Mr. Rothman, I’ll do my best to stay within the five minute
limit. My name is
I
have been present and spoken at four of the five meetings sponsored by GRDA to
encourage the public’s input on this plan. It been obvious to everyone but the
Ostrich with his head in the sand, that the majority of stakeholders are
unhappy with this draft and feel they had little or no input into the
development of the plan.
But
let’s take a moment to reflect back on what we’ve learned from these meetings
from the absolute minority who has spoken favorably of this plan.
We’ve
learned not to worry because FERC will approve anything submitted by the GRDA
because they’re a spineless government bureaucracy.
We
were told by this same minority of naysayers that if we couldn’t see the need
for this plan we obviously hadn’t studied it thoroughly and we were ignorant!
Then
we were told the real justification for the plan was the fact that GRDA was
corrupt and inept in virtually every way. This is the same GRDA which produces
and sells power at a rate low enough to be criticized by competitors and allow
cities like Miami, Stillwater and Cushing to resell this power in order to fund
their police and fire departments.
This
same group of anti-development activists then enlightened us on the negligence
of the Corps of Engineers.
Obviously
we’ve learned that Mike Brady, the self appointed Czar of Grand Lake, and his
Duck Creek property Owners Association are the only ones with the vision and
knowledge to determine what’s in the best interest of Grand Lake.
We
need to look no further than the stakeholder working group committees to
determine why this draft looks like it does today. Of the twenty-seven slots on
these committees that are allegedly still active in the process, at least nine
are members of the Duck Creek Homeowners Association. Three more are in lock step agreement with the
Brady Bunch although they are not are card carrying members. That’s over 44% of
the stakeholders. By contrast, a case could be made that five of the slots had
commercial interest at heart. But where is the representation for the thousands
of recreational boaters who are to be treated equal as stakeholders? If nothing
else comes out of these meetings, both GRDA and FERC should be aware of
credibility questions surrounding these committees and how they were selected.
This
same 44% came to the initial stakeholder working group sessions quoting federal
statutes and law, armed with charts and convincing their less informed fellow
committee members they were experts and shouldn’t be questioned.
A
review of the June GRDA meeting of its board of directors might bring an
objective person to a different conclusion.
In
closing, I’d like to address motivation in this “All ABOUT ME Environment” we
live in today. I recently took a page out of the Brady play book and made an
open records request to the GDA to review all correspondence between the
authority, Brady and his association. What I uncovered was unbelievable in more
ways than one.
As
I sifted through the hundreds of letters and e-mails, I couldn’t help but
wonder how many tax dollars had been wasted. But some were questions that
needed to be raised in the public interest while others were nothing but sarcastic
and unreasonable demands from someone harboring a well documented vendetta. But
then I came across two documents that made the entire exercise worth while.
The
letters address Mr. Brady’s suggestion he be hired as the Assistant General
Manager of Lake Operations and how much simpler life would be for all involved.
I have copies of those letters, or you can communicate an open records request
to the GRDA and see for yourself.
Sometimes
something, as simple as a letter, can bring things clearly into focus. Thank
You!