Written Off

For every Chief Scott in the world, there's guys like this idiot, who sent this absolutely insane letter into the Springfield Republican, in response to the Aaron Brevoort-police shoot out a few days ago in Springfield:

The manner in which the Springfield police, the four state police officers
and the U.S. marshal killed Aaron J. Brevoort last week appalls me.

Perhaps even more appalling is the fact that this act of savage brutality
was praised by The Republican editorial, "In the line of duty, officers show
courage." (March 15).

How much courage does it take to surround a house with nine others and
shoot, as was reported by witnesses, up to 100 rounds at a man? The degree of
force used in this incident by the cops should be disturbing to everyone, as it
was to Brevoort's neighbors. Andres Salazar is one example who said he was
frightened for himself, his wife, and his 4-year-old grandson due to the
excessive amount of force used by the cops.

If this isn't an attempt to try an sensationalize just about all the stories within the story, I don't know what is. First of all, Salazar was talking about being frightened in general. That tends to happen when people are shooting guns and trying to waste each other in your vacinity.

Second, let's do some math here. If 10 people lined up around the house and were all shooting pistols, then that means they all used one clip. If the shoot out lasted 10-15 minutes, like eye witnesses said it did, then that means each officer fired one shot a minute. Excessive? No. Bad shot? Probably.

But then again, I'm sure this author was hoping for a 'fair' fight.

Another neighbor, Misael Sanchez stated that he counted 55 shell cases on
his property according to the same article. Sanchez commented upon the incident
as follows, "I was nervous. It's like something you see in the movies." There
was a daycare center on the third floor of the same building that Brevoort was
murdered at. According to the witnesses, it seems that the cops were not
shooting with any sort of restraint, accuracy, or concern for human life.
Imagine if one of those bullets would've strayed into that daycare, or another
child nearby; it is likely seeing as 55 shell casings were found on the property
of the neighboring home. With actions such as these we are forced to ask
ourselves who are the real gangs terrorizing our streets?

SHAUN LAMORY

This kind of ignorance just infuriates me. It doesn't make me mad, it makes me furious. For some suburbanite assclown who probably went to Hampshire College to be postulating about the excessive show of force that police used after being shot at. Brevoort was the one who opened fire first. He was the one who showed contempt for life. The police officers bravely did what they could do defuse the situation.

They found Brevoort's body with the chamber of the weapon open, an empty clip on the ground, and a full clip in his hand. He was killed while attempting to re-load his weapon. He wounded one Springfield Police officer to boot. He got his.

What blows my mind with regards to this letter and another written likely by the same idiot using a different name, is how all the facts in the case are completely and conveniently ignored so this nutbag can slam police officers for doing their job. The reason I posted this letter to begin with was because here, again, is a prime example of how idealogical narcissism is driving the folks on the left. There's a complete ignorance to what actually happened and instead a cute, reconstructed story is formulated and inserted so that they can paint 'cops' as the bad guys.

I'm willing to bet someone writes a letter to the editor talking about how Brevoort enjoyed picking flowers or petting the baby goats at Catskill Game Farm in his hometown of Catskill, NY. Someone will diefy him and turn him into a hero.

To me, he's another scumbag gone for good. The combination of technology and natural selection are a great thing.

Frankie Keough Gets Three Years

Frankie Keough was sentenced to three years yesterday. That's right, three year for swindling an entire agency for nearly a decade.

As one of the best-known public figure caught in a federal corruption dragnet in Springfield, Keough pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy, extortion, mail fraud, witness tampering and perjury charges linked to his tenure at Friends of the Homeless Inc., which runs two shelters in Springfield.

In an apology moments before Ponsor issued the sentence, Keough expressed a mix of anguish and self-contempt.

"I've asked myself how I arrived in a place like this," said Keough, who was jailed in August 2005 after admitting bail violations. "Quite frankly, I don't have an answer," he added.

After getting dozens of letters in jail from friends and former supporters, Keough, a college football star and former five-term city councilor, said could not bring himself to read them.

"They would just remind me of how grossly I have failed," he said.

It may be the understatement of the decade.

In perhaps the most ridiculous 'legal' basis for a slap on the wrist sentence, Judge Ponser said the following:

Ponsor also expressed concern that Keough's wife and son had struggled during his 20-month absence.

