Life Of Jason

Here’s the press release.  Regardless what you think of the city, the guys in the public works department do a heck of a job.

The City of Springfield has been recognized a Tree City USA from the National Arbor Day Foundation for the 23rd consecutive year. The National Arbor Day has also awarded Springfield with its eighth Growth Award.

The National Arbor Day Foundation is a non-profit education organization that exists to help people plant and care for trees. Communities receive Tree City USA designation upon the recommendation of state foresters, who co-sponsor the program along with the USDA Forest Service. To become a Tree City USA, a community must have a city tree ordinance, a legal tree governing body, a comprehensive urban forestry program, and an Arbor Day observance.

“This recognition of Springfield’s continued commitment to the urban forest is a great honor,” said Abbe Ehlers, chair of Springfield’s Tree City USA Citizens’ Advisory Committee. “Especially considering the recent public forest losses our city has faced due the 2007 and 2008 ice storms and the 2007 late freeze.”

Tim Stanton, Regional Forestry Supervisor with the Missouri Department of Conservation, will present the Tree City USA flag and other recognition materials to Mayor Pro Tem Gary Deaver at 3:30 p.m., Thursday, May 15, 2008, at the pavilion in Smith Park at 1536 E. Division St. Along with the flag, the City will receive a bronze medallion to add to its plaque denoting this year’s recognition, and stickers indicating qualifying years to update its Tree City USA city limit signs.

“Trees in our cities and towns help clean the air, conserve soil and water, moderate temperature, and bring nature into our daily lives.  Trees are a vital component of the infrastructure in our cities and towns, and provide environmental and economical benefits.  A community, and its citizens, that recognize these benefits and provide needed care for its trees deserves recognition and thanks, “says John Rosenow, Chief Executive or the National Arobr Day Foundation.  “An effective community forestry program is an ongoing process of renewal and improvement – a program of tree planting and care that continues through the years.  The Tree City USA award is an excellent indication that there is a solid foundation for that process of improvement.

OK, I haven’t sold the naming rights of the blog to Mediacom…but the city’s selling them for the Ice Park and the Cooper Tennis Complex.  The deal is for ten years at $200,000 per year that City Manager Bob Cumley said will have 3/4 of the money going to pay down the debt of the ice park.

That will be $1.5 million toward paying down the approximately $9 million debt on the ice park.

I know some will say it’s a drop in the bucket but it’s still $1.5 million toward paying off debt and considering we’re having to cut corners everywhere it’s at least a good thing for the city’s financial situation.  If you want all the down and dirty info, click here for the News-Leader story.

With all of the discussion surrounding the square renovation, I thought it might be interesting to chat with Tim Rosenbury of Butler Rosenbury and Partners about the project, the situation surrounding the redevelopment and how he sees the situation.

LifeOfJason: When you heard the square was going to be redesigned, was it something that you felt should be a priority for BRP?

Tim Rosenbury: We were excited about the possibilities of improving the square, and, with a landscape architecture team in-house, we felt we would be qualified for the project. We had redesigned the streetscapes on Commercial Street, and we also redesigned the Trafficway streetscape, crosswalks and median from National to Benton, and the plazas in front of the Expo Center downtown. We thought the square would be a challenge. And it’s been that, for sure.

LOJ: What was your inspiration for BRP’s design of the new square?

TR: Virtually all of the design is in response to the community input process, which was a requirement of the project — to seek out through a series of workshops, open houses, and surveys, those issues and opportunities that we’re facing at this point in the square’s history.

The initial request for professional qualifications that went out to design firms listed several consulting firms which had expertise in community input and programming of public spaces. One of them was
Project for Public Spaces, and we were fortunate to secure them as a consultant to our proposed team. PPS took the reins at the beginning of the project, which was the community input and master planning process.

During the master planning work the leadership role was transitioned over to our firm.

LOJ: You stated to the Community Free Press that you “felt a responsibility to observe the use and revitalization criteria that came out of the public input process on the square” which included at least
750 people. The CFP then claimed that “many of the people who provided input were members of focus groups chosen by BRP’s programming partner, Partner [sic] for Public Spaces.” What is your relationship with PPS and how many of the 750 people were in focus groups chosen by PPS? Did you have
any control over the focus groups, the questions asked or the people chosen?

TR: PPS is a consultant to BR&P. I’d guess that a little over a hundred people were in the focus groups. The rest were those who had responded to surveys at Cider Days, Taste of Springfield and on web sites, as well as those who attended open house events. The categories of focus groups — downtown property owners, retailers, students, etc. — were recommended by PPS, and Urban Districts Alliance and City staff invited specific citizens who fit in those categories to the focus group sessions. At least one of us from BR&P attended each session, and was involved in the discussions, but the actual facilitation was done by PPS.

