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Barry Kuhn embarrassed by behavior and lack of respect on both sides of City podium

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“We are all one Loveland. Let’s get back to thinking that way.”

by Barry Kuhn

I’ve been watching the Loveland City Council meetings the last few months, and I believe that it is now time, as a Loveland resident, to speak up.
 
[quote_right]I’m embarrassed as a resident of this great city.[/quote_right]Let me start by saying that it is not my intention to judge anyone with my remarks. As my friends will tell you, I’m not one to quote the Bible, however Matthew 7 states “do not judge, or you too will be judged. The same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the same measure you use, it will be measured to you”. We could all probably learn from that.
 
I’m speaking out now because I’m embarrassed by the behavior and lack of respect on both sides of the podium. I’m all for spirited conversations, however neither side has shown much respect to each other, or the process. I’m embarrassed as a resident of this great city. Each of us on either side of the debates, is an individual that represents this city that we love. Although we are individuals, as Loveland we are one, we are a community.
 
[quote_left]Although we are individuals, as Loveland we are one, we are a community.[/quote_left]Mary Parker Follett (a very smart woman from the late 1800s to the early 1900s) once wrote, “There are three ways of dealing with differences; Domination, Compromise, and Integration. By Domination, only one gets what it wants; by Compromise, neither side gets what it wants; by Integration, we find a way by which both sides may get what they wish”. I think that what she is saying here, is that with Integration both sides will want the same thing.
 
Ironically, I think that we all want what is best for our great city. I’m asking that this community no longer accepts Domination or Compromise as solutions to our differences, but that we look towards Integration in continuing to make Loveland a city to be proud of. We can only achieve this with respect and understanding from both sides of the City Hall podium. 
 
We are all one Loveland. Let’s get back to thinking that way.
 
Barry Kuhn is a resident of Loveland and is on the City’s Finance Committee
 

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Comments

2 responses to “Barry Kuhn embarrassed by behavior and lack of respect on both sides of City podium”

  1. Melissa Evans Avatar
    Melissa Evans

    Ok, since Halie has ignored my question, deleted my comments and removed me from their Facebook page, I will try again here to get an answer on what she read in Mr. Kuhn’s plea for respect letter that make’s her think he wants them to shut up? I am trying to understand her point of view but honestly, isn’t she in fact doing the same thing we are trying to get the council majority to stop doing by censoring me? If I tweeted this would be filed under #hyprocitical

  2. Halie Rebeccaschild Avatar
    Halie Rebeccaschild

    Obviously, if residents are concerned, it’s the obligation of elected officials to listen and to appropriately respond. When residents get angry, it’s in large part because that and other obligations have not been fulfilled. At this point, instead of saying we should all just get along, maybe we should be taking a careful look at resident grievances and the growing list of those grievances. Representative government involves accountability.

    In addition to those listed by Ellen above, I’d add that our city council has not sat with residents to set goals or otherwise in 8 years. In that time, they have put up a 3-story, multi-million dollar, public-private partnership , multi-use building with a contemporary facade in the historic downtown. No attempt at outreach was made and residents were invited to be silent and just go along, like Elizabeth Blust and Jenni Roosa Lindgren, my parents, and me.

    We see something similar happening with the aggressive move to raise city hall, again without any resident involvement in ensuring bids are taken, studies completed and reviewed, selecting an ethical developer, what that structure will look like, sustainability, as would be appropriate by elected officials who acted in the best interest of residents.

    More, I’m going to suggest that all residents set their eyes on the CIC board, which once had concerned residents sitting on it but now has been shrunken to a 5-member structure, the minimum allowable by law and each member selected by Mark Fitzgerald and approved by his majority-controlled council. Instead of helping Loveland control urban blight, it has been speculating in public-private partnership that put our city on the hook for millions of dollars over decades. How many public private partnerships shall we enter into without bids and without resident oversight or engagement? Instead, we get 3 p.m. meetings, harassment letters to concerned residents about the ethics of those activities, and a growing list of people telling their stories about being pushed off of the CIC. Why? Might we assume they wouldn’t just stay silent?

    So with respect to Mr. Kuhn, I strongly disagree.
    I don’t think it’s in resident interest to stay silent at all for the sake of maintaining a trance-like status quo. On the contrary, when we elect our city council, we expect the highest standards of ethical integrity, public transparency, and engagement. That is the nature of representative government, something that should give us a certain assurance that we have the power and the ultimate authority to hold accountable and remove those who abuse their positions.

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