Defense lawyer Daniel D. Kelly of Springfield cited an unspecified medical condition of Keough's son, Griffin, while asking that his client be sentenced to home confinement.

Not only did he steal thousands upon millions of dollars from the HOMELESS agency in the city, he resorted to petty theft too, stealing mattresses, TV's, appliances, etc. Who gives leniency to the people whom he stole from?

Only in Springfield...


By the way, on a completely unrelated and utterly random note.... Frankie Keough barrs a striking resemblence to WWE Smackdown! Superstar Fit Finlay:


I'd bet, in a fight, Finlay would win. By a lot.

Ardolino Goes Down.

You better look nervous, scumbag! There's a new bitch for sale in the Fed Pen!

It makes we swoon with joy to watch this clown finally get his.

Masscahusetts Burning? Swan Compares MA to Mississippi

According to State Representative Ben Swan (D-Springfield), Massachusetts is as racist, if not more racist than Mississippi.

Swan said in a sworn statement filed in connection with the case that he once preferred the Deep South to Springfield.

"When I first moved to Springfield (in the 1950s) I wanted to go back to Mississippi because of the racist attitudes I encountered," Swan said.

Yesterday, he testified he believed there have not been equal opportunities for blacks to get elected here, due to fund-raising and networking handicaps.

I'm curious to know whether or not in Mississippi it's o.k. for public officials to not pay their taxes? In any event, the plaintiffs will rest their 'case' tomorrow. Thank the lord.

Ward Representation Circus Gets Goofier

SPRINGFIELD - A former black city councilor and a veteran campaign worker for black political candidates today told a federal judge they received chilly receptions from white voters during election years.

Carol Lewis-Caulton, who served on the council from 2001 to 2003, and Democratic City Committee Chairman E. Henry Twiggs, were among witnesses testifying in an ongoing voting rights trial in U.S. District Court.

"The feeling was pretty much .¤.¤. people did not make eye contact with you. They did not come over and chat with you," Lewis-Caulton said, referring to her experience at mostly white campaign events.

Twiggs testified he and longtime state Rep. Benjamin Swan, D-Springfield, were occasionally ordered off white voters' property when the two went door-to-door.

The court battle over ward representation, which appears on its face to be about simple numbers, has effectively called into question two decades of race relations in Springfield. According to plaintiffs suing the city to swap at-large City Council and School Committee seats for a district-based system, political opportunities for blacks and Latinos are sorely lacking.

But lawyers for the city have argued local politics are open to hard-working candidates of all races and ethnic backgrounds, holding up a handful of crossover candidates as success stories.

A jury-waived trial began Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor. Testimony will continue Monday.

Credit: Masslive.com

This 'trial' or whatever they want to call it has gone from absurd to plain ridiculous. Is this the undisputable evidence these people are talking about?

Carol Louis-Caulton was voted off the city council because she was a crappy city councilor. The question that isn't answered however, is that if her skin color was an issue during her re-election bid, then how come it wasn't when she WON election? Does she have polling data to back that up?


Then our good old friend E. Henry Twiggs, chairman of the Springfield city Democrats, said he and State Representative Ben Swan were chased off of white people's property. If Ben Swan came on my property, i'd chase him off too. The reason being that he's a crook and there are a ton of folks who know it. I'd chase Billy Bulger off my front lawn and about three quarters of the Massachusetts State Legislature. The difference between Swan and everyone else though, is that half his family is in jail, all as a result of being a little too free-wheeling with taxpayer money.

So as far as i'm concerned, there's really no case here. Nothing is documented, nothing is supported by data, evidence or anything. All it is is unadulterated whining over the fact that these candidates of this particular political bent can't get the job done and that they want the government to step in and set quotas to make sure they have a seat at the table no matter what.

Heroes Rescue Man in Burning Building

Because people don't talk about the good going on in Springfield. In a time when it's hard to crack a smile, stories like this are refreshing.

Coakley-Rivera Testimony a Coincidence?

In a story found on the Springfield Republican's website, State Representative Cheryl Coakley-Rivera (D-Springfield) painted a 'dismal picture of Racial Equality in Springfield'.

Que political grand standing at it's worst in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

State Rep. Cheryl A. Coakley-Rivera, D-Springfield, who is of Irish and Puerto Rican descent, testified she believes her Anglo roots have helped her win white votes over the past several elections.

