Having served over six years on the Fountain Hills Town Council as your mayor, I know what it is like to be on the losing side of a vote and how difficult it is to speak out against the council members who voted on the winning side.
I also know how difficult it is to take any position on a controversial issue and thereby subject oneself to disapproving questions on the streets and scathing attacks on the letters page of The Fountain Hills Times.
To speak out takes political courage and town councilman Gerry Friedel displayed such courage in his Times column last week (Sign Ordinance) criticizing Mayor Dickey and council members Magazine, Scharnow and McMahon for voting to deprive local businesses of the advertising boost that A-frame signs in the roadside right-of-way gave them, not to mention the sales tax revenue they generated for the town.
We should be grateful to have a council member as thoughtful and courageous as Gerry Friedel serving our best interests.
