Kings make rules, they don’t follow them. Elected officials should do both.

Marking Your Territory

The mayor and Council Members have always had reserved parking in the parking garage attached to Glendale City Hall. Reserved, NOT assigned.

That wasn’t good enough for one guy and his $93k per year assistant and Diet Coke retriever.

Both guys appear to be able bodied and capable of walking some distance. No matter, they really wanted two lower level spots right across the breezeway from City Hall. VIP parking, if you will.

Now there are two relatively new and expensive custom made (on the City of Glendale dime) “Don’t even think of parking here” signs on two adjacent parking spots.

Oh, sure, you could buy one of those signs (or one like the one at right) for less than $10 (click here), but that wouldn’t be a display of juice.

It’s a better power move to have city workers use city money and city time to make a better sign and install it into reinforced concrete. We gave up getting real information after two public records requests were “answered”, but thus far the city admits the signs cost $30.55 each and maintain that the labor is “free”.

We all know city labor is free, don’t we?

Oh, Did You Mean ME, Officer?

The Glendale City Hall parking garage is festooned with signs that insist people park “head in”.

There’s one parking spot where, if occupied, the vehicle is always backed into the spot. Why? I don’t know, quicker getaways without having to back up? Embarassing bumper stickers?

I don’t have that answer, but I do know who parks in that spot.

Can you guess who the backwards parker is? How about another hint?

Hardscaping For Harleys

Parking seems to be really important to Jerry Weiers. Everybody needs a hobby, right?

Sonu Munshi wrote a piece in the AZ Republic on November 1 last year (click here) that detailed how much respect Weiers has for the rules, in this case parking rules. We’ll talk about other rules that affect more people in another post soon.

While Weiers’ mouthpiece Jason Rose (yes, the guy that repped Amy’s Baking Company) dismissed the incident as silly, it’s not.

I wonder if I backed my van up to a planter in Glendale and dragged it somewhere, would the mayor object?

Weiers was snagged on video dragging a concrete planter:

Outgoing state lawmaker and Glendale mayoral hopeful Jerry Weiers moved a security barrier this spring  at the state Capitol so he could park his motorcycle where he had parked it for years — in a no-parking spot.

Weiers, a House Republican, was known for parking his motorcycle near the House of Representatives building meant to be a pedestrian walkway.

I rode motorcycles for many years and many miles. I never parked on sidewalks or no parking zones. That decision was based less on ethics than the worry of being punished (with a ticket or something) for breaking the rules. Apparently, Jerry Weiers doesn’t have this stumbling block. In fact, when a concrete planter is placed in his traditional no parking spot so he can’t park his bike there, he simply decided his convenience superseded the wishes of the public so he moved the planter with his truck.

We have a name, “scofflaw”, for those people. We usually try to not have them deciding for us which laws are correct, because it’s patently obvious their personal satisfaction takes precedence over the greater good.

Sonu’s piece continues:

Weiers’ opponent, Manuel Cruz, criticized the act as unbecoming of a lawmaker, saying it showed a sense of entitlement by Weiers, who already has a designated parking space with his name on it.

Cruz was joined by his supporter, former state Attorney General Terry Goddard, who said the act showed Weiers “thinks he is above the law, that the normal rules do not apply to him. Public officials need to be especially respectful of the procedures that they put in place or enforce, or no one will follow them.”

Weiers did not return a call seeking comment. His spokesman, Jason Rose, said Weiers had moved the planter so he could continue to park his bike “where he had for years,” near the  building.

Rose dismissed the notion of entitlement.

While Jason Rose dismissed the notion of entitlement, we shouldn’t, especially in light of other evidence that indicates otherwise.

The story was written during the election, so of course politics are a factor here. Also factors? Wrong and right:

Democrat House Minority Leader Chad Campbell questioned why Weiers would move something  that had been placed in an area for security reasons.

“Is this what people would like to see in their elected officials? A lack of willingness to adhere to the rules everyone else follows?”

Remember that when you listen to the mayor speak and hear his protestations of fair play.