{"id":1913,"date":"2019-01-04T14:53:05","date_gmt":"2019-01-04T20:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/truthinaddison.com\/?page_id=1913"},"modified":"2019-01-07T16:45:48","modified_gmt":"2019-01-07T22:45:48","slug":"all-is-going-great-in-all-of-addison-by-susan-m-halpern-former-addison-councilmember-1992-1999","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/truthinaddison.com\/?page_id=1913","title":{"rendered":"All Is Going Great In ALL of Addison"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

All Is Going Great In ALL of Addison By Susan M. Halpern Former Addison Council member (1992-1999)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was thinking as the year turned\nabout how great things are going in Addison. \n2018 was the first full calendar year under the leadership of Mayor Joe\nChow, and it was a fantastic, successful year. \nWe enjoyed the fruits of a true democracy, with seven councilmembers\nworking together to advance Addison\u2019s interests.  They did their work efficiently, and without the\ndrama, hidden agendas, and staged theatrics the prior administration so often\nemployed to misinform and mislead Addison\u2019s residents and inappropriately\nprolong meetings.  How refreshing it all\nwas to watch and experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the results speak for\nthemselves.  In addition to being\npeaceful and professional, the Council\u2019s work in 2018 was also very\nproductive.  The wind turbine lawsuit was\nsettled on very favorable terms.  The\nlong-running dispute with Farmers Branch regarding the creek was resolved on\nvery favorable terms.  The Belt Line Road\nproject was concluded.  Vitruvian\ncontinued to flourish as new phases were constructed.  Our safety departments finally stabilized and\nreturned to full staffing.  We actually\nhave candidates who want to come to work in Addison and our reputation is\nslowly returning within North Central Texas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I reflected on the year that\nwas, it struck me that so much of what I was grateful for in 2018 was exactly the\nopposite of what we had witnessed for the six years prior to Mayor Joe Chow\u2019s\ncurrent term, at the hands of the previous mayor and his cadre.  The manipulation, misdirection and active\nconcealment of information have thankfully disappeared, and are relegated to\nthe place of all bad memories.  In 2018,\nno one person on the Council dominated.  Discussions\nwere respectful, robust and genuine. \nIndeed, not once during 2018 did a member of Council filibuster and\nthreaten to extend the meeting into the wee hours as a method of bending others\nto their will, as the ex-mayor did repeatedly. \n  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, 2018 left those subversive\nand undemocratic practices behind.  In\n2018, under the leadership of Mayor Joe Chow, applicants were treated\nrespectfully.  Developers found a consistency\nof message that encouraged them to come back to Addison.  Employees were finally able to breathe, out\nfrom under the weight of the toxicity the ex-mayor and his henchmen visited\nupon the staff during their misguided tenure on the Council.  In stark contrast to what occurred during the\nsix years of the prior administration, we now have real, actual transparency,\nincluding because it is rooted in truth. \nUnder Mayor Joe Chow\u2019s leadership, no one tried to conceal key\ndocuments, as the ex-mayor did in actively preventing the disclosure of the key\nLea Dunn memo, all the while running his campaign of lies, misleading the\npublic regarding matters the memo clearly refuted.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the May 2017 election, we have\nseen nothing less than the return of democracy \u2013 true and TRUTHFUL democracy \u2013\nto Addison and it is just wonderful. And it is SO refreshing to be away from\nall the negativity and division the prior administration visited upon our\ntown.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You could say that ALL IS WELL IN\nADDISON.  In fact, ALL IS WELL IN ALL\nOF ADDISON.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, as we begin 2019, the\nnegatives and naysayers are awakening, and clearly have plans to run for the\nMay election (it will be a \u201cslate,\u201d that\u2019s what they do).  As is their practice, they are thrashing about,\ndesperately trying to find an issue \u2013 any issue \u2013 that will allow them to\ncreate negativity.  Remember their\nformula: create an issue, mislead everyone about it, convince everyone that the\nsky is falling, attack anyone who isn\u2019t them, and claim that only they can\nproperly address the issue.  