Saturday, April 16, 2011

Parkville Birdcage Liner (a.k.a. Luminary) Expresses its Wishes for Downtown Parkville.

The editor/publisher of the Parkville Birdcage Liner has expressed his wishes for Downtown Parkville. It was elegantly stated with a photo of a 16-square foot sign stating that downtown business were open in Parkville. The single word caption expresses the quirky little newspaper's long held wishes for Downtown Parkville, "Fail." This newspaper has long been an opponent of Downtown Parkville and finally it has had the stones to say it in print. The position, obviously, hinges on the fact that the bellicosity of the editor/publisher which led to a more than one-year restraining order against him that prevents him from coming close to downtown developer, entrepreneur and community leader Tom Hutsler. He has hired a new cub reporter that had originally applied for the position of executive director of Main Street Parkville Association. While she turned out to be the second choice after a super-qualified applicant decided, for personal reasons, that she would not accept the job; she was offered the job (following a split decision by the steering committee) after she clearly stated, when asked, that she would quit her association with the Bird Cage Liner if hired. She was made aware of the fact that the animosity held by that "quirky little newspaper" towards MSPA and downtown with greatly impact her ability to do her job effectively. Then, once offered the job, she reneged on her statement and announced to Carol Kuhns the MSPA president, that did not intend to give up her job on the newspaper's staff. Since she had originally stated that she would leave the newspaper, and then reversed her position, it was felt that a contract of employment was required that would force her to work only for MSPA and not for any media. She seems to have felt that her loyalty towards the newspaper was far more important that her loyalty to MSPA; hes refused to sign the agreement and thereby refused the job. Despite tha fact that one steering committee member felt that her overarching qualification was that "she is pretty" everyone agreed that having lied in her interview was enough reason to not employ her.