‘If They Want to Drink the Poison to Hurt Me . . . Give Them a Second Glass,' Garland Council Member Says to Those Seeking Her Recall

Garland's former National Guard armory is now a pile of rubble after the City Council voted 6-3 last month to demolish it to make way for a skate facility and dog park at Central Park.But since that Oct. 23 vote — and in large part because of it — the city's political structure is now also in disarray.The political wreckage includes a mayor who accuses the six council members who voted in favor of tearing down the armory of working against the citizens of Garland; a council member — one of those six — facing an oddly-timed recall petition; and the unexpected resignations of two park board members. Mayor Douglas Athas, who announced immediately after the armory vote that he would also soon resign, has yet to do so and now says that his role is to save Garland residents from the poor governance of what he calls the "gang of six". "I've got to try and protect the citizens," Athas said Tuesday, hours before another city council meeting. "They've been putting together a coalition to support each other on personal agendas and agreed that they would vote as a bloc. All this stuff has been going on behind channels. A lot of it has been building up for a long time. "They're people who just want to have control. They truly want to go around boards and commissions and citizens, straight to their decision," Athas said.   Continue reading...