The Enterprise

I worked in journalism for 20 years. Every newspaper I know, past and present, has had a policy requiring individuals who submit letters, even those who wrote on behalf of an organization, to include at least one representative name for publication. The privilege of anonymity was reserved for crime victims or others who could reasonably demonstrate they had reason to fear being harmed, and even then, the content of the letter had to be compelling.

Apparently, the Gazette has no such rule. In the May issue, which hit stands this week, a group calling itself “Citizens Against Unnecessary Spending Excesses (CAUSE, get it?) Farmington and Farmington Hills published a scurrilous, cowardly and wholly false attack on Farmington city officials. These folks aren’t the CAUSE of anything but part of the inertia that has plagued Farmington for years.

Take, for instance, the claim that Farmington leaders are saying the streetscape project will not cost taxpayers. That is a blatant distortion of what city officials have said about this project all along - it will be dovetailed with another bond issue that is expiring, to minimize the financial impact. Sadly, these purveyors of disinformation have twisted words to support their opposition to progress.

The letter writers bring in the Pavilion and Civic Theatre project (yes, apparently those of us who enjoy our $3.50 flicks are exploiting an egregious waste of taxpayer dollars), but clearly their focus centers around tanking the streetscape. They claim this project - planned over a period of more than three years, drafted with intense participation by community volunteers, made the subject of several public meetings and evaluated by planning professionals - amounts to nothing but a “spending whim” and “impulse spending.” As if their disapproval of the project makes the community effort that brought it forward meaningless.

The most outrageous comment came at the end, when these pitifully misguided citizens repeated malicious, gossipy rumors that accuse public officials of illegal acts. And amazingly, they have been allowed to do this without identifying themselves and without a shred of proof.

Here’s my guess: These same folks will walk smiling into church on Sunday morning feel oh, so self-righteous. They’ll continue to shamelessly back-bite fellow citizens who have given up their personal lives, given up time, energy and effort to step up and serve their community in leadership and volunteer positions. And they won’t see a thing wrong with what they’re doing.

Shame on them, and shame on the Gazette for allowing them to hide behind a bogus “organization” that exists nowhere but in the fact that its members lack the courage to stand behind their beliefs.

–Joni Hubred-Golden
Michigan Woman Blogger