Put on your hiking boots, were going hill climbing......

The day after the ''code forum'' meeting I made a phone call to Libby Watson's office who is one of the Assistant City Managers working directly for Charles Boswell, the City Manager. Ms. Watson is accountable for Code Compliance / Enforcement along with other departments such as Waste Management, etc.......(Let's not even discuss Waste Management at this time, BUT we have problems there also!)

The reason for my phone call was due to over-hearing a conversation with Ms. Watson and an Eastside resident, a comment was made as to what we need to clean-up the eastside's continual decline and code violations. The resident asks for more code enforcement. The reply from Ms. Watson was how do we expect this all to be funded? It was mentioned possibly from some of the gas revenues. That was for the most part shot down as this money was ''one shot'' revenue (as opposed to taxing us to death) and wasn't to be used for such frivolous expenditures. Additionally it was said by Ms. Watson ''we shouldn't have voted for the property tax breaks for the senior citizens and then we might have the financial resources, implying that it was our fault for voting for the tax break. Apparently she is unaware that the city council voted to pass the ''Over 65 Tax Freeze'' in response to election year pressures. Citizens of Fort Worth were not allowed to vote on the issue.

With hearing this conversation I felt the need to contact Ms. Watson. I asked where she stands in supporting our needs.....either with us or against us. She said that being there should indicate where she stands. I was told at that time, the same about the ''tax breaks'' and that the senior citizens were the wealthiest of citizens and it was an irresponsible decision for the voters to vote in favor of the freeze. That is also when I was informed that ''we live amongst a large citizen base on the eastside that is tolerant of the decline with-in our neighborhood.'' I told her that I feel that is when the city should step in and make those in violation comply with the ordinances set by our city officials. I was then informed that we can not arrest our way out of code violations........as we can not arrest our way out of crime. (wonder what she suggests we SHOULD do with criminals?)

From June 28th, until July 12th I kept processing the comments because I felt if these are her views we have an uphill road to travel to get our neighborhood issues addressed. I called back to Ms. Watson's office July 12th to inform her that I thought that the comments were of concern. She continued to stand behind her views.



By Mike Phipps

Ah Ms. Libby!

All I can say is Ms. Libby's rationale and reasoning ability is indeed arresting! Ms. Libby's objective methodology and acumen are indeed astounding. Perhaps, this is a result of her exhaustive study of social science.

I am not impressed. Is Ms. Libby aware of the need for code compliance and its enforcement as a deterrent to criminal activity. I suggest that every capable resident on the eastside patrol their neighborhoods and find no less than twenty code violations. This is an easy things to do. Simply go to ''http://www.fortworthgov.org/search/?searchstring=Code%20Compliance'' and read about the top ten code violations. Research what constitutes a code violation and shop around your neighborhoods. I am sure many of you know of some ne'er-do-well or eyesore in the neighborhood you'd like to see gone. Report the complaint and get your reference number. Then forward the information to Ms. Libby at Libby.Watson@fortworthgov.org. Lets all do the responsible thing and flood Ms. Libby with emails so that she becomes an informed public servant and perhaps finds her way to seeing the way to attending to eastside needs.

Would this be a code sweep?

I think this would somewhat be a ''code sweep'' by the citizens. We have suggusted this action be done by the code department and Ms. Watson informed me that this action would not work either. Why is it that everything that we mention they already know that it won't work (even though they have never done it) but everything that is already being done isn't working either. The reason I was told why this would not work is that it would bombard code and the courts and what would resolve. I am beginning to question competence....

-By Mike Phipps



By Mike Phipps

Smells Like Competence?

I Lost faith in the court system years ago after dealing with M. Sullivan in downtown FW, but has anything Ms. Libby said thusfar sound competent?

That public servant couldn't be bothered, bur what I suggest is that we be the bother and let her know!