Ever wonder why some people have lost faith in our city government; or in the very least have close to zero confidence in city management? The water restrictions the city implemented last week may give us a clue.

The obvious question: whose bright idea was it to approve the work on this phase of the Sharp Freeway at the beginning of the peak water usage season when businesses and residents use the most water; either for residential use, swimming pools, landscape businesses, etc?

Answer; we’ll never know who, because we don’t have the kind of city management staff that stands up and takes responsibility for making bad decisions which result in these types of problems. Problems, I might add, which could have been avoided if someone had just used a little common sense and shown a little consideration for the businesses which would be affected. And for this city’s residents, the people they supposedly "Serve with Humility, Lead with Passion”, and “Commit to Excellence" to. What happened this time?

A tip of the hat goes to KCBD, NewsChannel 11; they at least asked the number one question on everyone’s mind. Here’s the written transcript from the June 12th newscast:



Abner Euresti: “The city banned some outdoor watering; yesterday NewsChannel 11 asked why the project was being done during peak water usage season; and this was the answer from the city.

Assistant City Manager Tom Adams: “Well we actually bid this project out and council approved it back in January, we didn’t get the permit from TexDot to actually approve the location until about March 5th and so we’re moving as quickly as we can”.

Abner Euresti: “Today TexDot told us the project has been in the works for months and the original permit was approved last October.”



Say what? And for these types of answers we pay this guy a high six figure yearly salary?

First, Adams never answers the question. Right away, he seems intent on assigning blame to TexDot and shifting it away from himself and the city. Adams clearly tries to blame TexDot for the problem, saying the city did not receive the approval from TexDot until March 5th. But NewsChannel 11 says the original permit was approved since last October? Who to believe? I think I’ll go with Abner on this one…

As if the work being scheduled in June wasn’t

bad enough, the city did it without giving sufficient and timely warning to the local businesses which depend on water use in their business; landscape companies and plant nurseries just to name a couple; those business owners say they heard it on the news.

The restriction announcement was first posted on the city’s web site on June 8th, there was no prior indication given. Sure, some local media reported that Adams was saying that the restrictions were a possibility; but my guess is that at that point, the restrictions were a done deal.

Adams appeared on a couple of local newscasts in the week before the restrictions saying that if people didn’t use water sparingly, the restrictions might have to be implemented. So now, it’s the resident’s responsibility and fault? Point is that city staff probably already knew restrictions were more than just a possibility; why not give business owners and residents sufficient time to plan accordingly? I’ll tell you why; because it makes too much sense; a concept bureaucrats seem to have a hard time grasping.

I did notice that the city made sure to get city pools filled and going before implementing the restrictions; they obviously knew they would implement the restrictions long before they let the rest of us know. Did filling city owned pools put a strain on the system? Who knows? Have they been closed down temporarily because of the restrictions? Who knows?

Ok, city owned swimming pools benefit Lubbock residents who use them, but who are we kidding here? My hunch is they also are a revenue stream for the city; money the city obviously didn’t want to lose out on. Well guess what, landscape companies don’t like to lose money either.

But back to Adam’s non-answer; an answer that ranks right up there with other bureaucratic answers like the time former Washington, DC Mayor Marion Barry; who when caught on tape smoking crack with a woman in a DC hotel room quickly said: “the bitch set me up”. Even after being caught on camera, Barry still lays the blame on someone else.

Now, I’m not comparing Adams to Barry in any way, shape or form. But I use Barry’s explanation as a stark, and perhaps overly exaggerated example, of a government bureaucrat not taking responsibility for his/her actions; something which happens way to often in city, state, and federal government. By

answering the way he did, Adams chose to deflect responsibility; and in typical “bureaucratic speak” he made sure to absolve himself of any.

See, for bureaucrats, just like for most politicians, there’s always a reason or excuse why things happen; it’s always someone else’s or something else’s fault; never theirs. Bureaucrats make it seem like these things are out of their control; they blame the weather, they blame the regulatory process; they blame everything else on this earth; never exploring the possibility that they could have blown it by making the wrong decision.

Here’s a suggestion for Mr. Adams; next time try something like this:



“First and foremost, I apologize for the inconvenience this situation has caused our city’s residents. I especially apologize to the business owners who have been adversely affected, and to the employees who work at these types of businesses who have been laid off from their job because of the restrictions. We should have handled this better; we are accountable to you the taxpayer and I will personally see to it that all people directly involved in this are held accountable. I take full responsibility for the poor planning and poor forethought that went into this work being done at a time when water usage is at a peak level. We knew this and we should have taken it into consideration. In hindsight we admit that we could have had this work scheduled at a time when it would have the least amount of adverse effect; or inconvenienced the least amount of people, but we didn’t. Instead of making the needs of our residents and business owners a priority when we made this decision, we didn’t; we took them for granted. I apologize to the many landscape business owners whose business and profit line has suffered from the restrictions. We will try to do better.”



What’s wrong with that answer? We all know that from time to time people will screw up, make mistakes. We know that; we accept that. It is the attempt to insult our intelligence by providing superficial, bogus responses to the questions that bugs me. Level with us, don’t dance around the issue thinking that you can fool us with your useless answers; be forthcoming; what’s so difficult about telling it like it is and saying: “we screwed up, we blew it; sorry; we’ll try and

do better”?

Sounds simplistic? I know, but what would you rather hear, Adams answer or what I suggested he might have said?

Email: acruztsc@aol.com