"My mother is from County Cork. I think that's made a difference. ... People have said that to me," the legislator said under questioning from a lawyer for plaintiffs in a ward representation lawsuit against the city.

Civil rights groups and individuals who brought the suit have argued Springfield's at-large voting for City Council and School Committee largely shuts out black and Latino candidates who face fund-raising and networking challenges in a racially splintered city.

Well this is as big a surprise as the sun coming up in the morning. Rivera's always looking for a fight, whether it's punching someone in the face on the house floor, or screaming about Trash Fees, she's never far from the headlines.

It's the end of the story that's the telling part of this.

Coakley-Rivera did not testify publicly about allegations in her sworn statement about Mayor Charles V. Ryan's former chief of staff, Michelle Webber.

Coakley-Rivera submitted an affidavit last month for trial that detailed alleged racist statements made by Webber at City Hall, including calling a man of Muslim descent a "towel head."

Webber denied making the statements, but ultimately resigned after the legislator's allegations became public.

Of course, this little snippet was tossed in the story for good measure and its worth mentioning because, by now, it should strike no one as a mere coincidence.

What's more convenient than anything are the names and identities of the folks who are being left out of this story, the Ryan Staffers who accused Webber of making these statements. I find it beyond a coincidence that these two staffers were former staffers to Cheryl Rivera once upon a time.

Meddle much?

She's clearly attempting to galvanize the minority vote by showing up to testify in this trial just as much like she probably was during the whole Ryan-Weber 'scandal'. This is a third, very clear shot across the bow of the S.S. Charlie Ryan Steamship.

Cheryl Rivera wants to be Mayor, and she's willing to blatantly use the race card to do it.

It's no secret Ryan and Rivera, who've traditionally been pretty formidable allies, aren't on the same page the way they used to be. The coincidences and timing here stink worse than a burning bag of dog poo.

The message is clear: get out of the way.

Springfield Ward "Representation"

After a few failed attempts, advocates of Ward Representation in Springfield have gone to the courts, suing the city on the basis that the current at-large voting system used to elect city councilors has rigged the system to work against minority voters.

Hopefully, someone lays the smack-down on this before it causes serious, if not irreparable damage to democratic government in the city of Springfield.

Usually, I hate doing this “post a quote, post a response” method of doing things, but it’s late.

Springfield Urban League President Henry M. Thomas III told a judge that whites, for example, have more access to schmooze-ready venues, such as Rotary Club meetings and Catholic churches - both popular mines for politicians.

You mean to tell me that an Afro-American candidate wouldn’t be allowed to attend the Old Hill Citizens Council meeting? Or the Pine Point Citizens Council? They have access; they just need to do a better job of doing something WITH that access.

No one can do this stuff for them. If they want to make it easier, hire a consultant.

"Not everybody's like me," Thomas, long a political force, told U.S. District Court Judge Michael A. Ponsor. "I have been able to transcend those artificial boundaries ... but not everyone can."

But that’s the point. Not everyone can have a seat on the city council. Not everyone can have health care, not everyone can have a personal jet, and not everyone can play in the NHL. Thomas broke the glass ceiling by competing and taking the right steps to insure he’d win and/or be successful.

Plaintiffs suing to change the composition of the City Council and School Committee have called former and contemporary political candidates, plus seasoned campaign workers, to support their argument that few minorities can penetrate the "white bloc" vote in Springfield.

But WHY is that? It’s awfully presumptive to assume that the underlying reason in this is all because of someone’s skin color. What issues do they support? Have they reached out? How much reaching out have they done in comparison to others? What are they asking for? What are they offering? These are all questions that aren’t being asked because it’s a great opportunity for a group to politically grand stand.

Civil rights groups and a handful of black and Latino residents sued the city in U.S. District Court in 2005.

The lawsuit followed several failed attempts to change the so-called "at-large" City Council, which requires candidates to run citywide for nine seats, to a district-based system. The plaintiffs also want to alter the at-large School Committee to include ward representatives.

The lawsuit contends the at-large system is stacked against minority candidates, violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965. A jury-waived trial began on Tuesday after mediation talks fizzled.

The Plaintiffs in this case are worth mentioning, but as per the usual in the Repubican these days, they conveniently omitted their names. The first two players in this are two groups which endorsed the socialist party’s nominee for the Presidency; ARISE for Social Justice and Oiste? The third is an old friend of ours, the NAACP.