LOJ: Were you really dissuaded by the city from researching Lawrence Halprin’s involvement with the square as claimed by the president of the Cultural Landscape Foundation? If so, who was it that dissuaded you from doing that research?

TR: No one with the City instructed us to not research Lawrence Halprin’s involvement in the square.

(EDIT:  The author of the piece in the Community Free Press has posted on her blog that the claim was never made that the city dissuaded Mr. Rosenbury from researching the square.  Here is the full quote from Mr. Birnbaum:

“In my conversation with Tim Rosenbury back in early February, he noted that, in his initial presentation to the city, his firm raised the question of Mr. Halprin’s involvement. Rosenbury noted that the city suggested provenance was not a significant consideration and he was dissuaded from researching any Halprin involvement.”

I believe my readers are smart enough to see the word “and” and realize the two items in that sentence are tied together. You can clearly see what is being implied by Mr. Birnbaum.  The whole quote is about Mr. Rosenbury speaking to the city and the dissuasion is included in that statement.  Even if you to try and claim as the Community Free Press’ writer tries to hypotheize that Mr. Birnbaum is saying “the lack of interest on the part of the city in the provenance of the square was enough to dissuade Rosenbury from further research regarding Halprin’s involvement in the square design” it still means someone from the city dissuaded Mr. Rosenbury.

Now, back to the interview…)

LOJ: How involved do you think Halprin himself was in the design of the square? Is the claim by George McLaughlin that “the only one who can professionally be credited with the project design is Lawrence Halprin” just a business related declaration and not an indication of involvement or authorship?

TR: I can’t say. I don’t know these men personally, and I’ve not visited with either of them, and I should take Mr. McLaughlin at his word. One of our landscape architects researched this issue, and found little archival evidence of Mr. Halprin’s direct involvement in Park Central Square. For what it’s worth, when I refer to the designer of the square, I use the name on the letterhead, working drawings, and correspondence do — “Lawrence Halprin & Associates.” It suggests it was an effort of more than one person, as is usual in projects like this.

LOJ: Let’s flip the script and put you in the place of Lawrence Halprin. You’re a legendary architect that has been called one of the best in American history. Your firm designs a square in Boise, Idaho although you only oversaw the work of your staff and did a few crude sketches that were not used in the final design. Yet some people want to preserve it because it’s a “Tim Rosenbury square.” Would you be comfortable with people saying that or would you have to admit that you had very little actual input in the process?

TR: Well, there are lots of projects by our firm that I don’t have any involvement in. And when I get personal credit for a project that I didn’t have anything to do with, then I’m usually quick to point that
out. So I’m comfortable admitting when I had little or nothing to do with a project in our firm. But the attribution issue is tough nevertheless. Different firms and individuals do it different ways.

LOJ: Do you think your design pays enough tribute to Halprin and his work? Would you like to have included more of his firm’s design?

TR: Knowing what I know now, yes. At the time we were working through the design with the technical Committee — the group of stakeholders that acted in the client’s role during the master planning and design process prior to the plan being approved by council — I remember one meeting
during which we had proposed reworking some things, and someone in the committee said, “Yes, but will we have changed the square enough?” It seems there has been as much a desire for change as for no change to the square.

In a way, you have to discern what is useful and functional in the existing square, and what is not. What contributes to its success as a place? From what I can tell, the square designed by Lawrence Halprin & Associates was really nice when it first opened, but over the years a lot of the nice things — trees, mostly — were not maintained. And then, there have been other changes to the landscaping, paving and retaining walls that intrude on the Lawrence Halprin & Associates design. So when you start to redesign, you ask: how important is it for the square to be contemplated as an artifact, and how important is it to be a functional, engaging and shared public space? We’d like to accomplish both, but the latter is the one that designers overlook too often, I’m afraid.

LOJ: Do you think the organizations from outside the city are out of line in trying to stop the process?

TR: No, not at all. That’s their job. They’re very aware of the process, and the process allows for their involvement.

LOJ: What do you hope people say about the square designed by BRP in thirty years? Fifty years?

TR: “Time to fix it — it’s worn out from constant use!” I’m serious. If the “new” square gets lots of use, then it will have been a success. If in thirty or fifty years a different design is needed, then I’d have no problem with that.

LOJ: As a Springfield resident, do you think you could dedicate anything more important to the city than the design of it’s central square?

TR: Well, the square is mighty important, no doubt.

