Interesting…

I really hope nothing bad happens to the streetcar. I’m really excited to see it come together, and can’t wait to see it completed.

Nice that Salyer and Shadid didn’t show up for this. I voted for Shadid, what a joke.

Is this an issue? Other than the fact that the rest of the council crossed a line/ burnt a bridge/ acted like jerks for not delaying the vote, wouldn’t it have passed anyway? I thought that I read that Salyer was going to vote for it anyway. Poor judgement nothing else. Stir it up.

And James, I don’t think they get paid (or at least not much) to be on the council. Sometimes you take a vacation, give him a break – it’s public service!

Yeah, it’s an issue. Shadid and a not insignificant number of people are very upset over what they see as Shadid having been cheated of his chance to participate in the debate and cast his vote.
I’m not saying it’s right or wrong; I will say that Mayor Mick Cornett has usually pushed for such courtesies in the past, as did his predecessors Ron Norick and Kirk Humphreys. Looking at it historically, it was very much out of the norm and marks a change in direction for City Hall. The city manager led Councilman Shadid to believe a deferral would be granted.

Keep in mind, Shadid had a flight scheduled to get him back before the vote. That flight got canceled. He called OKC, talked to Jim Couch, Pete White, and said he was willing to spend $4,000 to get another flight to Dallas and then drive the remainder to get back in time for the meeting. He was assured that wasn’t necessary and that the vote would likely be deferred at his request.
What does Shadid learn from this? Some say he learned that he can not trust his fellow council. This is a situation we’ve not had in Oklahoma City in a long time, but has been prevalent in Tulsa for quite some time now. I wonder how that’s working for Tulsa? I wonder how that will work for Oklahoma City? Was the potential down side of this decision really considered by mayor?

Steve if your reporting on the issue with Shadid is correct, then the Mayor and his office essentially DISENFRANCHISED the Oklahoma City citizens of Ward 2 (by not allowing our representative to participate).

And if this reporting of events is correct, then absolutely the lesson learned is that Shadid cannot trust the Mayor’s office and at least portions of other City Council members. And this means Oklahoma City Ward 2 citizens cannot trust our Mayor and the entire City Council.

Of course, just to be clear, the Daily Oklahoman has no problem with any of this given their editorial today:

http://www.newsok.com/a-healthy-debate-over-maps-3-timeline/article/3583270?custom_click=pod_lead_opinion-oklahoman-editorials

recall Mick the lying weasel cornettt. heck, the guy barely beat a pot head who didn’t campaign and he acts like he’s got some mandate like he’s Mussolini or something.

A couple of other blogs (at least) have been writing on this topic, in addition to the links you mentioned, Steve:

At http://www.okc.net, a very nice article by Grace Gordon.

And, of course, someone named Doug Dawg had a few words to say.

All this is, is bad karma for Mick Cornett. He should have delayed the vote, but it would have just delayed the inevitable. Will it cost him re-election? I hope not, because I worry the next person that comes in could be a teapartier that wants to take it back to puritanism/ Cromwell type days and do away with MAPS. Cornett at least wants to get it done and if that means stepping on toes, so be it.

I will say this, Shadid has been very vocal since he has come in, and if anybody doesn’t think that this isn’t a big time political manuever by Shadid, then you are kidding yourselves. He is playing to the Oklahoman and this blog and people are buying it big time. It is really smart on his part…

people are playing up to “this blog”? That’s awesome.

The Oklahoman has another op-ed on this today, telling Shadid to get over it and that his vote doesn’t matter (cause if Salyer voted, they would have cancelled each other out): http://newsok.com/article/3583572#disqus_thread

AND the DOK has turned comments OFF for this op-ed.

NO VOTE AND NO COMMENTING. THE DOK WILL NOT HEAR FROM YOU RUFFIANS. MOVE ALONG!

All I am saying is be careful with your power there, Steve.

And easy with the quotations, Lackmeyer. I meant no disrespect towards “this blog”. I don’t want you digging into my background…

Well it is no surprise to me that the usual suspects of graft and corruption have reared their collective ugly heads again. The more it changes the more it stays the same.

Hopefully all incumbents will be thrown out at the next election cyle until Shadid has a conmpletely new group of folks on the horseshoe.