Week in Review: Getting Doored
“I’m not sure we’ll ever reach a utopian state."
Week in Review
Negativity: a Chronology
In this relatively slow political week, we thought we would put together a recapitulation of the rise of Negative Culture in Hillsdale—to be conducted in the spirit of assisting in JarJar Hodshire’s Stunning&Brave Investigation.1 The central figures involved are City Manager David Mackie, the establishment’s representative who steadfastly refuses to let his political platform be challenged, and Mayor Pro Tem Paladino, who has done the better part of the challenging. The Negative Culture, which seems to be on everyone’s lips, has gone through two distinct phases—the inDecent and the inDecorous—on the way to its flowering: the Disingenuous.
The inDecent: City Manager’s Extension
In the weeks leading up to the November 2024 election, Mr. Mackie, with support from his BPU Board and Council acolytes, tried and failed to ram through an egregious raise and extension for number one. Mr. Mackie, at the time, claimed that an “anonymous group of writers” had violated the principle of Decency, which apparently dictates that raises must always be given—even for those who make $200k, don’t live in the City, and have delivered maximal taxation (and then some). Mackie:
I hope the Council does not let an anonymous group of writers derail this proceeding and deceive the residents into believing misleading and false information that has a direct opposition to the BPU Board’s and the O&G’s unanimous votes in favor of this [contract] amendment. For this anonymous group to make up facts, to get others riled up to oppose something is unEthical, and it lacks the Common Decency that they claim to be in pursuit of. This City Council should not award these actions.
Though Mr. Mackie had been venomous before, we pinpointed this as the occasion in which our City’s CEO became most overtly partisan, and began to use his rhetorical stratagems against certain Council members and members of the public who disagree with his maximal revenue-extraction methods. Though Negativity Theory had not yet appeared—this event being prior to the November election—he began casting his political opposition as not merely opponents, but as men who cannot even be trusted to behave with the most basic courtesy. They are not adversaries who disagree, but Bad People who have no part in local government. They are the inDecent.
The inDecorous: Ginger Moore’s Resignation
Nearly five months later, Negativity Theory began to take a discernible shape. Then-Airport Director Ginger Moore wrote a letter announcing her retirement2 to Council, but not before taking a passive-aggressive swipe at those who cultivated a “negative atmosphere,” of course without ever clarifying what exactly they did. Moore:
While I am grateful for my time here, I also feel compelled to share that the negative atmosphere that has been surrounding the airport whether it be in town, at City Council meetings or on social media has brought me to a point where I believe it is my best interest to step away and retire.
Moore—who conspicuously felt compelled to write what she wrote—received the vocal support of several councilmen, one of whom introduced Decorum, which asserts that staff are owed not only raises (Decency), but also praises. The following exchange ensued:
Councilman Gerg: “I would just like to apologize to Ginger for the abuse and Negativity. . . You know, there’s a Decorum that we should carry.”3
Bentley: “I respect the job that staff does. . . I treated [Mrs. Moore] respectfully and heard her out and voted No respectfully. . . Voting No is not disrespectful, and it’s not Negativity.”
Paladino, tragically still believing that his fellow Councilmen were interested in governing well:4 “Separate Negativity from the policy discussions. . . Our citizens want public safety and roads, and then the other things.”5
The Disingenuous: Kristin Bauer’s Resignation
One month later, City Engineer Kristin Bauer—who appears to have a history of disagreeableness herself—resigned. Bauer used the occasion to write a scathing letter, citing the now more-refined “Negative Culture” of the Council minority. Her accusation suggested that Paladino in particular, but also Bruns and Bentley, lack piety for City Council’s SAD policies, and therefore deserve to be voted out of office.
The current negative culture being developed by the remaining City Council members has forced me to make this tough decision. The creation of distrust towards city staff and the complete disregard of the City Charter and Ordinances make it difficult to execute my position effectively and ethically. I prefer not to work with these elected officials who are willing to change voted policies on a whim to suit whatever complaint comes to them and I hope that soon the city’s residents will recognize their efforts are not for the betterment of the city.”
But Bauer spilled the beans. For certain outspoken members of Staff, elected officials “who are willing to change voted policies” based upon the people’s desire to see those policies changed are the problem with City government. This phenomenon, she said, forced her out. Bauer even appears to believe that changing policies implies “the complete disregard of the City Charter and Ordinances.” But on the contrary, policies are changed all the time. The Charter exists in part to allow this to happen within certain limits. And policies must be discussed if they’re going to be changed, which they are. The relevant Staff, in other words, would like to suspend politics—i.e., Negativity—altogether under the guise of Disingenuousness. One of Mr. Mackie’s objections to politics, particularly in relation to discussing SADs, ran as follows:
Mackie: “To come here and say we want to treat this particular area different is somewhat Disingenuous to me. . . How do you pick the winners and losers?”6
Socha, echoing Mackie, on Paladino: “I think it’s Disingenuous. I don’t appreciate it.”
