Who Speaks for You?

Having been born and raised in Royal Oak, spent most of my life in Royal Oak, volunteered for and attended many committees and commission meetings, ran for Royal Oak city office, and personally attempted to educate residents on the finances of our city, I found one basic fundamental truth. The City of Royal Oak is mired, and has been for years, in political and social minority groups whose sole purpose(s) is to impress on the majority of the citizens their personal or group agendas. Fostering and breeding this attitude is the apathy, lack of information, and inability to counter these minority efforts.
The usual tactics of these groups has been to organize a group of  supporters for the cause and then become highly visible and loud at city meetings (CITCO, ZBA, Planning) that will impact the media,TV,  Newspapers WROK.If you've never attended a City Commission meeting when a very emotional issue is on the adgenda and T.V. cameras are present, then you've missed a real show. From both sides of the table the acting, emotion, and "Playing to the audience" is risen to an art form. 
Tonight there will be a meeting to discuss closing of Normanty Oaks Golf course and the disposition of underutalized city parks. The focus of this discussion will be a city survey that, at least to me, is being utalized to cloud a hidden adgenda for political and/or financial puopose. The survey, based on 1500 forms sent to a "Scientific radom population"' and having 333 responses that reflect "Scientifically" this random population. I'm left to believe that with 156 respondents denoting that they feel that under utalized recreation and park facilities should be sold off, 59 respondents responding No and 93 who felt that they didn't have enough information. With this we have enough to bring to the table to discuss. This is the most ridicules misuse of any information presented to the public and, I must add, the residents paid for this! The population and demigraphics of this study(?) is so convoluted and slanted it is rendered useless. Basic questions I would ask is what about the 1167 surveys not responded to. Does this change the "Scientifically determined randomness" of the population? The survey was taken in November and December. Whould the results change if the survey were taken in the summer months when green facilities are used. Was this taken into consideration in the "Survey Model?"
There are some who feel the Normandy Golf Course is financially "Unsistainable", including the City Manager. Royal Oak is a city that financially, due to unfunded pension and  healthcare liabilites make the cities financial position "Unstainable." Using the golf course model should the city not consider putting itself on the auction block?
The city has a $170 million dollar dilema on its hands. I expect that with new financial requirements begining July 2014 we will see this debt increase to a point that will start a good discussion. Presently the city management has no solutions for this crisis. All I've seen is dedicated millages, bonds, and the sale of city assets.
Royal Oak, this is not the answer. Attend tonights meeting and see "Who's speaking for you!"