While playing golf the other day a lot of the guys in our two foursomes were lamenting that Mayor Berry looks weak for not attending the APD gripe session at the City Council last week. Most of these guys voted for him. He does look like a man who wants to avoid stress for sure. He can always fall back on the good ink he gets from the editorial board at the Albuquerque Journal. He is after all, a republican.
One of my golf buddies asked what I think Mayor Berry should be doing at this point. Now that the DOJ has stated what is obvious, Berry then immediately left the city council and public on the sidelines in hiring a couple of guys to help straighten things out. They were contracted at an amount just under the requirement that would have triggered letting the City Council have a say in the selection. And of course they said little because now they don't have to take the heat.
So, what Berry needs to do now is invest about a quarter of his time in actually involving himself in seeing that things get fixed. He should demand a daily briefing about what tasks and mileposts have been achieved in fixing the police department. Of course, that assumes someone will set out tasks and milestones and let the public be informed of them. Will we see such a list?
Berry needs to reach out by having some town halls of his own where he can just listen to folks give suggestions. Sometimes some great ideas can be had by doing that. Also, it might be good for Berry to stop listening to the folks who got us into this predicament. And his political advisers have to realize that he is no longer just the nice guy they like to portray him as. He is now seen by many as not being up to the job. His actions in the past couple of years of saying he was remaking APD seem like fluff. Things got worse because he just didn't pay enough attention. I can't imagine he ran his business like that. Honestly, I want him to succeed in fixing this mess. Our economy is in bad enough shape that the continued national press coverage of our problem police department is hurting us even more.
On another APD issue, how is it that former Chief Shultz was able to sign a multi million dollar contract with the people who manufacture Tazers to supply APD, and then sign on to working for them a short time later? I don't think this passes the smell test, and it might even be illegal. I have heard media people say they are just to busy with other APD stuff to handle this one.
And, once again, where is the Office of Medical Investigator report on how the suspect who shot a police dog was killed? This is definitely one I want to hear about.
One of my golf buddies asked what I think Mayor Berry should be doing at this point. Now that the DOJ has stated what is obvious, Berry then immediately left the city council and public on the sidelines in hiring a couple of guys to help straighten things out. They were contracted at an amount just under the requirement that would have triggered letting the City Council have a say in the selection. And of course they said little because now they don't have to take the heat.
So, what Berry needs to do now is invest about a quarter of his time in actually involving himself in seeing that things get fixed. He should demand a daily briefing about what tasks and mileposts have been achieved in fixing the police department. Of course, that assumes someone will set out tasks and milestones and let the public be informed of them. Will we see such a list?
Berry needs to reach out by having some town halls of his own where he can just listen to folks give suggestions. Sometimes some great ideas can be had by doing that. Also, it might be good for Berry to stop listening to the folks who got us into this predicament. And his political advisers have to realize that he is no longer just the nice guy they like to portray him as. He is now seen by many as not being up to the job. His actions in the past couple of years of saying he was remaking APD seem like fluff. Things got worse because he just didn't pay enough attention. I can't imagine he ran his business like that. Honestly, I want him to succeed in fixing this mess. Our economy is in bad enough shape that the continued national press coverage of our problem police department is hurting us even more.
On another APD issue, how is it that former Chief Shultz was able to sign a multi million dollar contract with the people who manufacture Tazers to supply APD, and then sign on to working for them a short time later? I don't think this passes the smell test, and it might even be illegal. I have heard media people say they are just to busy with other APD stuff to handle this one.
And, once again, where is the Office of Medical Investigator report on how the suspect who shot a police dog was killed? This is definitely one I want to hear about.
6 comments:
It sounds like your golfing buddies are finally realizing about Berry what is common knowledge amongst City Hall insiders and observers. Berry is very weak, is no leadeer and avoids stress at all costs. Berry cannot handle confrontation nor critics. Berry physically reacts to stress. When protesters showed up to the Mayors office on the 11th floor over a year ago, it was observed that he got very nervous and his hands physically started to shake and he left through the back door and held all of his meetings on another floor to avoid any contact with the protesters. During the first debate last year, Berry began to sweet profusely and could not guzzle water down fast enough nor put on enough make-up to cover up the sweet. During one of Berry's "one on one" interviews with reporters after the Boyd killing, Berry again could not drink enough water between answering questions. Berry's absence for 8 days after the Boyd shooting was no accident in that he was avoiding the conflict. Instead of going to the City Counsel meeting to listen to the APD protesters, Berry was busted attending a meeting with about 10 friendly young professionals and not meeting with civic groups about APD as was originally reported. There is no way Berry would ever arrange or attend public meetings where he may have to listen to criticism.
