Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Kimbiz? Kazmin? Whoever he is, he needs to STFU.

Village Trustee Brian Kimbiz aka Brian Kazmin owes Sally Rhoads and everyone participating in tonight's Village Board meeting a tremendous apology. Not only did he expose his complete ignorance of the legislative process, legal codes, and other areas, he also lied about his role in disseminating information about the noise ordinance and was completely disrespectful of his fellow trustees and the public.

Raising your voice when you don't get your way is for petulant children, and that's exactly what Kimbiz appears to be. His efforts to drown out individuals who had the floor, including Sally, amounts to bullying and temper-tantrums. His behavior was completely inappropriate and the only adequate remedy for this outrageous affront is a public apology for his immature conduct during this meeting. Mocking others by making faces, snickering, rolling eyes, interrupting and other childish behavior has no place in our public forums and he is setting a terrible example for those who have not had experiences with the many thoughtful, respectful, informative students that are involved in our community. He might be "pissed as hell," but that doesn't mean we should all be subjected to it. If revisions are made to the noise ordinance (which they clearly should be - it's a pretty lousy law in it's current form), perhaps they can include his offensive and embarrassing comments in the violations.

There are frequently valid reasons for disagreement between permanent community members and SUNY students; these issues arise independently of sensationalized efforts to fan the flames. While Kimbiz' Facebook group purported to operate under the context of civil discourse, his efforts on behalf of this issue ensured the contrary. He has manipulated just emotions of the very constituents he pretends to serve in order to bolster publicity and his absurd agenda of giving power to those who have never really had it taken away. Any efforts to increase animosity among various groups of our community should be discouraged, especially when those efforts are spearheaded by our public officials. We have enough warfare without creating new battles that never needed to be.

In addition, it's about time he get a few things straight. The learning curve he faced should be almost completely dissolved after nearly a year in his position. He serves on the VILLAGE Board, not the TOWN Board, "CDs" are NOT official minutes of a meeting, and there are huge differences between NYS laws, Village laws and SUNY policy. Perhaps if he is able to finally get these basic concepts down, he wouldn't be so obviously frustrated and obnoxious during meetings. Spell check would be a huge improvement, too. It's almost as painful to read the junk he puts on Facebook as it is to actually listen to him spout this nonsense in person. I know I've made fun of his goal to be a "great lesion" on the Village Board, but I'm only beginning to realize that he actually did mean it literally.

Finally, kudos to Police Chief Joe Snyder. Chief Snyder was the only person making an effort to diffuse an unnecessarily heated debate, returning it to the conversation it ought to have been in the first place. I've seen great things from him during his tenure and am constantly reassured of his competence and compassion each time he responds to difficult situations with such poise and respect.

7 comments:

  1. Thank god for Brittany, that's all I have to say.

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  2. Heh. I thought that what Kimbiz did was great. I didn't see any of the behavior you suggest because the village board broadcasts are all but unwatchable and I gave up, mostly, before the public comment was done.

    I passed that law to my attorney (ahem) and her one word summary was "insane."

    I was particularly appalled by all the "public health" blabber in its "policy" statement.

    Also, seeing all those students in village hall at a board meeting, and the atmosphere in the room, during that initial discussion of the ordinance period, was refreshing.

    All in all the whole matter had a very positive energy to it.

    I agree about Chief Snyder. He's a very decent fellow.

    If the usual busybodies got their feathers ruffled, however, all the better. I recall how incensed you were when they wanted to close the bars early, Barb.

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  3. hey buddy! congrats on the book! haven't spoken to you since it came out!

    i left as the public comment was starting, but couldn't resist tuning in on 23 around 10:30pm to see just how far they'd gotten - apparently, not very.

    the law is an atrocity and can barely even be called one. i'm also glad that the students were so engaged, i just wish they had been better informed instead of intentionally led astray. on top of that, it's clear that people were really upset, and i'm not sure that it was really the time to display that kind of outrage, given the fact that the law is still in the very early phases of even being drafted. clearly (and this is backed up on facebook), kimbiz wanted to get people all riled up and, well, he was successful. i don't fault the students for this, i fault their "leader." i especially fault kimbiz because, as an elected official, he should at least have the poise to refrain from childish behavior in the meeting. granted, the VB doesn't exactly set the best example for this, but still, he should know better.

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  4. We'll have to agree to disagree about Kimbiz. I think he's very O.K.

    The book (taking just a sentence to get around to it) is getting very good to excellent reactions. Even from my Lefty friends, one of whom, if you had bet me he would get past the first two pages I would have denied it was possible, actually read it end to end and called me every morning to let me know where he was. I'm thinking, "now that's readability!"

    You're next!

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  5. Well now that I'm stuck at home with the flu, I'll have to see if I can get an Amazon rush order!

    And... since when did I become one of your lefty friends? I didn't know we were at that point in our relationship! ;)

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  6. No such presumption was intended.

    But you are a virtual acquaintance.

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