Wherefore Art Thou Robert Ryan?

I am a resident of the apparently under-served 5th Ward in Park Ridge. Yes, 5th Ward Alderman Robert Ryan has the worst attendance record among all the aldermen, according to recent media coverage by our local newspaper. The Save Cumberland Coalition is a bit....hmmmm....how do you say?...confused....Ryan has introduced himself to us, his merry little band of constituents, and we have voiced our concerns about the Cumberland Extension. He was indeed present at the Public Safety Committee meeting that we all attended, and then again at the City Council meeting we attended as well. His words to us?
"It's never going to happen."
Now, those words should be uplifting to any group seeking support from their fearless aldermanic leader. We should all be able to breath a collective sigh of relief and do the happy dance in our Cumberland driveways.
But, now that his record has been revealed, "Ryan’s many absences have not deterred him from making decisions on significant City issues, however, and his decisions have often been contrary to the expressed desires of his constituents."
How should I process that bit of information?
Should I assume that he does indeed hear all of us? Should I assume he needs a hearing aid? Should I consider him Mayor Frimark's rubber stamp extraordinaire? Do I rush him to the hospital for a brain scan?
"Ryan missed only one Council meeting, but was MIA for a whopping 12 committee meetings in his first year in office even though he chairs no Council committees, and does not serve as a Council liaison to any other City committees or commissions."
As the Herald-Advocate editorial pointed out, he has “one of the lightest loads on the council.”
"He bucked an outpouring of opposition from his 5th Ward constituents when he voted to give the politically-connected developers of Executive Office Plaza a variance to add 8 units more than what the is permitted by the City’s zoning code. He also bucked his constituents living near St. Mary’s Episcopal Church with his support of a PADS homeless shelter there."

Does he know where we live? Should we send him a post card, "Wish You were Here?"

He is the only representative the people of the 5th Ward have to represent their interests in the City Council. If he doesn't show up, does that mean his constituents didn't show up either? Gee, why doesn't he call one of us to sub for him?

Are we supposed to wait for him to represent our concerns? The Save Cumberland Coalition isn't likely to wait for evidence that Robert Ryan has been listening. It is my fervent hope that we will actually run into him at a city council committee meeting..errr...maybe.....? Then we can get re-acquainted...again....
Cumberland Patriot

Flotsam and jetsom...on my lawn

Welcome to the summer storm season. For those of us who live in the "low country" on Cumberland it simply means that it is time for that seasonal "plus" of ......drumroll.....our very own lake! (I just heard Monty Hall).
The base of my driveway has disappeared, a water skier has just gone by, and my front steps have been transformed into a pier.
So, I haul out my fishing gear, pull up a chair, and start casting into Lake Cumberland for muskie. It's our very own seasonal recreational feature, a bonus if you will, of living on Cumberland. The waves lap gently over my lawn and.....wait.... there goes an enormous tree branch. I hear it's sigh of relief, and I swear I hear it say, "This is the place." For it is true-my place on Lake Cumberland is where all good tree branches go to die. Then, quite obediently, all the leaves, twigs, and wrappers follow suit. A unique blend that I call, "Cumberland Flotsam and Jetsom".
Now, I know that somewhere beyond the wilderness of Lake Cumberland there must be a Park Ridge city engineer who has some explanation for my lack of sewer drainage. A wise, sage-like keeper of all engineering knowledge. Should I leave Lake Cumberland and go in search of this creature who knows all about what dwells beneath Cumberland? I have heard from others who have tried that it is a long, dangerous quest that can only lead to one place.....a city called Park Ridge.....it is there, I am told, that I will find a council of caring elders who care about what happens to all who dwell in the land of Park Ridge. The citizens of Lake Cumberland wonder about that.
Let's invite these leaders to spend some time on Lake Cumberland, do some fishing, and learn something about life on our wild life sanctuary. Perhaps, then, it won't seem like the ideal North/South route through town that should be extended. That would ruin the fishing.
Say NO to Cumberland extension!

Do they count trucks in Bedford Falls?

The first breezes of summer always lure me to my "front stoop." Maybe it's just a brief lapse, a Jimmy Stewart moment, where my Capra-esque reality includes sitting on my front steps greeting neighbors, maybe a glass of wine, and gazing up through the boughs of a few old Elms...ahhhhh. I am transported. I am in Bedford Falls. Scratch that. I glance down at the glass beside me and it is in motion. A semi is peeling down Cumberland, and I kid you not, my glass has moved a fraction of an inch. Not a seismic event by most standards, but enough to get my attention. So....I have a plan. I am going to find a seismograph and monitor the vibrations of every semi that shakes my home as it uses Cumberland as a preferred north/south route. Perhaps every home on Cumberland could be wired to the street and we could calculate the cumulative "after shocks." Maybe if they reach tsunami proportions Mayor Frimark's glassy gaze would flicker, wave, move,....SOMETHING...and we would see evidence of some glimmer of understanding. I am prepared to wait until I see that glimmer. I just have to find a pulse first.