“Commissioners: Philosophy, not gender, will be key on new board - Colorado Springs Gazette” plus 2 more |
- Commissioners: Philosophy, not gender, will be key on new board - Colorado Springs Gazette
- Clevelander Nicole McGee brings philosophy of reuse to her decorative pieces, jewelry - Cleveland Plain Dealer
- Mike Shanahan Reverting to Old Washington Redskins Philosophy - Bleacherreport.com
| Commissioners: Philosophy, not gender, will be key on new board - Colorado Springs Gazette Posted: 06 Nov 2010 02:31 PM PDT Last week's election changed the composition of the El Paso County Board of County Commissioners – but many say viewpoints will trump gender. For the first time, females will outnumber males on the commission, which in 1978 grew on a voter-approved expansion from three to five members. Newcomers Peggy Littleton and Darryl Glenn will be sworn in Jan. 11, to represent Districts 5 and 1. They'll join current members Sallie Clark, Vice Chairwoman Amy Lathen and Chairman Dennis Hisey. The tipping of the gender scales is something Hisey's thought about. But he said in the days following the election that gender isn't a factor likely to dominate the board's work. "I expect people will align themselves more based on their philosophy than their chromosome makeup," he said. "There's a period in the beginning when you're figuring out who's interested in what, and that has to shake out, but I'm not concerned about our ability to work together." Hisey said he's known Littleton for years because his kids went to school with her kids. Littleton served as a volunteer on the Colorado Board of Education for the past seven years. She beat Democratic challenger state Rep. Michael Merrifield for the commissioner seat. Littleton describes herself as someone who "will do what's best for the citizens I represent" and says she has the same mindset as the current commissioners when it comes to being fiscally conservative. "I'll look at data and research before making a logical, informed decision, as opposed to an emotional decision," she said. Personality tends to be more of a defining measure in terms of a group of elected officials working well together, said Terry Harris, who teaches political science at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and who served as the first county commissioner for District 5, from 1979 through 1986, and was later the county's administrator. "We've had a lot of women on the board – Marcy Morrison, Jeri Howells, Betty Beedy – and I don't think it matters that there will now be three women," he said. "Sooner or later, they're all going to come down to their own philosophies, ideas and campaign promises. And they'll make it work, whether they're women or men. That's their job." Several controversial figures have served on the board in recent years. In the late 1990s, Betty Beedy drew national criticism for her fiery stands on social issues. Both Beedy and Huffman survived recall attempts. Anti-tax crusader Douglas Bruce, whom many consider the most polarizing figure in Colorado politics, also had a stint on the board, bringing much contention and seemingly endless 4-1 votes, particularly on county spending issues. Current board members have aired philosophical differences on local issues, most recently two measures that the board referred to the ballot: extending term limits of elected county officials and banning medical marijuana related businesses in unincorporated El Paso County. Jim Bensberg, who will vacate his District 5 seat in January due to term limits, cast the sole dissenting vote against both issues. "If the commissioners wanted to ban dispensaries, they should have voted amongst themselves, not put it on the ballot," he said. "But they lacked the political courage to do so." Despite such varying views, Bensberg said the existing board has clicked in terms of getting the job done, and he predicts "the collegial atmosphere will continue with the new board." With voters approving extended term limits for the commission seats, the new board could be working together for years to come. OUTGOING BOARD MEMBERS JIM BENSBERG: Since taking office as a county commissioner in 2003, Jim Bensberg has acquired the nickname "the prince of darkness" from his co-workers. "I'm known for going behind people when they leave the office and turning out the lights," he said. Energy-conscious Bensberg also has been known to inject a sense of humor and lightheartedness from the dais. But the seasoned politician has taken his role as an elected official seriously. "I like being directly accountable to the voters who put me on the board," he said. "Of all levels of government, county commissioners are the most accessible, and we pride ourselves on being responsive to our constituents." Among his accomplishments, Bensberg cites: -- Increasing public visibility of the commission. Bensberg worked with fellow commissioner Sallie Clark to negotiate a deal to have the weekly commissioner meetings televised via the Pikes Peak Library District on Comcast Channel 17 at no taxpayer cost. -- Establishing a federal immigration and customs enforcement office in El Paso County. Bensberg said he lobbied hard for the effort. -- Regulating medical marijuana businesses in December 2009, when he was still chairman of the board. -- Changing county collection methods on use tax of building materials from an honor system to a more accountable assessment. -- Improving recycling and conservation efforts, by setting a personal example, encouraging co-workers to follow suit, increasing local waste tire recycling and working with state legislature to funnel more money for tire