If Ed Robinson weren't so detestable, he'd be funny... The Florence City councilman and challenger to Mayor Stephen Wukela, is a concundrum - a living, contradictory dichotomy of himself. He has survived on council for decades by making himself appear as his district's sole champion, while at the same time denying projects for his own people. It's pretty simple: in politics, you always need an enemy. If you have none, who can you blame for you troubles? Or worse - if you admit someone is listening to you, you beome irrelevant. And no politician EVER wants that...
That might have been so in previous councils, but from all appearances, Mayor Wukela has tried to be helpful and patient with Robinson. It's pretty ironic, considering that Wukela is easily 20+ years younger than Ed... He's even given what Robinson asked for - a basketball complex, with a price tag of $4-7 million - and as you read from P-Luv's post last month, Robinson killed it, on the grounds that it wasn't enough...So, whenever the Don Quixote of District Two can't find anything with Council to complain about, he looks elsewhere...
This week, he might as well have complained that God himself was biased against his area of town, because he went after The Dr. Bruce and Lee Foundation - aka, the Foundation That Saved Florence From Itself. It's a private trust that has given grants to virtually EVERY civic endeavor in the past decade, starting with the Library. Basically, they get requests for various projects, and approve those that are worthy. It's pretty simple - they focus on projects that do the most good for the most people, and they do a great job of it. Only a moron would attack a private group that gives you free money... Apparently, Ed Robinson - uhhhh - isn't bright.
According to a SCNow.com article , The Foundation gave the city $160,000 to purchase the old Kress building, where a new Tennis Center will be built. Yeah, a Tennis Center to us sounds like coddling a bit to the upper crust Florence Tennis Association - where many of them meet. But, if they are able to make it a regional center to become profitable, it could work. Most black kids don't play tennis, so I could see Robinson's half-point, but when you personally kill the Basketball Complex in your own neighborhood, who do you have to blame but yourself? Well, in Ed's mind, the Foundation is still a good place to start...
Robinson argued that gifts from the private Bruce and Lee Foundation aren’t equitably distributed. He said they should promote the whole city.“I know what I get from the people in my district,” Robinson said. “They agree that the Bruce and Lee Foundation doesn’t represent low income people fairly. “Just look at the city’s growth areas,” said Robinson. “It’s grown in certain areas and is a total disaster in others. I’m just asking this council to work with me. I’ve gone to the Bruce and Lee Foundation a number of times, but nothing has happened.”Wukela alluded to the $160,000 gift in the Community Block Development Grant area, another topic of discussion. He said “that (the CBDG area) is certainly a depressed area.”“All the black folks in that area are getting kicked out,” Robinson responded. “The ones who need the help the most are getting the least. We need to incorporate everybody in the growth of the city. The city should be run by us, not the Bruce and Lee Foundation.”
We don't know what projects Ed pushed to the Foundation, but there is a rule: if the Foundation has the money, they can do with it what they like - and you haven't made a good case for you what you want. They aren't trying to run the city, but it appears Robinson is trying to run the Foundation. Good luck with that... It is a pretty good-sized windmill to battle, but even Don Quixote had Sancho Panza helping him. Ed is on his own on this one. It takes brass balls and stupidity to attack those that give you free money, but that's Ed...
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