I’m sure they’re miffed about all of this. Save for 2 Republicans on the council in the last 10-15 years or so, the Council has been almost entirely stocked full of Liberal Democrats. Apparently, they’re not liberal enough. That’s the problem here, don’t kid yourselves. Smells like a quota system to me.

Believe you me, it’s not about the minority candidates not getting elected, it’s about the TYPE of minority candidates not being elected. I’ll bet my life ARISE and company wouldn’t be supporting a Republican or Hispanic minority candidate for dog catcher, let alone school board or city council.

The 90% Democratic city council saw through it, so they went to the courts to have un-elected officials make the decision for everyone, which is usually par for the course with groups such as these.

Lawyers for the city argue the political climate in Springfield is ripe for any hard-working candidate. City Solicitor Edward M. Pikula has argued ward representation will promote clannish thinking among neighborhood representatives.

Thomas, a former police commissioner and member of the state Board of Education, today testified ward representation could entice "disconnected" voters.

Springfield residents are thinking three things these days:

1.) They hate needless Taxes. The city council loves needless taxes. See Trash.
2.) They are tired of government waste and unresponsiveness. The City Council depends on it to keep their jobs. Thanks to them, a finance control board is in place to make sure they don’t drink their own pee.
3.) Springfield Residents are moderately conservative on social issues. Most on the City Council aren’t.

So sure, the climate is definitely pointing at a big change, which might come as soon as this fall, if Springfield residents bother to vote.

The problem with this from ARISE, Oiste and the NAACP’s standpoint, is that it’s not the kind of change THEY’RE seeking. They want the city council to increase taxes. They want the size and scope of what the city government can do to be much larger than it is now. They are also radically to the left on social issues.

Again, it’s political, not out of good will.

Thomas also told Ponsor minority candidates have difficulty raising money and winning endorsements from prominent whites.

Thomas also told Ponsor minority candidates have difficulty raising money and winning endorsements from prominent whites.

Idali Torres, a city resident and public health professor at the University of Massachusetts, testified she has worked on campaigns for two women of color: former School Committee member Carmen Rosa and former City Councilor Carol J. Lewis-Caulton.

Lewis-Caulton became the first black woman to win a council seat in 1999. She lost a bid for re-election in 2001. Torres said fund-raising and wooing endorsements proved difficult.

Raising funds are difficult. It’s not easy for candidates who aren’t incumbents to raise cash. Caulton lost her seat because the voters didn’t feel she was fit to stay there, not because she was a minority. She shared different views from the voting public. If there are folks out there who share and support her views, the onus is on her to activate those voters and make sure they show up at the polls.

When people don’t share your policy stances, finding money and support IS difficult. But in a REPRESENTATIVE democracy, that’s sort of what you need to do; represent the interests of the people who elected you, not the people who don’t care enough to vote in the first place. Our government’s success hinges on the quality of participation on the part of its citizens. If they’re not going to contribute to the discussion or debate, then they shouldn’t expect to get anything out of it.

Rosa, on the other hand, won a School Committee seat by a landslide in 1993, after two years of knocking on doors and campaigning full-time. Torres also testified that Rosa, a Latina, does not look Hispanic.

"People used to ask if she was Italian," Torres said, adding she believes crossover candidates - City Councilors Jose F. Tosado and Bud L. Williams - have political connections that appeal to white voters.

This is precisely the point. What did Bud Williams do that made him different from the other black candidates that ran for city council? What did (Former City Council President, I might add) Jose Tosado do differently from other Hispanic candidates?


Politics isn’t Little League, where everyone, including the kid wearing the hockey helmet at the end of the bench, gets to play. If someone can’t activate enough voters to support his campaign in order to finish 9th place in an election, then I don’t want them on my city council. This is the test. You can’t just stuff the ballot boxes all you want until you get the desired outcome you please.

Receiving 25 votes in one ward and winning an election doesn’t speak to the concerns of the entire community, which is what the City Council should do. Instead of one representative, you have nine. Instead of 25 people making a decision that will effect thousands, thousands are making decisions for the 25.