recycling. Bensberg scrapped an idea to run for county treasurer and said he's not ready to announce his plans for the immediate future. He said he intends to run for the state House District 16 seat in 2012, which will be vacated by a term-limited Rep. Larry Liston, also a Republican. WAYNE WILLIAMS: Wayne Williams, a county commissioner since 2003 and a lawyer specializing in labor and employment cases, has leant a voice of reason to the board. His said his ability to analyze all sides of issues helped him bring some points to the forefront of discussion. "I've probably made more amendments than anybody else because I'm usually trying to find ways to make things the best they can be," he said. "Sometimes the details are fairly important." Transportation has been one of his areas of concentration and expertise. Since 2005, he's served as the region's representative to Colorado's State Transportation Advisory Committee and has been involved with numerous other committees. Williams said transportation was one of the most frequently raised complaints of residents when he was campaigning and a source of personal frustration. Among his accomplishments, Williams cites: -- Playing a key role in obtaining funding for transportation projects, including widening Interstate 25 to six lanes and extending Woodmen Road to Falcon, and building Fort Carson's I-25/Highway 16 Interchange. -- Working with Fort Carson to obtain buffer lands and offering county land for a veterans' cemetery. -- Turning over operations of the Pikes Peak Center and an equestrian center to private nonprofits that are not subsidized by taxpayers. -- Adding more than 1,000 acres of new park and open space land without a tax increase. Williams, past chairman of the El Paso County Republican Party, was elected county clerk and recorder last week and will take over in January. "I'm concerned about the elections process in our country; I've testified in legislature on those issues and want to reduce the possibility of election fraud," he said. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Posted: 05 Nov 2010 12:09 PM PDT Published: Friday, November 05, 2010, 3:08 PM Updated: Friday, November 05, 2010, 3:17 PMCLEVELAND, Ohio -- Nicole McGee is a bike-riding, worm-composting, chicken-raising, clothes-swapping contrast to big-mortgage-two-SUVs-in-the-driveway consumers. She's not at all like those who work long weeks to make a lot of money to buy all the things they think they need. Not that she has anything against people who choose a fancier lifestyle. It's just that a productive life in her old house on a brick street on the near West Side suits her style. The 30-year-old lives a life of reuse and sustainability, extending the concept to the jewelry and decorative objects she makes from found stuff. Check out the jewelry she makes from beads she found alongside a Cleveland street. And some groomsmen just loved the boutonnieres she made from vinyl floor samples. Ditto the floor-sample floral centerpieces she created for the five-state chain of Aladdin's Eatery restaurants. She found the samples at ZeroLandfill, a Cleveland organization that recycles materials such as paint chips and upholstery fabric squares by offering them free to artists and teachers. "The idea of reducing consumption is one I feel strongly about -- which is a dichotomy since as an artist I'm essentially repeating the same model by selling my stuff," said McGee. But she's talked with others who consider her work to be a way for people to reconsider waste and to celebrate resourcefulness and reuse. That's why a friend gave McGee her grandmother's lifetime collection of beads, because "I know you'll do something with them." And why the artist biked past an old drawer full of beads lying on a curb and promised herself she'd stop if it were still there when she rode by again. Thus was born her "Train Avenue Collection" of necklaces and earrings, a story she loves to tell the people who buy them. Jewelry made from reused objects has stories. New items do not, McGee said. Her work space is the wide hallway between the kitchen and living room of her double on Pear Avenue. (She and her husband, Matthew, rent the bottom half.) It is room enough for a table, a stool, the punch press her dad found for her secondhand, and an organized clutter of strings of plastic bottlenecks she weaves into colorful plaques and broken necklaces she will rework. Perched here and there are vinyl floor-sample centerpieces like the ones the people from the company that makes Johnsonite flooring saw in an Aladdin's and said, "Hey, that's our product!" From that, McGee got a big order for necklaces and key chains made from vinyl tiles for the company to distribute as little gifts to interior designers. (Her jewelry generally ranges in price from $30 to $80.) The jewelry maker also raises thousands of red wiggler worms in two vermicomposting bins in her basement. They eat the banana peels she saves by the dozen in the freezer. "My husband, Matthew, is the most patient creature in the universe" about the recycling and composting, she said. They met in high school in Franklin, Pa., their hometown. She and Matthew share one car. Living close to the West 65th Street RTA station is handy -- part of the appeal of living in the Detroit-Superior neighborhood's pedestrian-friendly EcoVillage, Cleveland's sustainable living project that promotes green housing and urban farming. "I think a big part of living sustainably is to reduce our own consumption," said McGee, who organizes clothing swaps with friends to replenish her wardrobe and recommends reading "Your Money or Your