[Orig to FB]
This is of interest to no one outside of Tallahassee, which is a pity, because it’s pretty f— amazing. That city is saddled with one of the most flagrantly corrupt governments I’ve ever encountered, and even now I’m only beginning to grasp some of its subtleties. For example, the city has been in a years-long pissing match with the fire department of all things, to the point where firefighters — already underpaid, with no contract or raises — have been fleeing for jobs in nearby jurisdictions. So, naturally, the city government expanded on that conflict and picked a fight with the county by threatening to withdraw fire services — literally dividing residential neighborhood so fires would get put out on one side of the street but not the other. Now, it seems, that sturm und drang was largely a pressure tactic to shift zoning jurisdictions in order to benefit old-money interests — a sprawling family that used to own a huge plantation (and the [enslaved people] who went with it, of course) and another concern that owned vast tracts of land for its paper mills. The same government is desperately trying to “sell” a 180-acre golf course (and graveyard of enslaved people) in the heart of the city for a laughable $7k an acre and basically give the city hospital to the FSU, the university.
Fortunately, voters have elected some excellent progressives — Commissioner David O’Keefe, and Jeremy Matlow, who’s running for mayor [EDIT: AND WON!!!] — who are putting the breaks on much of this nonsense. The old guard, not content to merely routinely abuse process and precedent in order to marginalize these reps, treats them with naked disdain. But that corruption-as-usual seems to be changing, and it’s great. And the reason it’s changing is because those reps work tirelessly and focus ONLY on the concrete well-being of their constituents. No purity tests, no symbolic pseudo-politics, or other bullshit, just modest, dependable grassroots activism and advocacy.