If you’re considering running for city council or any elected office, you first need to figure out whether or not you’re a good candidate. Do your views line up with the population? What issues will resonate with voters? Do you have the money? Are you willing to spend everyone else’s money? These are all questions that should be asked before you even take out your papers at city hall. If the answer is no to most, all or even a few of those questions, then you are not a viable candidate and it would be a waste of your time and other people’s money to run. If you’re exceptionally committed, start campaigning and begin to set in motion the wheels of change. But just because you WANT to run, doesn’t mean you’re ENTITLED to win.

Heck, you need to come in NINTH place to win.

I understand and can even appreciate the arguments behind Ward Representation. In fact, if you’re looking at the two systems, the Ward system is entirely more appealing to me from a philosophical standpoint, but it HAS to be for the right reasons and it should be glaringly clear to all that the folks seeking ‘equal representation’ aren’t seeking ‘equal representation’. That’s the issue here that I think many advocates of Ward Representation are overlooking. It’s not the ‘what’, it’s the ‘who’s behind it and why’.

To the folks in ARISE, Oiste and at the NAACP, it’s about forcefully establishing a take over of the city government by people they choose and that they feel will better advocate for issues important to them. It is special interest at it’s most loathsome. It’s about insuring that their brand of politics is slammed down everyone’s throats, not through the Democratic process, but via un elected Judicial Activists in the Court System. To these people, it doesn’t matter if it breeds clansmanship in the city amongst neighborhoods. Socialists already operate that way. In their worldview, everyone is lumped into nice, neat little categories: gay clan, the lesbian clan, the Hispanic clan, the black clan, the white clan, the sub clans and we don’t need anymore. That’s what they want. They want irresponsible voters coming to the polls because it means they don’t have to be held accountable for their loony antics like supporting socialist candidates for the US Presidency, setting up tent cities in the major tourist areas of the city and being flat out odd.

This isn’t being done in the name of democracy, it’s being done in the name of replacing democracy with THEIR form of Democracy and that’s shameful. They’re willing to waste taxpayer dollars to prove it, too.

For once, the City Council did something good and ignored this lunacy. You should, too.

Kennedy Fried Insurgency

For people like me, who takes extreme joy in making fun of the stupidity and intellectual shortcomings of others to the point that I made a web page so I could do so all the time in a very public way, *dramatic pause* this takes the taco, kids.

According to the Springfield Republican... ah Jesus, just read it here...

For those of you who want to avoid the research, I'll give you the short and skinny. Once upon a time there was a fried chicken joint that liked to stay open late and serve it's product to patrons despite not having a permit to do so. One day, a bunch of angry men entered the restaurant and opened fire on each other, killing one, injuring another.

Somehow the clowns at City Hall aren't blaming, you know.. the guilty parties, they're blaming the inanimate objects in the incident for the shooting. Apparently there have been a TON of calls to this particular establishment in the 2 1/2 years it's been operating.

City Councilor and resident Genius Timothy Rooke said the restaurant, not taxpayers, should shoulder the cost. "I think Mayor Ryan should send them (the restaurant owners) a bill," said Rooke, who said after-hours restaurants in the nightclub district were a magnet for troublemakers.

Uh, Tim... that housing project you voted in favor of on Worthington Street (the Entertainment District), probably doesn't help things either. You're hardly a reliable source on what is and what isn't a magnet for trouble makers. Seeing as the only thing Springfield Residents have to get excited about anymore is getting smashed on Worthington Street, the last thing I'd recommend doing is taking away the happy juice that likely contributes to the level of stupidity it takes to repeatedly vote for you and your fellow droolers on the city council.

The simple fact of the matter is that this is yet another example that points to the fact that the Springfield City Government STILL can't tie it's own shoes, let alone take responsibility for any old stupid thing it does. If the restaurant had been closed like it should have been, or had the city Police Department, in it's '143' trips to the establishment had checked for those permits, it's pretty likely that none of this would have happened in the first place.

Despite the delinquent fees owed to the Springfield Business District and operating without a license, I'm pretty darn sure no one who owns Kennedy Fried Chicken wanted there to be a shoot out in their dining area. I'm positive they didn't encourage it and would hope to the good lord on high that they didn't and don't condone it. When ramped up security becomes a requirement for a restaurant to stay open, we've crossed the line of dumb to flat out retarded. What were these guys supposed to do? Put a metal detector at the front door? Or maybe shoot BACK? Uh, kids, is the earth really flat?

