Clay Street Wins Again!!! Clay Street clears the County Council!!!

Somewhere Sandy Koufax is proud.   In a 7-0 shutout Clay Street has triumphed again in its march for the creation of the Capital City Cultural Arts District.  This win while by a wide margin wasn’t decided till the last at bat.   Yes party people, this one was not without some nail biting. 

For those that don’t know (and prior to tonight I was certainly in that camp), the setting of the county council is very chamberlike.  The seven alderpeople for each section of the county sit up in big leather chairs, high and mightly like, occasionally they sneak off to the back room, but for the most part they tower over, staring down at the constituents. 

Quick side note, I have not heard the word constituents at all before I got involved with Clay Street, now I hear it in almost every sentence that’s uttered.  You know what that means right?  I am hanging around those politicos a bit too much, someone please do me a favor and if you start to hear me sounding like a politician step to me and say “ayo Grins, you needa lean back”.  Not that there is anything wrong with the politicians, they are playing their role and that is necessary for order to continue. 

Taking another side note, I have to give a special shoutout to someone tonight, a certain politico, someone who was not present but, made his presence felt nonetheless.  Surprisingly his presence was on our side.  I want to send a special Clay Street shout out to my man Dick Israel.  You see, in the words of a certain esteemed City Administrator “tonight was not only about what occured in the council meeting but, it was also about what didn’t occur’.  

Let me set this up, Dick represents Ward 1, our arch nemesis throughout this entire process, and during the City Council battles Dick was slick, a worthy enemy.  He was in EVERYBODY’s ear, I could tell everywhere I went that he had been there because they would be bringing up his arguements to me.  I am definitely impressed by that man’s ability to represent an issue to the fullest.  Going into tonight I was worried about Dick and his bag of tricks. 

Funny thing happened, Dick sent a letter to the Ward 1 people telling them to stand down and not to organize and come to the meeting to attempt to slow our resolution, he said he couldn’t do battle any more on the issue because he respects the process.   His feeling was once the battle was lost at City Council, it was then his job to get in behind the initative and no longer line up across the scrimmage from it.   This is a complete third hand paraphrase so I could be off a bit, however the sources that I got it from are quite respectful.  When I arrived tonight the first thing I did was survey the battlefield to see who would be lining up and I was somewhat shocked when I didn’t see anyone.  I kept thinking that they would be there at any moment to attempt to pull us down.  They never showed.  Thank you Dick, I admire your sense of government and I feel you have taught me a lesson about the process.  Last thing, I would like to let it be known I thought you were a major pain in the ass and simultaneously I was secretly wishing you were on our side. 

All this aside, CLAY STREET WINS!!!  Next stop the state approval of our application.  We have 60 days till the jumpoff, somewhere around May 15.  You know I will keep you posted every step of the way. 

Party people, stand up.   One way or the other we are going to make the change necessary to reclaim the soul of Clay Street. 

Peace from Clay Street, its a Jazz Thing. 

CLAY IS GOOD.

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Posted in September 2007