Good news.
No doubt due to my prompting, the Janesville administration decided not to sit on the city manager's "state of the city" speech like they have in the past. It has suddenly popped up on Youtube and that's a good thing. You can watch it here but be forewarned, it is one of the most uneventful yet self-aggrandizing skits you'll see just short of the city manager declaring a monarchy and awarding himself a crown.
However, regardless of its obviously staged promotion and low value for meaningful dialogue, viewing the event brought me to the next obvious question. Why isn't there ever a rebuttal to the City Manager's "State of the City" report?
Is it because we have no choice but to drink the kool-aid? Or is it because nobody wants to be targeted by city officials for having a different perspective or different ideas?
That's all a very good possibility since during the past ten years, some council presidents would publicly reprimand fellow members as divisive and argumentative for not marching in lockstep with the Forward Janesville agenda or the city bureaucracy. So with that, council members can't offer an official rebuttal without being vilified. Same for top ranking city employees since they would likely be fired for challenging or criticizing their boss in a public address. God forbid.
City residents too would likely be isolated by the establishment and tormented on social media for being power hungry opportunists if not delusional. It can get scary.
There is also the possibility that no one objects (except malcontents like myself) to the way the city is run or how more than half of the city's geographical population is not represented in council. People like it like it is.
But put it this way, if you like gerrymandered single party rule at the national and state levels, you'll love the way Janesville is run. To be clear, it's not that a single political party rules Janesville per se, but that there is a one-track "man behind the curtain" Oz-like authority and agenda operating with the same "gerrymandered" control enabled only by disempowering the majority through media manipulation. Whew-wee.
Remember, Janesville has no democratically elected mayor or district representation on the city council. To disagree with those calling the shots behind the curtain is to become a negative influence and hater of the city according to local media propagandists.
But all of that makes even a stronger case for the need for a rebuttal to open up dialogue if at least to engage the public. You've read part of my take on it, so I ask my Janesville readers: Why isn't there a rebuttal to the state of the city?
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