The Thuy E-mails!

Due to popular demand . . . for the facebookers!

ROUND ONE: County Board Supervisor v. Alder

Dear Alder Pham-Remmele,

I am writing to let you know that there is strong demand to have a public hearing in the Midvale Heights Neighborhood as for the proposed changes to Westgate Mall and the Hy-Vee development. As you know, Westgate Mall is within the Midvale Heights neighborhood.

It has come to my attention that you are seeking to have a public hearing on this issue in the Orchard Ridge Neighborhood. While of course there is nothing wrong having a meeting in that neighborhood, I would hope that you would also seek to have one in the area of your district that would be most impacted by the project, the actual neighborhood in which the project and construction would be located.

Please let me know if there is anything that I can do to assist you with this meeting.

Best,
Carousel

Carousel Bayrd
Dane County Supervisor

Hi Ms. Bayrd,

I am surprised that you mentioned, “it has come to my attention that you are seeking to have a public hearing on this issue in the Orchard Ridge Neighborhood”.

To date, I have no such plan. Orchard Ridge Neighborhood Association President Tom McKenna can vouch for this.

I am going to review Midvale Heights/Westmoreland Neighborhood Plan with Planning Division in the very near future.

The only upcoming meeting relating to MHCA is with Tocora Lane residents concerning Bike Path between Tocora Lane and Science Drive. I am looking forward to hearing more details from MHCA President Denise Lamb about this.

Sincerely,

Alder Thuy
District 20

Dear Alder Pham-Remmele,

Sorry, I do not understand your reply. There must be some misunderstanding.

The message I got about the Orchard Ridge meeting was directly from city staff, with no political interest in this at all. They told me that you had made such a request. If there is an error in that, that is fine to know. As I mentioned in my first email, it is perfectly fine to have a meeting in Orchard Ridge. But, if that is not the case, that’s perfectly fine too. I don’t need anyone to vouch for you– your word is good. Hence the whole point of my asking you in the email in the first place.

I was writing to ask if you knew if there would be a meeting in Midvale Heights. And to offer help organizing it, since I live near Westgate Mall. Several neighbors had asked me about this, and I thought I would just ask you.

Thanks,
Carousel

Ms. Bayrd:

I am interested in knowing WHO the “city staff” telling you that I had made such a request are.

I know my words are good because I conduct my business openly & transparently, with NO POLITICAL INTEREST in whatsoever.
It’s NOT “fine” with me to be linked to hearsay “errors”.
I don’t need anyone to vouch for me, yet I must let Tom McKenna know that I never go behind his back.

Please refrain from committing any such “error” again.

Thank you very much,

Alder Thuy

Dear Alder Pham-Remmele,

Here is the link to the city of madison planning department document on the Westgate Mall redevelopment.

http://www.cityofmadison.com/planning/projects/conditional/160wm.html

This is the information that was provided to me by planning department city staff.

If you clink on “Letter of Intent”, you will find a letter written by Hy-Vee. In the middle of the first page, under “Actions to Date:”, in the middle of the first paragraph it reads: “Alder Pham Remmele asked that in addition to sharing our plans with the Midvale Heights Neighborhood Association as discussed below, that we try to coordinate a meeting with the Orchard Park Neighborhood Association and said meeting took place on November 16th.”

City staff told me that they have interpreted this to mean that on November 16th you requested that they present with the Orchard Ridge neighborhood.

If this information is incorrect, I suggest to contact Hy-Vee and ask them to correct their note, so that they stop spreading hearsay errors.

Best,
Carousel

Ms. Bayrd:

As the alder for District 20 I openly support Hy-Vee’s Proposal and the Economic & Employment opportunities it brings.
I am thoroughly familiar with the document you cited, thus, I do expect you and professional staff NOT to misinterpret any part of it.

Hy-Vee ‘s Letter of Intent accurately described the October 28th initial meeting at City Council Office when Mayoral Aide Mario Mendoza also attended. I did “asked that, in addition to sharing our plans with the Midvale Heights Neighborhood Association as discussed below, that we try to coordinate a meeting with the Orchard Park (sic.) Neighborhood Association “

It was understood that Hy-Vee is in charge of co-ordinating such events.
I am pleased that Hy-Vee did meet with MHCA later that same day, and also with Orchard Ridge Neighborhood Board later on Sunday, November 16th.
Hy-Vee co-ordinated both meetings and carried out my request exactly as suggested.

I myself did NOT attend Hy-Vee Presentation at ORCC on Nov. 16th, so I am mystified by your statement that “City staff told me that they have interpreted this to mean that on November 16th you requested that they present with the Orchard Ridge neighborhood…”.

And HOW could any of this lead YOU to conclude, “it has come to my attention that you are seeking to have a public hearing on this issue in the Orchard Ridge Neighborhood”. ?!

