Sunnyside up is a waste of tax dollars

Ron Bane is right for calling out Sunnyside ups leadership. It's his job to look out for the tax payers dollar.

Agree 100% but our current council doesn't have the strength to actually do anything about the problems. The city is in a mess, starting with the city manager right on down the line but all the citizens get is lip service.

Isn't sunnside the gay section of town?

My bad! The whole friggen town is Gay.....not just sunnyside!

Silverstar5 wrote:

Agree 100% but our current council doesn't have the strength to actually do anything about the problems. The city is in a mess, starting with the city manager right on down the line but all the citizens get is lip service.

While I agree with you 100% that the problems start with the city manager, it is unfair to lump everyone else in there with him. Some of the department heads are doing a good job. Others aren't.

From what I've heard lately, the council is very unhappy with the city manager, but they can't just get rid of him without a reason. He's not under a contract so they can't buy him out and send him on his way. Unfortunately for everyone, he'll have to really mess up. But in the meantime, we all suffer until he's gone.

Yes, I believe the majority of council is not happy with the city manager. Problem is, they lack the courage to send him packing like others before him. I think we all know why they are shying away from actually firing him. The department heads are all "will and pleasure" appointees of the city manager. Once he is replaced some of the others will probably be pushed out too. My personal opinion is and continues to be that the city is in need of a clean sweep including council. They have had ample time to "right the ship".

Sunnyside Up is just the tip of the iceberg. The city as a whole has just gone completly bonkers in less than 2 years! Part of the problem, too many top people left at the same time and that really took a toll on things. If council would have been thinking clearly, they would have intervened and tried to keep some stability. It's going to take some doing but it can be corrected. Similar situation in the early 90's and everyone was replaced including most of the city council. The city was on top for many years and now things are pretty dismal but I have faith that some people will be out of jobs but it will get better.

City Resident wrote:

Yes, I believe the majority of council is not happy with the city manager. Problem is, they lack the courage to send him packing like others before him. I think we all know why they are shying away from actually firing him. The department heads are all "will and pleasure" appointees of the city manager. Once he is replaced some of the others will probably be pushed out too. My personal opinion is and continues to be that the city is in need of a clean sweep including council. They have had ample time to "right the ship".

Council is split and that's the problem. It's become a battle between two groups, referred to as Byrne's group and Manilla's group. The internal termoil sometimes spills over into tht public portion of the council meetings but the bottom line is their petty infighting is doing nothing to help the city. While they spend all their time stabbing each other in the back, the city continues to sink a little lower each day. We are in dire need of strong, ethical leadership.

A number of good points have been made in the previous posts based on what I've seen and heard. And, if you think about it, the current council has been recovering from a drawn-out hangover brought on by a binge from the previous council. Issues like importing *outside* leadership, attempting to ban industry *outside* the city, and banning smoking *inside* the city were all issues laid on the doorstep of city hall by the previous council. The current council has made some missteps but seems to have dealt with these challenges as it could while finding other surprises like a shrinking budget in city hall and ballooning debt at the airport.

As I said in another thread, something just doesn't seem right with the picture of a Clarksburg city councilman drawing a nearly $100K check from taxpayers for a job that could be a part-time volunteer from the local community. Sunnyside Up claims to do a lot, but in reality it can't take credit for much more than painting dumpsters, clearing some brush and trash, and creating a media blitz for the Learn not to Burn advertising campaign whose target audience should be toddlers. There are neighborhood leaders that could do as much. The claims of "if not for Sunnyside Up" just don't hold water. Developers will develop where the conditions are right and there's profit to be made. Sunnyside has received more than its fair share of attention and assistance over the past decade and there are a lot of other places in Morgantown that could benefit from investment. In my opinion, Sunnyside Up needs to change to become more realistic and relevant, and council is justified to tighten the purse-strings to do what it can to scrutinize and reform it.

It'd be easy for me to play armchair quarterback and say more could've happened more quickly, but I don't know all the details, although I know most change is evolutionary rather than revolutionary. I agree some of the squabbling would be better kept off camera, but I think it shows the seriousness of the issues facing the city with a council that only has a slight majority. The city had too many years of a one-sided super majority on council, and the legacy it left is now starting to show. Perhaps the city would be better off by clearing the cobwebs next year and ridding some of the venomous spiders that have hung around for awhile and grown long in the fang. As the old saying goes, it's always darkest before the dawn, and one can only hope that meaningful change, like new leadership in city hall administration, will come when it breaks.

I've not lost faith in the many good people the city has working on its behalf, but like others, I wish change could come sooner.

WVU2 wrote:

A number of good points have been made in the previous posts based on what I've seen and heard. And, if you think about it, the current council has been recovering from a drawn-out hangover brought on by a binge from the previous council. Issues like importing *outside* leadership, attempting to ban industry *outside* the city, and banning smoking *inside* the city were all issues laid on the doorstep of city hall by the previous council. The current council has made some missteps but seems to have dealt with these challenges as it could while finding other surprises like a shrinking budget in city hall and ballooning debt at the airport.
As I said in another thread, something just doesn't seem right with the picture of a Clarksburg city councilman drawing a nearly $100K check from taxpayers for a job that could be a part-time volunteer from the local community. Sunnyside Up claims to do a lot, but in reality it can't take credit for much more than painting dumpsters, clearing some brush and trash, and creating a media blitz for the Learn not to Burn advertising campaign whose target audience should be toddlers. There are neighborhood leaders that could do as much. The claims of "if not for Sunnyside Up" just don't hold water. Developers will develop where the conditions are right and there's profit to be made. Sunnyside has received more than its fair share of attention and assistance over the past decade and there are a lot of other places in Morgantown that could benefit from investment. In my opinion, Sunnyside Up needs to change to become more realistic and relevant, and council is justified to tighten the purse-strings to do what it can to scrutinize and reform it.
It'd be easy for me to play armchair quarterback and say more could've happened more quickly, but I don't know all the details, although I know most change is evolutionary rather than revolutionary. I agree some of the squabbling would be better kept off camera, but I think it shows the seriousness of the issues facing the city with a council that only has a slight majority. The city had too many years of a one-sided super majority on council, and the legacy it left is now starting to show. Perhaps the city would be better off by clearing the cobwebs next year and ridding some of the venomous spiders that have hung around for awhile and grown long in the fang. As the old saying goes, it's always darkest before the dawn, and one can only hope that meaningful change, like new leadership in city hall administration, will come when it breaks.
I've not lost faith in the many good people the city has working on its behalf, but like others, I wish change could come sooner.

Agree with most of your post although it's easy to place blame on others (previous council members). The proof lies in the previous years of leadership. The city was basking in the light of numerous recognitions and riding the wave of a solid econony and growth while other cities were cutting services right and left. Sadly, like it or not, council made some bad choices (my opinion)starting with the hiring of the city manager and other leadership who has no idea what's going on. Within two years the budget is a mess, employee morale is at an all time low, the city looks terrible and the crime rate is going up. I can only hope that our elected council wakes up, admits they made some mistakes and does the right thing. Sunnyside Up is just a sample of a program that's not working. Nobody wants to see the city fail but some hard decisions need to be made sooner than later.