It takes me back in time to the old 'suspended license' bills Linda Melconian and Steven Buoniconti filed a few years back, when Linda was embarrassing herself out of the State Senator and Bono was just another fart in the House. It's also known as the "if I could turn back time" defense.

Here's the back story. In West Springfield, a kid got hit by a car and subsequently was killed. He was riding his bike at night and the driver was driving with a suspended license. The police report supported and a judge upheld, that the driver didn't do anything wrong. The kid who was driving the bike basically was at fault because he was wearing all black clothes (stupid), wearing headphones (stupid-er), and was driving in the middle of the road (now, it's just natural selection).

Mommy did the Mommy thing and expressed her 'outrage' at the verdict. She said that since the guy shouldn't have been driving the car with the suspended license, it didn't matter that her incredibly stupid kid made a mistake. She insisted the accident wouldn't have happened had the driver 'respected' (yah, she said it) his suspended license. So she tried to push to get legislation passed on Beacon Hill that would claim anyone driving with a suspended licence would be deemed liable regardless of who's 'fault' the accident was.

Thank god for us on planet earth, the bill didn't go anywhere because even the Massachusetts Legislature isn't dumb enough to jail someone involved in an accident that wasn't their fault. Imagine the stupidity of you forgetting to send in your license information, some no talent @ss clown ramming into you from behind, he dies, and because he plowed into you, you're at fault because you never should have been there.

Really in the end, the onus lies on the City Government to do it's job. The cops could have checked for permits not only at the Main Street location, but in several other locations as well they've claimed to have been called to. In fact, they had 143 opportunities to check up on these things. Or better yet, Charlie and his army of idiots at city hall could have closed the restaurant down you know, when their license was SUSPENDED. Follow up, no?

So in the end, there's really no one to 'blame' per sae, other than the three clowns that decided to shoot up a restaurant on main street of all places over a spilled drink. What's almost as disturbing as the absolute lack of fear on the part of the violators, is the absolute refusal, yet again, on the part of the city government to take responsibility for failing the public once more.

Springfield Officials: Growth=Housing Projects

There are plenty of problems in Springfield these days and it's almost tearfully easy to Huck mud at the city council and the mayor, but even this time, they could quite possibly have out done themselves yet again.

If you ask me, one of the biggest issues in Springfield that no one wants to talk about are the two monster housing projects two blocks from the downtown business district. For the last four years we've had homeless running around the quadrangle, people getting hassled in Court and Tower Squares, increased violence in the downtown area of all places, and yet, the City Council and David Panagore think it's an awesome idea to stick yet more 'affordable' housing (see housing projects) downtown? When is someone actually going to stand up and point out the ridiculously obvious that 'affordable housing' in Springfield has run it's course.

I don't know if anyone in city hall seems to realise it or not, but people don't come to this city because they don't feel safe. Housing projects = low income people. Low income people = low income problems. A big contributor to the atmosphere downtown are those two housing projects. Of course, not EVERYONE who lives there is a criminal, but in all honesty, 10% of the population create enough issues for everyone. Now we're going to ADD to that? As is, the downtown business area will never thrive. People don't like being hassled by bums and really don't like weaving in and out of the crasssy lolas lined up and down main street.

As if the projects on Dwight and Chestnut streets weren't enough, the latest public storage bin going to be located on one of the few streets people in the city still frequent: Worthington Street, the so called 'entertainment district'. Maybe i'm being too cynical, but it seems incredibly obvious that the only reason anyone comes to Springfield these days is to get drunk. Sad but true. God knows it's the only reason I go there. They've had a plethora of issues with the strip and now they're going to dump gas on the fire with more projects. I'm sure Panagore, Mayor Ryan and the other geniuses will no doubt begin pointing fingers at Commissioner Flynn when the bullets start flying.

In all fairness and funnies aside, the Finance Control Board has done a very solid job of pointing the city in the right direction. However, this latest decision is a serious mis-step in the wrong direction IF the overall goal of many of these consulting studies and downtown economic stimulous packages are to bring more people downtown.

Personally, I'd really like to see someone... anyone at city hall, grow a pair and start addressing the real problems downtown and the real issues that are preventing this city from growth. Signing off on more goodies for people who don't deserve them isn't going to get anyone anywhere. It'll keep on happening until some one's got enough brains to figure out that affordable housing is only affordable for those who get to live there. Ask a tax payer how 'affordable' affordable housing is.