Schools may be more important, because they speak to our aspirations for the future, but they are neighborhood-centered — the good ones, anyway — as opposed to the whole city. Same with churches, and other civic and community institutions.

We were responsible several years ago for the exterior restoration of the Historic City Hall building. As the place of the city’s public business — the City Council chamber, it’s certainly significant to Springfieldians.

We’re finishing up final plans for the Watershed Center. I think we are only now as a whole community beginning to appreciate the significance of the practicing good stewardship of our watersheds, and this building is going to be a huge resource in making progress in our community in that regard.

But the square is one of the few places that all Springfieldians can claim — it’s not north, or south, or west or east. And it’s the same public space that John Polk Campbell laid out in the 1820’s. And, given
that people have lost their lives there — some in grisly, shameful ways — it’s like holy ground. The Halprin & Associates square is just one piece of the story of the square.

In a follow up to the previous blog concerning Brenda Cirtin, e-mails to Councilman Dan Chiles and media reports I contacted the city’s Public Information Office regarding the identity of the mystery person who made the initial request for the e-mails of Councilman Dan Chiles.  This is what I received from the PIO:

The citizen initiated this request for information via a phone call to the Clerk’s Office and Brenda took her usual step of asking the source of the information, in this case Councilman Chiles, to respond to the request. The citizen called back to the Clerk’s Office about three times within a week’s
time of the initial request to check on its progress. When the information had not been provided, the citizen declined to pursue a formal Sunshine request. Brenda told Mr. Chiles the matter was dropped.

Now, obviously, that does not identify the citizen and I’m guessing here that under state law because it was not a formal request there’s no legal obligation for Ms. Cirtin to release the name of that person.  I can understand this because what if the caller was a reporter working on a story?  Why should she be required to tell the other media outlets in town what a reporter for a competiting station is working on as an exclusive?  So there’s a good precedent for not revealing the name of this person.

Had they made a formal request, it would have been public record and Ms. Cirtin would have no choice but to release the name. As is, I really don’t have a problem with her keeping that citizen’s name confidential as the citizen wanted by withdrawing their request.

Now, completely without Ms. Cirtin’s knowledge, I have done some more digging and while I cannot reveal the identity (yet) of the person who made the request I have a source who has confirmed to me that the person making the request was NOT a member of the Springfield City Council, their spouses, their immediate family or city staff. I know there were some in the community who were questioning if this was an attempt by city staff or city council to intimidate Mr. Chiles and that is not the case. Now, the citizen in question may have been trying to do it but it is not someone within the city government.

I’ve also been able to discover that it is not someone connected to the Missouri Liberty Coalition or other groups that have been loud advocates of change within city government and sometimes insinuators of corruption among the city government. So this is not some witch hunt on the part of city critics, either.

I know I’ve said a lot of who it’s not but I thought it was important to see if it was one of those two groups before we started digging any further. At this point, it just seems like a citizen interested in the process who’s not seeking media attention nor attempting to intimidate Councilman Chiles. However, if we find the person, we’re sure going to ask them why they wanted those e-mails.

According to Springfield police, after a thorough investigation, police believe a woman faked her recent account of an attack in the Lake Shore apartment complex.

In case you didn’t hear about the incident, a Springfield woman told police she fought off an attack in her apartment late night April 28th. The woman said a man came into her house through an unlocked door and they had a struggled. However, after speaking with many witnesses and closely examining the evidence at the crime scene, police now believe the reported incident never occurred.

Follow up interviews with the “victim” confirmed the suspicions of the investigators.

The police are still investigating and considering filing charges against the woman for a false police report.  My opinion is that because she knew fully well it was a fake report not only should they file charges but also try to recoup the costs for the police investigation.  I’m sure her neighbors feared for their safety after the incident too and I’m sure they’re going to be ticked off to know they had been lied to about the incident.

I had someone ask me if I could post a link to Amy’s and my wedding website. I thought it was simple enough to remember the address was www.amyandjasongetmarried.com but they said “just post something.”

We went as eco friendly as possible with it and instead of announcements and invitations we went electronic.  (Dan Chiles would be so proud of us.)  We did send some paper invites to folks like Amy’s grandma who’s not very computer savvy.

I can’t believe it’s only 17 days away.  Seems like yesterday we said “let’s do it Memorial Day weekend.  We have plenty of time to plan it that way…”

God sometimes really does things that leave me speechless. (Which if you were to ask my fiancee or people who know me like Chris Brewer or Jim Lee that’s a hard task to accomplish.)

