IT'S A LITERARY ALLUSION

I received a few inquiries wondering why I've called Mayor Heartwell "Big Sister".  It's a literary allusion to Big Brother, the all-seeing all-knowing all-powerful tyrant in George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984.  Of course, Heartwell is hardly the terror that Big Brother was.  Indeed, he is a bit of a wuss, hence the monicker "Big Sister".  No doubt the feminists have already gotten their knickers in a twist over my denigration of a man by calling him a woman, but I never promised to be politically correct -- just correct.

Besides Editor Bridget has already taken me to the woodshed over this, so I've paid the price for having some fun at the mayor's expense.

Comments

[Mark Williams]

You forgot to add that Big Sister is all too often a scold as well.

[The Executive Director]

Good to hear from you again, Mark.

How very true. Until you mentioned what a scold Heartwell is, I hadn't thought about what a curious scold he is.

On the one hand, he scolds those of us who lack a progressive consciousness to see the righteousness of his liberal policies for the city. On the other hand, Heartwell is hot on banning nude dancers and now smoking. Rather old-fashioned of him. What's next on his list? Hard liquor and playing cards?

The real reason I take Big Sister to task for these things is that they are waste of time when we need leadership on the City Commission to tackle the structural defects in the city government that keep sinking it into a financial morass. Just as serious is the problem of increasing violence in once-decent neighborhoods. Then there is the idiocy of economic planning that doles out tax breaks to the connected while doing nothing to make the city generally attractive to new business.

We are not going to make Grand Rapids a better place to live by adopting the hobbyhorses of the coastal elites. We are going to do by getting the basics right. But then that means getting tough with the entrenched city staff, the public employee unions, the town's grievance industry, and the tax-subsidized local bigshots. Unfortunately, Heartwell has other priorities. Very fluffy ones.

Regards, Bill