Every year\naround this time, they try to create controversy, in the hopes of finding\nsomething on which they can base a negative campaign.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so they post and post, and\nmisinform.  We\u2019ve seen them trying to\ncreate controversy over license plate readers. \nFrom there, they moved on to the men\u2019s locker room at the Health Club.  Next, they attacked the Addison Police\nAssociation, falsely claiming that it makes political contributions by way of actively\ndiscouraging the public from contributing (the APA does not make political\ncontributions).  When all that didn\u2019t\ncatch on, they attacked the Council about the meeting held at Town Hall between\nthe Oaks North HOA and the folks from the Village on the Parkway.  For heaven\u2019s sake, the meeting wasn\u2019t even\nrun by Addison, and there isn\u2019t any zoning case for Village on the\nParkway.  Indeed, I doubt there ever will\nbe, as this Council listens to citizens, and I doubt seriously they\u2019d ever force\na multi-family development on the Oaks North neighborhood without strong consensus.  Oh, how I wish we\u2019d had such a good Council to\nlisten to me and my neighbors about the multi-family development we had forced\non us by the ex-mayor and his cadre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I digress.  Again and again, on all these issues, the\nnegatives and naysayers have been doing what they do: concealing material facts\nand information, mischaracterizing the issues, and misleading Addison\u2019s\nresidents.  Negativity is what these\npeople do, and it\u2019s such a disservice to our town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of which brings me to the\nissue of the strange event that occurred during the recent January Mayor\u2019s\nCoffee.  The meeting was proceeding, when\nwhat should appear, but three men in suits who were not of good cheer (the\nnegatives say they \u201cstormed\u201d in, but it didn\u2019t rhyme).  Yes, out of the blue, with no prior notice,\nrepresentatives of the Target\/Kroger\u2019s center appeared at the gathering and claimed\nthat Addison wasn\u2019t working with them on economic development.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, you have to wonder: who in\ntheir right mind would approach economic development this way?  We all know that these things are handled\nthrough communications with Addison\u2019s staff in the ordinary course of\neveryone\u2019s business.  These folks meet\nwith staff all the time, present their plans and ask Addison to participate.\nFor its part, Addison has policies regarding participation because, generally\nspeaking, Addison isn\u2019t in the business of simply giving money away.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, as it happens, Addison had\nindeed met with this owner in the past, and had invited him to make an economic\ndevelopment proposal.  The owner never did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, how utterly bizarre for this\nowner to choose to appear at the Mayor\u2019s Coffee, having made no proposal for\neconomic development despite having been invited to do so, and suddenly make a\nvery public accusation that Addison wasn\u2019t working with him on economic\ndevelopment.  How inexplicable that this\nowner would choose such a course.  Truly\nstrange.  In fact, it\u2019s so strange that\nyou might even conclude that the whole thing was staged.  That it was a setup.  That it was nothing more than an effort to create\nyet another faux issue-of-the-moment.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mean, do you really think it\nwas a coincidence that this little event happened when the 2019 election season\nis just around the corner?  And the\nnegatives are reemerging and blogging and trying desperately to find an issue\nthat will support their negativity?  I\ndon\u2019t think any of it is a coincidence. \nAnd, I guess time will tell, and we\u2019ll all know soon when the negatives\nand naysayers reveal their candidates (it will be a slate, mark my\nwords!).  And, if they try to claim that\nAddison isn\u2019t working with the owner of the Target\/Kroger\u2019s center, then we\u2019ll\nall have our answer regarding the strange event at the Mayor\u2019s Coffee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, for me, the\nproof is in the pudding.  Mayor Joe Chow\nand the current Council have surely proved themselves up to the task of serving\nAddison well.  For that, and a great 2018\nfor ALL of Addison, I am truly thankful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Addison Way is back!  Let\u2019s keep that momentum rolling in 2019!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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