Some people seem to take offense when I point out the obvious garbage that goes on with Metro Government. Of course most of those same people are the ones I gripe about. Ah but alas I stray.
I have been accused of being anti government, anti Louisville, stupid, crazy, an idiot, and well you get the gist. Hey if you cannot stand the heat stay out of the kitchen I say. Problem is I like my kitchen so I will be there for quite awhile. So let's clear the air a bit on a few things perhaps it will make some people sleep better but probably not.
In no way shape or form am I anti government. In fact quite the opposite. Our government is very necessary to our daily lives to be anti government would be a nut job in my opinion. With that being said let me explain this. Our government should be about giving people a hand up when necessary then get the heck out of the way. Unfortunately our government has adopted the policy of give the people a handout and then tell them what to do with it.
I am anti government as we now have it. The people in office seem to think there primary job is to take care of themselves at our expense. I have challenged the status quo on so many things throughout this blog, and I will continue to do so when there asinine way of doing business hurts the people they are elected to represent.
This does not mean, however, that I have some sort of personal bias against many employees who are caught in the crossfire. One of my latest articles Louisville News and Politics: ZONING: ARE YOU SERIOUS? actually surprised me a bit from the responses I received. One sentence in the article concerning IPL inspector Frank Glavinski set off a few phone calls in his defense.
Essentially while outlining a continuing problem with IPL and the Leo's in that article I was trying to show how when you get targeted that the leadership at IPL will start checking any and everything you own for problems. The Leo's have had inspections at their home and business and everything in between and in my opinion it all started with John Flood the convicted felon who led IPL.
I mentioned Mr. Glavinski in passing as the inspector who was smoking a cigarette when Mrs. Leo answered the door. It was unprofessional in my opinion. This one sentence caused a few phone calls to me in Mr. Glavinski's defense. In fact, I gave out my personal cell number to one caller and asked them to feel free to give it to Mr. Glavinski.
Well I am glad they followed through because I had a nice 25 minute conversation with Mr. Glavinski and I have checked some open records on him. I referred to Mr. Glavinski in the comment section of the article above as one of the good guys who just made one mistake. In fact he even said it was unprofessional to be smoking while on the property.
But more importantly I also have on record a couple of letters from residents thanking Mr. Glavinski for his courteous, professional way of helping them get in compliance with zoning issues. And that folks is the positive stuff we should be working together to achieve.
Mr. Glavinski was very courteous, and very helpful in explaining some of the day to day things the inspectors must put up with in order to do their job. In fact he regularly stands up against some things he feels violate the context of the job he was hired to do.
My rants and stories are not intended to be against the individuals who are forced to do their job, from bad cronyism management in the Abramson machine, but I am dedicated to outing the leadership, and those like Michael Baugh, who abuse the authority and the trust we put in them.
I must say thanks to Mr. Glavinski for his dedication and sincerity in his job. Seriously. As I have stated numerous times I do know some inspectors personally but I do not use their name because I want no retribution against them. In this case I feel it important to let people know at least with one name and face, with permission, that indeed there are those who truly do care.
So for those like Frank Glavinski I say thanks and please keep up the good work. For all the others. I most certainly will keep up the good work outing you.
Anyone have any stories good or bad to share? Write me I would love to talk about it.
Friday, April 17, 2009
2 comments:
Thank you for reading LNP. Open and honest discussions of local politics and relevant issues is important to voter understanding. Please listen to the "Ed Springston Show". We broadcast Monday through Thursday evenings at 7 PM on local media outlets. Please check for the links.
Yours truly,
Ed Springston
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I've sent you several comments and usually only to point out mistakes you've made. Like in this writing you say "...my opinion it all started with John Flood the convicted felon who led IPL".
ReplyDeleteJohn Flood never led IPL. John Flood was the head of the Property Maintenance Division, which is one of three divisions within IPL. Saying he led IPL is very misleading to someone not familiar with the agency. Since the early 1980’s there have been three leaders of IPL, in reverse order; Bill Schreck, J. Michael Brown, Jim Lawrence (your conspiracy theories would be correct if he was still director).
Many of your opinions are based on your perceived conspiracy theories. I think you could affect more change if you based your views on something other than these utter nonsense allegations. Being in a position to know, you are totally off base with them and it makes you unbelievable. I suggest you base your writings on facts, you do a decent job when you do, then you could make a difference. The King writings for example.
Also, here is a little tidbit for you, there was once and administrator within the department who had a theory about what laws the IPL staff were required to enforce. His quote is “the best way to get rid of a bad law is to enforce it.” Meaning don’t blame IPL for laws the Council enact, they are enforcing bad laws, don’t like them, work to get them changed. (Your predictable response will be they only enforce them against their political enemies. It just isn’t true.)
I appreciate you being a regular reader Metro but I must say my stating John Flood headed IPL is based on his public statements.
ReplyDeleteFor example, an article I did back in August, http://springston.blogspot.com/2008/08/code-enforcement-first-in-series.html,Flood was quoted stating:
"I require my inspectors to write up 15-18 inspections per day."
This was when he was pushed on a question about quotas.
Accordingly he portrayed himself as head of IPL.
At the same time prior to all the publicity from this blog, as well as others, Flood was signing all documentation as Chief Inspector of IPL.
Flood made himself the public leader of IPL based on his comments and actions as such I report it that way.
As far as perceived conspiracy theories in regards to the office. Do all inspectors fall into the category of being used for harassment for political bidding? Of course not.
This does not mean that some do not such as Michael Baugh. There is evidence of this in my opinion and many others. I would not consider it a conspiracy theory when there is proof that such exists.
As I have stated over and over not all Code enforcement officers are bad in fact I have stated that most are good. It is those that abuse the system to intimidate, harass ,or generally make a nuisance for no other reason than because they can, or were ordered to that are the problem.
Thanks for writing I always appreciate the comments. If you ever want to reveal yourself and talk about this stuff feel free to contact me. As always it is confidential.