Councilman Kevin O’Grady called them “failed politicians” (I guess because he’s a nice guy and all) and Councilwoman Margaret Haynes called them “haters” for opposing a taxpayer funded ball stadium. But in my book, going out on your own time and collecting over 4,000 signatures to try and prevent a wasteful taxpayer funded ball stadium is actually a commitment of Herculean proportions worthy of being praised, not scorned.
Ben McCoy and Josh Fulton did the research, wrote up a petition and then worked WITH citizens proactively, tirelessly to fight for what they believed was a wrongheaded approach that might well have led to citizens being forced to pay for a ball stadium by city leaders.
Ultimately over 1,000 of the signatures were thrown out, but they only came up short by 14 and will have quickly addressed that shortfall by the time of this writing. It’s one thing to criticize, quite another to get out and make a difference. They’re not “haters” and their not “failed politicians,” they’re citizen who care enough to get involved.
On a lighter note, it’s like an old episode of Scooby Do with Haynes and O’Grady playing the villains. To paraphrase the 70s cartoon series, “We’d have gotten away with it if it weren’t for those meddling kids!”
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