent supporter of taxpayers sinking tens of millions into a ball stadium.  How does that work as an analogy to a college degree?

What’s Next For City Of Wilmington?

The City of Wilmington was severely out of touch with the voting public on the baseball referendum.  It’s a serious situation for city leaders and staff who willfully acted against the will of the people in spite of three separate public surveys indicating strong disapproval.

The Chamber of Commerce also did surveys that were surely available to city leaders that indicated this was a foolish endeavor.  In the face of such overwhelming odds, the city’s pursuit of this and the waste of taxpayer dollars (still not publicly reported) leaves little doubt that the door will be open in next year’s election as the majority of council is up for re-election.

Mayor Bill Saffo has not announced intentions to seek re-election.  Council members Charlie Rivenbark and Earl Sheridan are also up for re-election and supported the failed baseball stadium.  But the front person for this wasteful project was Kevin O’Grady and it he that will have the most difficulty making the case that he has a connection with voters.  He negotiated the deal with Mandalay, pushed for it the hardest, had e-mails suggesting that contact not take place on the city server and generally held the opposition in contempt.

The door is open. . . but does the public have a short memory and will anyone step up to run?  There is an opportunity for substantive positive, business friendly changes in Wilmington, but it will take people willing to lead.