Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Mission spin: part 1
Bastrop County recently approved an official ‘Bastrop County Mission, Values, and Objectives’ statement. It is now posted near the entrance to the Bastrop County Commissioners Court.
Let’s examine the first paragraph: ‘Our Mission’ as it relates to the Central Texas Airport/Eco-Merge fiasco.
‘To promote the health, safety and general welfare of our citizens, to preserve the history, culture and natural resources; and to serve as trusted stewards, providing County services in a professional, courteous, ethical, and fiscally responsible manner.’
Would siting an airport within a FAA-recognized Wildlife Hazard Zone that may bring down aircraft on a school or subdivision due to bird-strikes be considered promoting ‘the health, safety, and general welfare of our citizens?’
Would siting an airport in the middle of twenty established subdivisions be considered promoting ‘the health, safety and general welfare’, when many residents may suffer condemnation and vastly reduced property valuation?
Would the removal of safety and environmental regulations by Bastrop County’s ‘trusted stewards’ to facilitate airport construction and operations be considered ‘professional’, or ‘ethical’?
The answer to these three questions is no, no, and a resounding NO!
The performance of the Commissioners Court on these, and many other aspects of the Central Texas Airport/Eco-Merge fiasco, does not live up to the standards of the ‘Mission’ statement, and should be viewed for what it really is.
‘Spin’.
And we all know what ’spin’ used to be called.