The DoJ says Albuquerque Police misused Taser many times over. APD has used Taser and has not allowed for any other non lethal equipment or non lethal training. This started 6 years ago. APD was Taser or nothing. Under whose direction did APD use Taser and nothing else? Ray Schultz. What does Schultz do in his final year as APD Chief? He makes sure that Taser gets a $1,950,000 contract with APD. The biggest contract Taser has received. As a reward what does Taser give Ray Schultz? A high paying job on the first day of Schultz early retirement from APD. Illegal? Yes. Will it be investigated? Who knows. The City Council, the Bernalillo County DA, the NM AG, the FBI and the Department of Justice have all been formally asked to investigate Ray Schultz and Taser and the kickback he received for giving them a multi-million dollar contract. So far the same silence has has caused APD's current problems continue. The people we entrust to be the checks and balances have cowardly vacated their authority. No wonder people are protesting.
It is not what APD did, it is what others failed to do about it.
Berry failed to do anything about it.
And the citizens will fail this society if they don't
RECALL BERRY!
...and what of the mysterious death of prominent civil rights attorney and APD adversary Mary Han?
If you haven't already, please watch Chicagoland on CNN (http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/us/chicagoland?sr=CHItvpromo).
Given the issues on the streets in Chicago, our City Hall and APD would be completely clueless in such a situation. The people of Chicago, Rahm, the police superintendent, and even the principal of a high school are putting all of their chips on the table...I don't see ANYONE in ABQ doing 1/100th of ANYTHING that I see going on in Chicago.
And we wonder what it will take to get ABQ/NM out of this "rut"? Chicagoland is truly leadership in action.
WHO WILL SAVE YOUR SOUL, ALBUQUERQUE?
Albuquerque has lost its moral compass. It says a lot about a society that we were not enraged that a police officer tasered someone who had poured gasoline over themselves out of desperation. The result being they basically cooked him alive. Did you ever wonder how that felt? Apparently the mentally-deranged officer wanted to know. Finally it took the firing squad of a homeless man who was just trying to survive to wake the citizens out of their slumber. Are you awake yet?
Who will save Albuquerque’s soul?
The leader of our city, Mayor Berry – I think not since he can’t even be accountable for where he was for 8 days at our expense. Each day he maintains his dwindling power is a day that our city will continue to spiral downward.
The City Council – I think not since they appear to be deer in the headlights. They either better start leading by taking a STRONG position on fixing this crisis or be removed at their next election, if we as a community, wake up out of our slumber.
The DOJ – We waited for over 16 months for their decision only to see now there is more manipulation by Berry with his usual tactics. And Berry still has not admitted any wrongdoing as the leader of this failed city.
The religions – The ones who are supposed to lead the moral compass of a community. Less than a handful have done that, careful not to disrupt their financial base. Let me add that the religions have to account to no one about what they do with their finances since they are not required to file ANY paperwork or tax returns with the IRS or State.
The answer is WE THE PEOPLE of ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
The only way to fix this crisis is for WE, THE CITIZENS, to stand up for and DEMAND good values from our leaders.
And if WE, THE CITIZENS, don’t do something about it, then we should not wallow in this crisis expecting someone else to fix it.
What can you do?
1) Register to vote and THEN ACTUALLY TAKE A MOMENT TO VOTE. If you are 18, make sure you get registered. Everyone can vote by mail-in ballots from their home so there is no excuse to not VOTE.
2) Start UNITING. You can do something as simple as voice your observations in social media, post your video on YouTube. JUST DO SOMETHING TO SAVE ALBUQUERQUE’S SOUL! Start a grass-roots movement about what you see needs fixing. Even one person can make a difference with will and determination to do something.
3) Albuquerque has the potential to be one of the best cities in the US for a variety of reasons, and we will be someday with the right society. We could be the place that people want to move to rather than move from. With the right leaders, ones who actually are in their positions of leadership because they care about the community rather than their special interests, we can someday be recognized for being one of the best places to live in the US instead of one of the worst. DEMAND JUSTICE, TRUTH, RESPECT, INTEGRITY AND LEADERSHIP AND WE WILL ULTIMATELY SUCCEED IN GETTING THAT FROM OUR LEADERS.
And if you think this is just a problem in Albuquerque, you haven’t been paying attention to what is happening in NM.
THE ONLY THING NECESSARY FOR THE TRIUMPH OF EVILS IS FOR GOOD MEN TO DO NOTHING - EDMUND BURKE
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