I was on the phone with my mother who was asking me about a wedding event when I walked outside and picked up the mail. When I saw an envelope from DiGiacinto’s Restaurant I felt that weird feeling you get when you think “I shouldn’t be getting anything from these guys.” I noticed the address on the envelope was my old mailing address (which you think I would have noticed first since it had the yellow “notify sender of your current address” sticker on it from our friends at the USPS.)

Inside was a note, a gift card and a menu.

The note read: Dear Jason: This is for you and Amy to have a romantic evening together. Enjoy it! God Bless, A Baseball fan from Buffalo.

Immediately my brain went into (as LoneStarr would say in the movie Spaceballs) HYPER ACTIVE. I started to just spin with wonder as to who I know that lives in Buffalo, knows I was a fan of DiGiacinto’s, knew my fiancee’s name and knew my old mailing address. I still haven’t figured it out but knowing me I’ll spend most of the night trying to do so.

So, until I can figure it out (if I can) and thank you in person, thank you Buffalo baseball fan. Your surprise gift humbles me and really gave Amy & I a real positive boost at a time where we are in desperate need of one. You’re another example of the wonderful people who live here in the Ozarks.

Edit:  Mystery solved…it was a friend from Buffalo, NY and not Buffalo, MO. :)  Thanks, Ryan.

If the hit log is any indication, the post tonight about Brenda Cirtin and her statement that the News-Leader did not call her before posting comments in today’s editorial about her is of interest to many of you. I’ll admit I was pretty harsh on the News-Leader in my comments and it wasn’t about defending Ms. Cirtin as much as it was my belief that if you’re going as far as to say someone’s trying to intimidate someone else you should at least call them.

Before I wrote my post, I sent an e-mail to Don Wyatt of the News-Leader asking for the N-L’s reaction to Ms. Cirtin’s letter to the council claiming the N-L was inaccurate in their editorial. I also tried calling as I noted in that post. The reason I tried to contact Mr. Wyatt was because I’d had interaction with him in the past and I had no idea who wrote the editorial because it had no byline.

Tonight, I received an e-mail from David Iseman, interim Voices editor concerning the post I had made and stating that he was the author of the editorial in question. He said that he would love to hear what people think of the editorial and that his phone number is 836-1167. (Yes, I have permission to post it here.) He said they would record any comments from readers and post a link to them online.

So I want to give Mr. Iseman props for having the tennis balls to stand up and say “I wrote this and if there’s a mistake I’m going to correct it.” No matter how you may feel about the editorial pieces in the N-L you have to respect someone in today’s usually hostile media environment who stand up and say “I wrote this.”

Now, I want to apologize to Mr. Iseman because from the tone of his e-mail I believe he thought I was saying he was deliberately avoiding accountability for his writing. I had attributed the fact there was no identification as an institutional position of Gannett (the paper’s corporate owner) and not the decision of the individual editorial writer and I apologize for not making that clearer in my post. There was no byline during the Tony Messenger days and it was a pretty common assumption then that Tony was the guy behind the editorials even with no name attached to the writings.

And I also give him props for sending me that e-mail tonight claiming ownership of the piece and giving his phone number and inviting people to call with comments. He stood up and took it head-on and I respect that. I invited him to call and have at me tomorrow morning when I’m guest hosting Morningline on KWTO and I hope he will take up the invitation.

Again, Mr. Iseman, you have my respect for standing up and contacting me tonight on all of this.

Edit: Just after I posted this, Mr. Iseman e-mailed that he was very busy in the AM so he wouldn’t be able to call the show. (Bummer.) He did want me to note here that no one has contacted the News-Leader asking for a correction to the piece. I find that more than a little interesting.

Chuck Booms is a little under the weather so I’ll be filling in for him tomorrow morning from 6-9am on Morningline on KWTO, 560 AM and KBFL, 99.9 FM.

We’ll be talking about the issue with City Clerk Brenda Cirtin and the News-Leader, the City Utilities issue I mentioned last night and other city related issues.

GUEST UPDATE:

Sometime before 7:30 we’ll be joined by Springfield City Councilman Doug Burlison and then at 7:30 we’ll be joined by Springfield Mayor Pro Tem Gary Deaver.   We’ll talk about issues impacting Springfield and take your calls.

If you’re not in the city of Springfield, your opinions are still valued!  Any idea can be considered if it can help improve the city and the quality of life in Greene County.

If you have a subject you’d like covered, e-mail me, comment here or call in tomorrow morning.

Click this link to go to the KWTO website where you can listen live.

