By Emerson Drake
6/27/11
At the time of Modesto's Blue Ribbon Commissions (BRC) inception many thought it unusual that Frank Ploof, a resident, of Salida was chosen to take part. Mr. Ploof certainly didn't flaunt his Directorship in SCAP to the public. Yet he used that relationship to parlay his way onto the BRC.
It's common knowledge that Joe Muratore nagged at fellow council members to push his agenda regarding the homeless in Modesto. He used his business partners father, Terry Swelha's comments to the Modesto City Council to push his agenda to ban, not just the homeless, but all members of the general public from the use of McClatchey Park except between the hours of 11:00 AM and 1:00PM.
It certainly brings home the adage, What the do to the least of us they do to all of us, doesn't it.
But why did so many members of the Council go along with this? Easy. We have two council members running for Mayor (Marsh and Hawn) and two more seeking reelection Lopez and Burnside. They didn't want to dirty their own hands by taking part in the starving of the homeless themselves so they managed to appoint some willing dupes.
Dupes that had a vested interested for going along to get along.
This committee has so many people scratching each others backs it looks like one big daisy chain.
Darryl Fair wants a building and a grant next to a public park where he can get paid for providing homeless daycare.
Steve Madison of the BIA wants more concessions for the building industry. Madison so distrusts the council he is running one of his Building Industry Association buddies Bill Zoslocki for mayor just to make sure the BIA gets what it wants in preparation for next building boom(yes they actually look that far ahead.)
Vanessa Czopek from the Stanislaus County Library first pulled the cement tables from around the library portico (there goes that adage again) to provide her Bona fides to Muratore and is now hoping for a law which will ban anyone from using the library for more than two hours. Isn't that what Muratore is wanting for the public park system?
Maybe it's time to pull the plug on the Blue Ribbon Commission so the City Council will have to do their own dirty work.
What they do to the least of us they do to all of us.