Gerg, groveling: “I would just say that members of this Council need to take a self-reflecting look at themselves. This is the second excellent manager the City has lost.”7
Negative Culture: Jeff Gier’s Resignation
Two months after Bauer’s resignation, Waste and Wastewater Director Jeff Gier—who we have never seen appear at Council during our years covering it—quit, allegedly because of the Negative Culture on the BPU Board and at City Hall, the respective domains of Hodshire and Mackie. Gier:
[D]ue to the increasingly negative culture developing within certain boards and council. I believe it is time for me to pursue new opportunities in an environment more aligned with my values and professional goals.
Did Mr. Gier watch City Council meetings regularly? What in particular upset him? Was he affected by SADs? By the library? What has any of this to do with BPU, you might ask. In what ways were Mr. Gier’s “values” and “professional goals” threatened? Did elected officials censor him, or tell him that his career would be stifled if he had the wrong values? So many questions, and so few answers. . .
Paladino, on Gier’s willingness to brave the Culture for a few months more: “The position is posted, but he’s still on the position as a contractor through the end of the year.”
Mackie, on filling the position: “At the next meeting, we’ll be bringing a contract forward which would take him through the end of the year. We have a staff member who is testing for the certain certification that we need around November. So given that this staff member was his protege, he has agreed to stay on.”
Bentley, looking for answers: “His resignation letter included something about Negativity. The Board was going to look into it I believe . . . Do we know any more about that?”
Mackie: “We do have his exit interview, which the O&G Committee would normally discuss.”
So there you have it: Negative Culture hovers over everything Mr. Mackie does not like, albeit in a vague and unclear sense. Nobody can say what it is or why any particular person is to blame. It is more of a vibe. There is a sense that some on Council disagree about some things, and that is very bad. They might even ask questions or—if they’re paid too well—look into things themselves. As for the resignations, well, the quitters are certainly acting like they’re guilty of something.8 As Councilman Bentley once said, “if the shoe fits. . .”
So it has become apparent to us, therefore, that Negativity Theory is a subtle form of electoral politicking, an attempt to secure political freedom only for those who have the luxury to do it on professional time. One gets to create an organized smear campaign targeting one’s amateur opponents on the public dime, while using vague, passive-aggressive rhetoric in public. Said rhetoric will spur a series of unincisive HDN gossip headlines of course, and help mold public opinion. No specific accusations will need to be made; no details will have to be provided; the War on Negativity can never be won. It will go on, indefinitely. Frankness in debate, governing—even dreaded policy discussions—these things are too jarring for our fragile CEO and his sensitive Council figureheads.
Road Diet Meeting, Thursday, June 12
On a very different note, we also had a moment to transcribe some of the more amusing lines from last month’s Road Diet meeting. Just the Facts, as we always say—
The Staff
Hephner: “A lot of the staff involved in this were doing it because they were told to do it. This is the second required meeting.”
“I was called by the City Manager. He could not get back to town to do this tonight. He asked me to do it in his stead.”
Alan Beeker, on his big idea: “We had extra pavement, so to speak. So that meant that we could put in some bike routes or some areas that allowed for cycling, other non-motorized traffic. . . Our Council at the time passed a resolution giving permission to submit an application.”
On concentrating traffic, i.e., traffic jams: “The motivation: calming traffic flow. That was primary. The idea was to slow down, concentrate, and calm the traffic through downtown.”
On ED: “Economic Development is another one.”
On behalf of cycling partisans: “By adding bike lanes, it makes it more convenient.”
Sam Fry, ED Coordinator: “The Economic Development angle. . . is worthy of consideration.”
On cycling to businesses: “The volume and the speed of traffic make [downtown] less appealing for pedestrians. That in turn has the effect of discouraging residents or visitors from walking or biking to local businesses.”
On Studies, Shopping, and Psychological Operations: “There’s a lot of studies in the literature that businesses benefit when traffic is moving slow enough to notice them.”
On the Tourists: “Our local tourism. . . is another issue that’s come up. . . These are people that already want to explore the community and enjoy what we have to offer.”
On accessibility: “When we think of the traffic study as a whole, it’s not necessarily about making downtown less accessible by car, it’s about making it more accessible to all.”
Q&A
The Q&A was conducted via the submission of questions on notecards, to be read aloud by Hephner and answered by City Staff and MDOT representatives.
“Can this Road Diet stretch from Bacon to Carleton and not go South to Steamburg?”
Beeker: “The answer is No.”
“Whose idea was this?”
Beeker: “It came out of the placemaking study that TIFA implemented. . . It was also included in the City’s Master Plan.”
“Why should Hillsdale spend $200,000?”
Beeker: “It’s been approved. It’s been studied.”
“How much money will the City of Hillsdale have to spend?”
Beeker: “We aren’t certain yet.”9
“What benefits will accrue to pedestrians from bike lanes?”
