Dear Editor:
This is to respond to the letter to the editor by Rita Beck in the August 30, 2024 edition of The Climax Crescent.
Ms. Beck is one of three property owners on N. Church St. who wanted trees on their property cut down at the expense of Village taxpayers. They argued that the trees are in the right-of-way. Their behavior was such that some Council members were afraid to speak for fear of becoming the object of interrogations, aspersions, and public ridicule.
Early on, these three property owners disrupted the meetings with side comments, passing notes, and incessant badgering for special treatment. In the name of free expression, I permitted them to go on and on repeatedly for weeks. To the point of having to impose time limits and rules of behavior. They were and are unwilling to accept that they cannot have special treatment.
In order to add to the pressure on the Council, they made the Quiet Zone question a contentious spectacle which some of the Council supported and some opposed. A decision to proceed with it or put it aside was not made until the Council members were simply afraid to express their support.
In my summary of these events, which I presented at the Council meeting on August 20, Ms. Beck tried to interrupt and when she was not permitted, she left. She just couldn’t wait her turn. In that summary I noted that “If the loudest citizens can intimidate Council members and others in the community so that the Council cowers, that’s tyranny by tantrum.” Ms. Beck was a perpetrator of intimidation, not a victim.
Ms. Beck concludes her letter by saying that “We all need to vote in November for change.” What she is saying is that she supports a candidate for Village president who will use taxpayer money to cut down her tree. She knows that the Village cannot afford to do this for everyone but everyone is not her concern.
I’ve been on the Council for five years and Ms. Beck has never come to a meeting until she wanted her tree cut down at taxpayer expense. The change Ms. Beck wants is to have a president who will do that. She obviously knows I won’t and must know that my opponent will. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be a change. Years of nepotism is a pretty good indicator that she’s right.
Dave Miller
Interim Village President
This is to respond to the letter to the editor by Rita Beck in the August 30, 2024 edition of The Climax Crescent.
Ms. Beck is one of three property owners on N. Church St. who wanted trees on their property cut down at the expense of Village taxpayers. They argued that the trees are in the right-of-way. Their behavior was such that some Council members were afraid to speak for fear of becoming the object of interrogations, aspersions, and public ridicule.
Early on, these three property owners disrupted the meetings with side comments, passing notes, and incessant badgering for special treatment. In the name of free expression, I permitted them to go on and on repeatedly for weeks. To the point of having to impose time limits and rules of behavior. They were and are unwilling to accept that they cannot have special treatment.
In order to add to the pressure on the Council, they made the Quiet Zone question a contentious spectacle which some of the Council supported and some opposed. A decision to proceed with it or put it aside was not made until the Council members were simply afraid to express their support.
In my summary of these events, which I presented at the Council meeting on August 20, Ms. Beck tried to interrupt and when she was not permitted, she left. She just couldn’t wait her turn. In that summary I noted that “If the loudest citizens can intimidate Council members and others in the community so that the Council cowers, that’s tyranny by tantrum.” Ms. Beck was a perpetrator of intimidation, not a victim.
Ms. Beck concludes her letter by saying that “We all need to vote in November for change.” What she is saying is that she supports a candidate for Village president who will use taxpayer money to cut down her tree. She knows that the Village cannot afford to do this for everyone but everyone is not her concern.
I’ve been on the Council for five years and Ms. Beck has never come to a meeting until she wanted her tree cut down at taxpayer expense. The change Ms. Beck wants is to have a president who will do that. She obviously knows I won’t and must know that my opponent will. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be a change. Years of nepotism is a pretty good indicator that she’s right.
Dave Miller
Interim Village President
