The City of Branson held the third segment in the long term sales presentation yesterday. Very slowly the highly paid and very highly educated sales force delivered the veiled and manipulative agenda of this administration. The professional “Sustainability” sales crew did a 90 minute podium presentation that would have had the timeshare industry sales leaders staggering.
I am serious, this presentation was amazing. Three times we were basically reprimanded for bothering to ask what something would cost or who would be paying for this ecological Utopia where evidently vast miles of “green space” would surround high density enviropods with hydro-powered maxi-busses that travel on magical non-invasive invisible glass threads carrying enlightened citizens on their way to their “think tank” jobs.
Sorry about that last paragraph. I just got all caught up in the moment. What with all the “pie in the sky”, theoretical exercises we have been doing in these sales pitch meetings.
So, the event was once again a barrage of leading questions. You all know the kind we are talking about. The kind of question that nearly everyone can agree that at least a couple of the very carefully selected choices of answers are correct. Who is it that can really answer “STRONGLY DISSAGREE” when asked if you like and want more open areas? Of course the answer was an overwhelming “AGREE”! BUT, don’t bother with the minutia and details like who it is that owns the land that the Government will designate as OPEN SPACE. Ask the question differently and you get a whole new perspective….
“If the City of Branson passed a land use law that effectively took away the right to build a house on land that you bought and paid for over the past dozen years of your life with your hard earned money, all for the preservation of Green Space. AND they did this without any monetary compensation to you for the loss of those real property rights, Would you be a happy camper?”
Strongly Agree
Agree Somewhat
Partially Agree
All of the Above
We were once again force fed concepts such as connected trails from park to park and from park to other community sites. Let me be perfectly clear! I LOVE the fact that we have beautiful trails and huge parks to enjoy. I am all in favor of trails connecting parks and other portions of our community. What was not addressed is what I truly feel the citizens of this community do not understand and that is that the City and their highly paid sales crew are not telling them that the land to have those trails that connect these locations will be forcibly taken from the rightful owners of those lands through invasive land use laws or by holding services or zoning changes hostage in exchange for the easements necessary, or via the more righteous but still obnoxious, Eminent Domain.
Ladies and Gentlemen, they are from the government and they are here to help. Help take your property rights away one at a time. And they have now decided to take them away not one at a time, but all at once and they are not going to do it with an army of police officers, but with a series of town hall meetings whereby they inform you of the fact that you all agree and want them to take your rights away.
Since it seems we all want to laud the wonderful history of this beautiful community, let me please point out an interesting comparison to history. If my ramblings are even half correct, the rules that will be promulgated from the results of this sales pitch will be such that had they been put into place 55 years ago, Silver Dollar City would not have been allowed to be started. Had the land laws that I believe are being forced upon us been in place 40 years ago, the city of Branson would have a downtown and then another town a mile away would have everything else because of the “green” corridor surrounding the city. I wonder what the story would have been that Sunday night on 60 minutes then.
A few people in attendance yesterday did try to break the momentum and ask silly questions about the cost of this Bali Hi. They were given an answer we might hear at the most talented of Timeshare presentation room sales pitches, when the prospect asked that question too early. They were told that the costs would be discussed at a later date. You bet they will. AFTER the poll results are tallied, questions re-asked in a more manipulative fashion, and then re-tallied until the results are overwhelming one sided. Then and only then will we be told how this is all going to be paid for. Why all the heat pitching? Why not discuss costs now? Simple. We must build a consensus no matter what the real answers are, we need that 70, 80 or 90% “BUY IN” before we turn the contract around and ask for the order.
One new element did eek out at this meeting. Out of the clear blue sky the Colorado company, with no history we can find of practicing law in Missouri, explained the Missouri laws regarding Class 4 cites and how they contrast with “Charter” cities. After the 20 second one sided “gubment” class, the polls were open and, SHAZAMMM, our city council and Mayor were given a clear mandate to change our city government that is plagued with regulations set upon them by the state of Missouri, to a Charter City where by the Mayor and the chosen few will be empowered and loosen that burden of state control.
Why would such a question be asked in a land use visioning meeting? Yet another shoe just dropped to the floor.
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