GLINDA
And so, what the Munchkins want to know is, are you a good witch or a bad witch?
DOROTHY
But I've already told you, I'm not a witch at all. Witches are old and ugly. (High pitched giggles are heard) What was that?
GLINDA
The Munchkins. They're laughing because I am a witch. I'm Glinda, the Witch of the North.
DOROTHY
You are! I beg your pardon! But I've never heard of a beautiful witch before.
GLINDA
Only bad witches are ugly.
This is probably one of the most subtle insults on the silver screen outside of just about any Rosalind Russel dialogue. Bad witches ugly. Good witches beautiful. Which witch are you? The homely one? Perhaps somewhat handsome? Somewhere on the spectrum. Not that spectrum. The spectrum that starts at ugly ending at heart stopping gorgeous.
Where's our Dotty? Who, or rather what is our Dotty? Our Dotty? That would be local control. So, is our local control a good witch or a bad witch? Which witch is it? Or is it a witch at all? Or, like witches in the storybooks is local control just a convenient myth?
Since local control is THE foundation of this city this topic warrants a bit of pondering.
It has become painfully clear that our elected officials, the seven dwarfs, are not in control of much of anything that goes on at city hall. They have some of the best seats at the theater but they're not the actors on the stage, not the director, not the writer and certainly not the producer. They ARE the groupiest of groupies. They get the best seats. Befitting their egos but not conferring any real control over our locality. Try this thought exercise: identify the dwarf that will raise a hand and fess up to instigating, driving and directing all the local zoning changes to support developers' goals for Dunwoody Village. What's that you hear? Munchkin laughter.
So who is running the show? And where are THEY from? And do they live with the consequences of what they do to OUR community? Are they good witches? Or, are they bad witches?
Well, the general label applied to our masters at city hall is "bureaucrat." Witch might seem more appropriate, but we're stuck with bureaucrat. And they're not from around here. They're from the North (community development) and the South (economic development) and seemingly every where but here. You do a little bit of very simple internet searching and you'll begin to wonder if any bureaucrat at city hall from the very top down currently living OFF this city actually lives IN this city. To be honest it appears that we Munchkins are being ruled by witches from somewhere else working on behalf of someone else. This should be shocking. It is insulting. It is ugly. At least we don't have to ask if these are good witches or bad witches. And if local control is truly foundational we know why this leaning tower is about to topple. On us. Not them.
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