I did suggest that Meadowood Neighborhhod Association (MNA) should be included as they are similarly impacted by this very project. Last night MNA Board, with several members from Iowa with positive experience with Hy-Vee, expressed strong support and the Presidentr is writing a letter to UDC on Hy-Vee’s behalf..

NO Public Hearing was requested or planned on my part.
When we are facing tough economic times and the Mayor requested all of us to be fiscally responsible, I don’t see any need to waste a large amount of taxpayers’ money to conduct Public Hearings on this project.
Following due process everyone is welcome to attend and express feelings at many upcoming UDC and other related Planning meetings.

I expect elected officials to respect people’s time and goodwill for the good of our city.

Alder Thuy

ROUND TWO: Alder Thuy vs. Citizen Bus advocate
Bus advocate to allalders:

“It became necessary to destroy the village in order to save it.”

— An American major after the destruction of the Vietnamese Village Ben Tre

* One sure-fire way to increase transit revenue: increase ridership
* One sure-fire way to decrease ridership: increase fares.

“It became necessary to destroy Madison Metro in order to save it.”

— An American mayor after the destruction of the Madison Metro Transit sysyem

I feel compelled to speak up for many Vietnamese about this ugly issue.

Please refrain from quoting lies that were started by the Monk Nhat-Hanh during his Buddhist Meditation Teaching in New York and have been circulating like urban myth for years

Don’t use as evidence something you yourself have no personal experience with or are unable to verify.
I myself lived within that area of Viet-Nam during the war.

Both this “American major” and the Monk Nhat-Hanh have angered millions of Vietnamese all over the world for their intentional spreading of this lie. Ben Tre Village was never destroyed. Ben Tre Villagers have publicly & repeatedly denounced the twisting of facts, falsification of events, and inflated numbers used by both men for their own self-promotion.

Ignorance is bliss!

Alder Thuy
District 20

Alder Pham-Remmele;

I yield to no one in my admiration for the courageous and heroic Vietnamese people. They have a long and gallant history of inexorable resistance and eventual triumph in their struggle to maintain their independence against invasion after invasion by larger and seemingly invincible foreign aggressors. Earlier against the Chinese, no mean feat at all, and recently, almost within my lifetime, against the French, the Japanese, again the French, who were finally expelled, and finally against the mighty United States of America. We never really had a chance!

It has been well and truly said that the only good thing the US got out of the Vietnam War was our Vietnamese immigrants, just the sort of industrious and ambitious folk the US has depended on to infuse new vigor into our cultural life and economic vigor.

Personally, my cousin John married a lovely young Vietnamese woman who gave him five children. They live up here in Watertown for many years, and we always had the most blessed times together on holidays; just remarkably intelligent, lively, beautiful young cousins! I miss them all, now all married, and scattered to the four winds.

I certainly meant no offense toward the noble Vietnamese people.

It surprises me that a Vietnamese defends the murderous, tyrannous misbehavior of my people toward her own country.

I concede I may well be wrong in my facts as to the fate of Ban Tre, but the fact in Madison is that the Common Council and Mayor of Madison have long been presiding over the destruction of Madison Metro, and this latest fare increase can nothing but continue that destruction, as by the infamous Chinese ‘Death of a Thousand Cuts.’ This latest fare increase will continue that slow and torturous death

The Mayor wishes to raise transit fares in order to raise transit revenues? Well, here I go again, but it’s still true:

1. The one sure-fire way to raise transit revenues is to raise transit ridership.
2. The one sure-fire way to reduce transit ridership is to raise transit fares.

I would hope, Alder Pham-Remmele, that you would lead the Council in reversing your stand on Madison Metro, and transferring funds from the capital budget, from road-building, to the operating budget, for improvement and extension of Metro service, at the current fares.

This is the wise and timely thing to do, when fewer Madisonians are going to be able to afford autos, and Madison is failing to achieve Federal clean-air standards.

Supervisor Hendrick also weighed in:

Ald. Pham-Remmele,

I’m sure my constituent did not intend to offend you or the people of Vietnam. The “destroy the village” remark has been current in U.S. culture since Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Peter Arnett quoted an anonymous U.S. major in 1968.

I understand that Wynn Goldsmith in his book Papa Bravo Romeo – U. S. Navy Patrol Boats at War in Vietnam attributes this quote to USAF Major Chet Brown (p. 184-186). Michael Miller states on the website linked below that he was present when a similar comment was made by a Major Booris. Not everything on the Internet is true, but Capt. Miller also cites an email he received from Lt. Jonathon Hubbert who remembers the same thing.

http://www.nhe.net/BenTreVietnam/

I know that others who were there dispute the autenticity of the quote. Since, as you know, Ben Tre is not a village but a provincial capital the actual quote in the New York Times was “It became necessary to destroy the town to save it.”

I think Mr. Voth’s point, which we can all agree with, is that we should not destroy Madison Metro by misguided policies. Thank you for your continued public service.

Sup. John Hendrick

There you go! For the inquiring (facebook) minds . . . .