Trivial pursuits
It is virtually impossible to watch the torturous process of the Watertown City Council without developing a desire to chew your arm off. It's tough to conceive of a group so dedicated to the trivial and so completely tone-deaf to the needs of its constituents.
Take, as one example, the half a year the council has spent diddling around with the selection of a design to put on a fountain with less than 75 square feet of area. The idea, formally proposed in the spring, was to have a design contest to provide an apt painting to put on the Lachenauer fountain on the American Corner. As fountains go, it is relatively modest; for years it has quietly burbled along, providing a serene setting for a couple of benches in the tiny park that surrounds it and attracting the passing glances of about 10 percent of the drivers who went by it – mostly those stopped at the long light at Arsenal and Public Square.
Then it needed some paint, and from that sprung an idea to have a little competition among area artists, judged by the public, to put a nice design on the fountain. So far, so good. Then, the council decided it didn't really like the idea of having the public make this choice. Too plebian, perhaps, or an acknowledgment the council is in fact no better, smarter or discerning than the sum of its constituents. So the contest was waged online and of 740 votes, Design L was a clear winner, with 318 votes, and Design A a clear second place finisher, with 143. So far, this sounds easy.
The council instead selected between Design C and Design D. And it took two meetings to choose Design D, because it split 2-2 in the first vote. Now, almost in August, the council has chosen a design more or less rejected by the public for a tiny project that was supposed to be completed in mid-July. Confusion and obfuscation 1, sound public policy 0.
Then, in a TV-7 interview on Sunday night, Councilman Joseph Butler proposed, with a completely straight face, a new city law that would make loud music in cars a violation of city ordinances. Not 70 decibels loud, not 90 decibels loud, but loud at the discretion of any police officers. And he suggested that this indefinite, arbitrarily enforceable law is OK because there are "lots of laws that are at the police officer's discretion."
Excuse me, Joe, but where exactly do you live? Name one existing law that is up to any police officer's discretion – just one. From speed limits to drunken driving laws, there are specific standards that, when exceeded, are in violation. There are no laws that don't set the parameters for violations thereof. Perhaps you are confusing enforcement discretion – you can probably drive 35 mph in a 30 mph zone without being ticketed, for example – for legal ambiguity, which is a disaster waiting to happen. This law wouldn't have to go to state Supreme Court to be rejected; City Judge Jim Harberson would almost certainly dispose of it the first time it came before him. Confusion and silly legislation 2, sound public policy 0.
These are examples of the vital public business the City Council has been up to of late. Perhaps this is because City Manager Mary Corriveau takes care of all the real business, leaving the council nothing but official proclamations and tiny-fountain-design selections. If that is so, it is hard to conceive of a political body more marginalized than this one.
It might be better for everyone if council meetings were held once a month so the bills could be audited and paid and city coins disbursed to worthy Good Samaritans, and Mrs. Corriveau held public meetings every two weeks to discuss real city business and bring the press and public up to date on things that matter. And then the mayor and council salaries could be cut to token levels – $50 and $25 a meeting, say – and save the taxpayers some money.
Author's note: Of course, Judge Harberson's first name is James, not Joseph. I chalk it up to OMD.