Mike Davis of MDOT: “We hope there will be bikes in the bike lanes.”10
“How much of the City’s utopian view of this new road design is dependent on funding regarding the bike lane? Does the City contemplate that they are prostituting itself to the State’s liberal whims?”
Beeker: “I’m not sure we’ll ever reach a utopian state.11 The reason that we are pursuing it is because it was something that came out of a study that was encouraged by a group that implemented the study.”
“Have you worked with any other cities where the citizens flatly opposed the Road Diet and the City and MDOT proceeded anyway?”
Davis: “No; we have not. We have changed the department procedures. Guidelines have changed quite radically since the 70s. . . We now have policies—contact-sensitive solutions. . . Using local agencies, local stakeholders, to understand what community goals are.”
“In all the research, what negative aspects of this plan have been found?”
Davis: “There will be increased seconds of delay. . . at the major intersections.”
“These proposed bike lanes are between parking and the road. . . How will you keep bikers safe and prevent them from hitting open car doors?”
Davis, avid cyclist: “Getting Doored, as a cyclist, tends to be so common that the phrase Getting Doored is a common lexicon among the biking communities. . . It takes both cyclist and driver attention to avoid and mitigate that.”
“Is it not odd no pedestrians are here cheering this on?”
Hephner: “Probably, yes.”
“Did any elected officials of Hillsdale participate in the nuts and bolts negotiations?”
Davis: “No. Not to our knowledge.”
“If the City has no money to spend on local streets, why does it have money to spend on parking?”
Not addressed.
External Links
“Most experts agree fluoride is safe when used properly, but can be dangerous in high doses.” Corey Murray.12
“For over 60 years, Michigan has relied on community-based public agencies like LifeWays.” LifeWays CEO Maribeth Leonard.
“TIFAs are incentivized to support high countywide property taxes, so as to increase their annual revenues.” Jacob Bruns.
“We will not dwell on Justice Jackson’s argument, which is at odds with more than two centuries’ worth of precedent, not to mention the Constitution itself. We observe only this: Justice Jackson decries an imperial Executive while embracing an imperial Judiciary.” Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
“A man’s failure to get his career together, to make key decisions for his family, or his dependency on his wife for encouragement, direction, and even discipline, is a sign not of his having become too ‘girly’ but of his prolonged adolescence, his need to be infantilized by a mother-figure.” Stephen Adubato.
“We may have some skirmishes even in the future—I doubt it—but I will always come back. We have blood that seems to match pretty well. We have a relationship that's been a very strong one.” Donald Trump.13
Please feel free to cite our research freely.
And, we hear, the retirement of a couple of other Airport employees.
Does Gerg know what Decorum means? Did he believe it was fitting when he uttered the following bit of nastiness about his colleague regarding the Road Diet?
“Like Mr. Socha said, he almost killed a man. And I believe if he would have, his vote would have been different tonight.”
This charitable belief of Paladino’s, in our opinion, has gotten him into a great deal of hot water. His colleagues are up there to cash in some “social capital,” congratulate themselves/each other, fancy themselves local hotshots, etc.
Is this one of those “Nazi-like things” that we’ve been told to expect?
Does Mackie know what the word “Special” in “Special Assessment” means? Allow us to assist: it means the “Special” or differentiated treatment of a particular street. The capstone of Mr. Mackie’s entire agenda is about picking winners and losers, as he so prettily put it. Yet if one threatens his ability to pick winners, he becomes shrill and angry and accuses said opponent of the very thing he himself is doing.
And though he might, like Sessions, claim that if one has been Specially Assessed, all must be Specially Assessed—we’re all Special after all!—it must be admitted that this cannot happen, by virtue of the Special Assessments’ Specialness.
How did Gerg assess their excellence? Did he surveil their work? Did he conduct comparative studies?
Speaking of guilt, what happened to Councilman Flynn’s X account?
Seems like a red flag?
We do?
Is Mr. Mackie aware of Mr. Beeker’s participation in such Negative rhetoric?
Is Mr. Murray a Scientist? From where did he get his Fluoride Facts? ChatGPT? What does he mean by properly? Has he a sense of the scientific consensus?
Futhermore, we couldn’t help but notice that the HDN is running a rather hamfisted Big Science ad campaign, one which just so happens to be pitted against Paladino.
Trump—more decorous than our most Decorous.
Although Manager Mackie mandated the strange format to muffle the people's voice, and requested Chief Hephner’s moderation, presumably to avert a peasant uprising; nevertheless, the attendees’ note-card written questions seemed to express a nearly unanimous "Negativity" of the people toward the “Road Diet.” Thank you for covering the “Public Forum.”
"and then the other things" isn't a Nazi phrase, but rather a quote from Kennedy in his "We choose to go to the Moon" speech, "and the other things" refers to the other ambitious goals of his administration, particularly those related to science, industry, peace, and security, which were mentioned earlier in the speech