An Open Letter to Muirfield Village

As a young adult I dreamed of living in Muirfield. Jack did a truly masterful job of designing a community and the design elements and layout of streets and homes combine with the natural landscape of central Ohio for a spectacular look. As a somewhat older adult I am proud to be a resident of Muirfield Village and believe to my core that it is a great place to raise my daughter and nurture our family. So it came as quite a shock to see all those beautiful trees being cut down.

It started with the largest tree in all of Muirfield Village, the giant 250 year old oak tree at the corner of Springburn Dr. and Drake Rd. Workers from the City of Dublin cut it down on November 26, 2012. I know because instead of that beautiful, majestic old tree at the end of my driveway, I now see the ugly side of my neighbor's garage. Jack is in town this week. I wonder what he would think of that?

Next came virtually every tree in the Glick Rd. Pool parking lot. It used to be an inviting lot with ample shady parking. I know because I play tennis at the Glick Rd. courts two or three times a week. Now I park in the blazing hot Ohio sun.

The City of Dublin has very specific policies governing the removal of trees. The policy states that new trees shall be planted to replace at least the surface area of the tree trunks removed. So far not a single tree has been planted to replace the ones removed from the Glick Rd. Pool parking lot. Only two spindly trees were planted to replace the 250 year old oak at the end of my driveway.

Will somebody from the Muirfield Association please call me to explain my neighborhood's strategy for tree management? At the moment I do not think you are spending my annual Association dues very wisely. Thank you. Vince

An Open Letter to Airlines and the Pilots Union

This morning i was struck by the disappearance of yet another check in counter at Port Columbus. The row of empty counter space was, up until recently, bustling with flyers and airline employees. I a frequent business traveler and a proud member of Southwest's A List. My home town airport, CMH, is slowly fading away and while my life will be impacted by its passing, the airline industry and pilots, flight attendants, baggage handlers and other airport workers will be far more directly impacted.

While the number of airport employees and the travelers who supply their payroll continues to decline, the number of federal government TSA agents rises steadily. Not only do they swarm around their porno scanners, X-ray machines and groping rooms, they are lined up at my gate ready to sort through the personal effects of the 60 or so customers waiting to board this flight. Can't wait for my turn.

An associate of mine now chooses to drive up to nine hours to avoid flying. His logic is that the hassle is not worth the time savings, and that hassle has already erased most of the time savings. I still fly on trips longer than three hours, but the crowd of grown men and women putting their clothes back on at the dressing stations after the scanners is almost enough to make me give up flying altogether.

That is especially sad for the airline industry and all who serve it. I am but one voter and taxpayer. It has become increasingly obvious to me that blog entries and e-mails to my family and friends will do nothing to stem the tide of growth and control by our federal overlords. But you in the airline industry and pilot unions have. Far larger voice. Please spend more of my airfare speaking out against this tyranny. I fear your voices are the only ones left that can save a once great industry. The only winner here is the TSA. Think about it.

My letter to the Mike Church Show

May Day, 2012

Hi Mike. Great show today, albeit rather astringent and sobering. It is all too clear to me that the big Rs are the problem too. Not as bad as the left, but plenty bad enough. That's especially bad news in light of the TEA Party trampling our liberties with their collusion on the passing of CISPA. I too see the same degradation in the politics industry that led up to the Civil War. This time around it doesn't look to be shaping up as North versus South, but instead neighbor versus neighbor. There is no clean Mason-Dixon Line, but instead mere fences in neighborhoods dividing diverse ideologies. It's a damn scary prospect.

Where the antagonists of the mid-1800s had slavery to distract the population from the issue of states' rights and personal liberty, what do we have today? Will the cry of the left be "Get back to work and support us!"? In time the southern states did abandon slavery, but the republicans and liberty-minded of today are unlikely to close this chapter in American history with the classic Orwellian concession "I love you Big Brother." It is hard to imagine a good ending.

As a kid I watched Happy Days and enjoyed the commentary of my parent's generation. I used to reflect on our Greatest Generation and how good those good old days must have been, but now I see that while they fought the obvious enemies on distant shores, they let the one here at home creep into society and start the small tear the would lead to the unraveling we see today.

Hopefully this chapter of American history does not end with "I love you Big Brother," but if it does men will in time realize that the oppression of socialism isn't the right path. Some of those liberty-minded men will get out before the collapse. I turn 49 next month and may not live to see free men and women land on the shore of the next America, but my daughter Reagan might.

Sobering, but a great show. Thank you.

Vince