A citizen called me earlier this week to ask if I had heard that Mark Har, the location scout instrumental in getting the film "Public Enemies" shot partially in Oshkosh, had been presented with a proclamation and a "Key to the City" from Mayor Frank Tower at a party on Monday evening. I have received confirmation from the Mayor that the event and awarding of the proclamation/key did in fact take place.
The city's municipal codes do give the Mayor the power to "issue all proclamations," though I have to believe that issuing them has rarely been done at events not publicly noticed. In fact it seems somewhat bizarre to issue a proclamation outside the public eye, since the entire purpose of issuing a proclamation in the first place is to give public acclaim to someone or something. The Mayor says the event was a "surprise going away gathering" and that he and acting City Manager John Fitzpatrick thought the recognition was appropriate given "the behind-the-scenes work Mark had been involved with and the fact that the advance folks (who do the bulk of the work on a project like this) usually don't receive the recognition they deserve."
I do not know if the press was invited to the event or if any elected officials other than Frank Tower attended.
I'm sure Mark Har is a great guy, but maybe it's time to take a closer look at the method of issuing keys to the city and the manner of awarding them. It appears as if Oshkosh mayors are empowered to award city keys to anyone, though that power exists nowhere in the municipal codes. The mayor and EAA award a key to the city at the annual air show; in 2006 a key was given to an individual who received fake college "degrees" from a diploma mill. The Northwestern refused to print that information.
I believe that keys to the city, even though they are purely symbolic and do not mean much in the big picture, should be issued rarely and reserved for people who have made some extraordinary contribution to the community, state, nation, or world. I'm not sure that bringing a movie to Oshkosh--excellent as that was--would meet the "extraordinary contribution" criteria. And whatever criteria are used to award keys, I certainly don't think we ought to allow them to be distributed at semi-public or private functions.
What do you think?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Tony,
I think as long as someone can come in and feed our cats and dogs when Oshkosh is on vacation and not steal anything, they should get a key to the city.
But you don't want too many keys floating around out there, or someday we may have to change the locks...
;-)
I love it!!!! Tower is a serious douchebag. I really cannot find anything intelligent to say about most council members until they do something intelligent. I think I'm confusing myself. In short the whole leadership system in our country from local councils to the federal government is such a joke that the only way to comment on them is using a daily show approach.
It was a nice gesture. But keys to the city should be awarded in public, not at a private function.
Mayor Tower, though his actions may be well intended, has been demonstrating a pattern of behaviors associated with previous councils.
I had higher hopes for the current mayor and the old business as usual behind the scenes.
i would not be so naive or trustworthy
credit repair
Post a Comment