By Jim Sack

There is just something about the way that she relates to people at council that suggests she learned all her life’s lessons from a course in Perry Mason cross examinations. She is just hard unnecessarily on people when kindness or a neutral approach would work just as well.

Last night, at council, is a case in point.

A citizen named Al Kuehlling had been invited to and presented a PowerPoint presentation on the values of burying electrical lines and communications lines in Fort Wayne. The PP included a lot of interesting pictures and quite a few calculations and cost comparisons. Mr. Kuehlling’s presentation, to say the least, was rambling and lacked pace. It was boring and did little to make his case, a case I support, to systematically bury all the power lines in Fort Wayne.

Mrs. Brown challenged him on a variety of points, many of which did beg clarification. Tim Pape posed questions. Mitch Harper made a statement and offered a question, Karen Goldner asked questions. Except for Mrs. Brown the questions were posed with a basic level of respect and politeness. Not Mrs. Brown. Maybe it is just her nature to be condescending, suspicious and, at times, rude, but she was that way last night and has been that way so many, many other times.

At one point she challenged Kuehlling concerning roots of trees that might infiltrate buried conduits and, thereby, knock out service or require costly repairs. She guessed that root lines extend twice as wide as “leaf lines” and turned to John Shoaff and sneered, “help me, you’re a tree lover…” Small comment, a bit on the mean side, disrespectful, condescending. She is just that way. Shoaff politely added his thought and did not attempt to retaliate, to his credit. He is not that way, nor, generally, are the other members of council. Sure, sometimes when angered Mr. Pape can get a bit testy or smug, but the other eight members, including Mr. Pape, are remarkably collegial and respectful of one another and of citizens and witnesses who stand before them as witnesses or advocates.

Kuehlling finished his presentation and returned to his seat. The meeting continued with the normal requests for funding for sewer lines, police equipment and a presentation on a historic designation. The meeting almost flew by.

Kuehlling’s goal is to prepare an ordinance for the county that will exceed an existing city ordinance and essentially require utility companies to bury all lines. The commissioners, he said, have invited his draft. He also asked council to push the city to enforce the ordinance, already on the books, to bury lines within the city during construction. Kuehlling is that one guy in town who dogs the topic.

Keeping the lines in the air on poles is cheap. It looks that way and defines our community. How about a power pylon in your back yard for the kids to climb? But AEP’s cost calculations do not take into consideration the cost of damage to homes without power, damage to closed businesses, car accidents, the rare electrocution and the butt-ugly look that overhead lines present. Those who try to sell business on relocating here say that the tangle of wires does not help their economic development efforts. Proponents add that the significant up-front cost is more than balanced by the long term savings. AEP only counts costs to their bottom line, not yours, not ours.

Liz Brown seemed last night to be on the side of butt-ugly, in her normal condescending fashion. As they say, you attract more flies with honey. She would be a more effective legislator if she considered that aphorism. Kuehlling is on the right track, she could have advanced the discussion, instead she acted like an ill-mannered child.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 21st, 2010 at 8:51 am and is filed under City & County Government, Fort Wayne. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.