In today’s Springfield News-Leader, the editorial saying that City Leaders Need To Stay Focused included this passage about City Clerk Brenda Cirtin:

“Chiles said the issue has gotten so serious that City Clerk Brenda Cirtin asked him to turn over e-mails pertaining to his sleuthing from his personal computer.”

OK, I can’t say I’ve been a professional journalist for two decades but I would think in a situation where you’re told this by a course…in this case Councilman Dan Chiles…that you would at least call the City Clerk and ask her about the situation. Did she really ask for the communications from his personal computer?

I spoke with Ms. Cirtin this afternoon and she informs me that no one from the Springfield News-Leader called her for confirmation, denial or explanation of that claim from Councilman Chiles.

That is inexcusable even if it is just an editorial piece. If you’re going to make claims that the city is trying to bully into silence a member of the City Council who is rattling a saber then you need to make sure your ducks are in a row.

I’m attaching a PDF of all the e-mail exchanges between Ms. Cirtin and Councilman Chiles for your consideration. If you don’t want to read through the whole exchange, this is the text of Ms. Cirtin’s first e-mail to Councilman Chiles:

Dan,

I’ve had a request from a citizen for information regarding the Square and any involvement you may have had in raising the question of its historic significance. To determine whether or not this is public record, I need to know the following:

Was any correspondence dealing with the square composed on your city-provided laptop?

Was any correspondence sent on your City letterhead?

Did you at any time, in written correspondence or by way of verbal communication, refer to yourself as a City Councilman?

If the response to any of the above questions is ‘yes’, then I will need a copy of any written correspondence, including e-mails, on this issue. Also, if there is no written correspondence, but there is verbal and you indicated that you were on City Council, then I will need a brief description of what communication there was, i.e., phone call, face-to-face, etc.

If you have any questions, please contact me.
Brenda M. Cirtin, MMC/MPCC
City Clerk
City of Springfield

I don’t see anywhere in that e-mail where she is asking him for communications from his personal computer but rather the computer given to him by the city for city business.  One could argue that she’s suggesting communications from his personal computer in the last section where she asks if he issued communication identifying himself as a City Council member…but in that case he is then acting as a City official and his communication is part of the public discourse.

While Councilman Chiles may have indeed said that to someone with the News-Leader it still should have at least been confirmed.  A simple call would have shown that Ms. Cirtin said nothing about Councilman Chiles’ personal computer records.

This is one of those times where I really get bothered by the fact there is no identification as to which member of the Springfield News-Leader wrote this editorial piece.  Clearly they dropped the ball in not confirming the information with Ms. Cirtin before making it appear to the public that she is trying to intimidate Councilman Chiles.  When I post on this blog, when other articles are written in the News-Leader, when things are voiced on a certain radio talk show at least the person making that report or opinion is identifiable and responsible for the accuracy of their reporting or opining.  We cannot get that same kind of accountability here because we simply don’t know who wrote the column.  It’s like someone who made an anonymous post on the internet with incorrect information…there’s no accountability.  (And didn’t several now-former News-Leader staffers write pieces taking people posting anonymous pieces on the internet to task?)

Look, I’m of the position I don’t think a City Council member should check their rights as a citizen at the door just because they took the oath of office.  I want passion, I want concern and I want them to strive to make a better community.  We’re all better off when the Council is seeking the best for the community as a whole.  Still, if they identify themselves as a City Council member then what they do becomes City business.  Sure, it’s hard not to realize when you’re talking to Gary Deaver or Doug Burlison or Denny Whayne or Ralph Manley that you’re talking with a City Council member but they’re also citizens and in my opinion have the right to act as such in their daily lives.

Still, Ms. Cirtin’s request was not unreasonable nor was it far reaching.  It certainly wasn’t intimidating on her part because she was simply trying to fulfill a Sunshine Law request from a citizen.  (Now, the citizen may have been trying to intimidate Councilman Chiles by asking for the information.  I’m fully open to that and would even think it could be likely.  Still, that doesn’t mean Ms. Cirtin was trying to intimidate anyone.)

I’m sure the friends I’ve had at the News-Leader are going to take me off their MySpace friends list after this column but I have to call it as I see it.  In this case, the News-Leader appears to have not done their follow-up to confirm the facts…even leaving a voice mail for her to return the call would have at least been a step in the right direction.

I’ve e-mailed the News-Leader for their response to Ms. Cirtin’s statement and providing the e-mails that contradict what they printed in today’s editorial.  When I receive it, I will post it here unedited.  I tried calling this afternoon to reach them and received only voice mail.   (The voice mail for the editorial staff said that “in honor of today’s holiday” they were closed.)