It wasn't too awfully long ago that the morning paper's editorial board seemed gung ho over the Energy Tower -- the downtown skyscraper that was slated to occupy the space where the empty courthouse now sits in Midland, Texas. The newspaper folks have always had their ear to the ground and seldom strayed too far from the general consensus on issues. But this time and were a little slow coming around.
This brings us to Voice of Midland, the grass roots organization telling truth to power and giving the average citizens a much needed voice in the whole thing.
As recently as last March the morning paper editorial board was chiding VoM for its campaign to petition the city council to reverse the decision. The MRT.com editorializers parroted the city position that it was a done deal and that it was too late to do anything about it.
On March 6, 2014 the editorialists said this about Voice of Midland:
However, their effort to gather signatures to force a charter election to stop public assistance for the Energy Tower project appears to be flawed. According to a city official, a charter election cannot invalidate existing contracts or commitments properly executed by the city. On the surface, it appears the Voice of Midland didn’t do their homework before taking its message and protest to Midland. It could be an opportunity lost considering how much opposition Energy Tower has in this community.
Emphasis mine.
VoM's petition was addressed to the city council requesting that it call for an election to amend the city charter to stop the project. The MRT editorial dutifully relayed the city's answer, but that answer addressed something else entirely. Was there really an "existing contract" that bound both parties instead of an agreement to agree? Was the Energy Tower arrangement a done deal? Apparently not.
The MRT itself said the other day that the whole thing could be scrapped by the city council. See headline below:
So who didn't do their homework? Voice of Midland did theirs.
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Editor's note: How disrespectful. How would you like it if someone pointed out all your mistakes? -- Robo-ed | I'd hire them! -- Sleepless.
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