Life" (Penguin) by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez, and "Voluntary Simplicity" (Quill) by Duane Elgin for instruction on the subject. "Of course, we all need to buy things," said McGee, who belongs to an egg co-op. (The eggs are provided by some Rhode Island Reds housed in a coop a few doors down from her house.) "When it's a purchase other than food, I try to consider it for as long as possible before I buy," said McGee. "This helps me make a wise choice and also is a good reminder of what a privilege it is that I can easily buy optional things for myself." She would rather spend $100 on a pair of shoes that will last a decade rather than $20 on a pair that will wear out in a year. Though it makes perfect sense to her how art and community activism meld, it might be surprising to some that McGee came to Cleveland in 2003 to be a community organizer at Merrick House, the Tremont neighborhood center and settlement house. She now volunteers as a member of its board. In May, McGee finished her master's degree in sociology at Cleveland State University. Her thesis has a reuse theme; its title is "Perfectly Good, the Value of Used Over New." She makes notecards from doodles on reused paper, cutouts from cereal boxes or snips from the paper tablecloth used at a family reunion. "I just keep bringing in all kinds of trash," McGee said. Like wire hangers pitched by the dry cleaner that went out of business. They will become stems for the fat roses she makes from newspaper. "I like to think of myself as an alternative florist," said McGee, who also makes decorative bowls by putting old vinyl records in the oven. She and other artists who make environmentally minded art and gifts will offer their wares Thursdays through Sundays from Thursday, Nov. 18, through Sunday, Dec. 19, at Pop-Up Gift Shop, a temporary shop at 2242 Euclid Ave., at Trinity Commons next to Ten Thousand Villages. (Fittingly, the shop will take over a vacant storefront.) Stop in and ask her about one of her pieces. She'll be happy to tell you its story. 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| Mike Shanahan Reverting to Old Washington Redskins Philosophy - Bleacherreport.com Posted: 02 Nov 2010 11:58 AM PDT  Leon Halip/Getty Images After the mind-boggling benching of Donovan McNabb this past Sunday in Detroit, the Washington Redskins crazy carousel is running at full speed. Despite McNabb's poor play this season, the idea to bring in Rex Grossman was a bad one, and the fallout from McNabb's benching is going to linger for a long time. McNabb had an opportunity to lead the Redskins down the field for a game-winning drive. He most likely would not have succeeded, since his pass protection was atrocious the whole afternoon. Even so, the Redskins would be sitting at 4-4 heading into their bye week—a record almost any Redskins fan would have been happy to live with. If he did lead the team down the field, Washington would be riding sky high—a 5-3 record, a great comeback and a new-found belief in No. 5. But after the benching, the media is swarming like vultures. Players are questioning the coaching staff privately, if not publicly, and McNabb's future with the organization is in reasonable doubt. This moves clearly illustrates that Mike Shanahan is starting to lose faith in McNabb. His Monday afternoon press conference was one for the ages, where he questioned McNabb's ability to call two plays at once, run up the field and organize a drive with no timeouts remaining. He sounds like a real believer, doesn't he? JaMarcus Russell was brought in today for a workout at Redskins Park. Why!? If you believe that Russell is seriously being considered as a candidate for the roster, then you are delusional. Unless of course he is going to play left guard. Even the idea of bringing in Russell is stupid. The team extended John Beck's contract early in the preseason and brought in Grossman because he is familiar with Kyle Shanahan's offense from his days in Houston. So from a public relations standpoint, I just do not understand it at all. Now, with all of this controversy, Shanahan's large ego is starting to show its face. He has now benched McNabb, Albert Haynesworth and Derrick Dockery. Even with the atrocious play of current left guard Kory Lichtensteiger, Dockery has remained inactive the past few weeks. With all of these moves, fans are already beginning to lose the faith that was restored in the offseason. Sounds familiar, huh? Has anything really changed? What if Randy Moss is picked up off waivers by the team? Is this a sign of a team looking to make a playoff push, or another clue that nothing has changed at Redskins Park? Instead of the national media ignoring us, which we should all prefer, they are all putting the front office's feet to the fire. It has been a very bad week in Ashburn. The bye week will not dilute these distractions. Washington faces Philadelphia on Monday Night Football in Week 10. The questions and poor answers will continue to circulate for weeks to come. When will the day come that the Redskins simply put their best 22 out on the field week in and week out and see what happens? They have shown the ability to defeat good teams (Eagles, Packers, Cowboys). Now let's keep the ship going in the same direction. A few big waves will crash down from time to time, but all is not lost. Unless the new regime rips the boat to shreds. This article is What is the duplicate article? Why is this article offensive? Where is this article plagiarized from? Why is this article poorly edited? This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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