Two random thoughts...
I heard this quote (paraphrased by me) this morning on the Atlanta news. It comes from an Alpharetta City Council member as the Council was voting to eject/remove from office one of its members for aggressive, bullying, intimidating tactics:
"There are just some people whose objective it is to destroy this community. I really believe that one of them may have been elected to serve on this Council."Wow... almost like she's talking about someone else...
Also, I was thinking of how about 4 or 5 years ago, there was a Countywide Leadership Retreat, where everyone came together to talk about long term plans, unity, cooperation... basically, big group hug.
Swing forward to today and the current version would be more akin to a
Countywide Retreat from Leadership...Sad, but true.
Budget woes...
Do you remember those old "
Family Circus" cartoons? I'm recalling ones where the kids would have done something bad and Mom is asking for an explanation. Typically there's a ghost in the background with a name tag that says "Somebody."
OK. So, I'm reading in today's online edition of Catoosa County News the article by Randall Franks entitled "
Officials Say Public Safety Fee is a Dead Issue," about how all five commissioners now know that the fee is DOA. They've voted down the property tax increase. Yada, yada, yada...
Then towards the end of the article, you've got Bill Clark and Bobby Winters both saying that "somebody" needs to come up with ideas... "somebody" needs to see what needs to be done.
Hello! We elected SOMEBODY to be a leader in this community. We expect SOMEBODY to work towards compromise with the other elected somebodies to achieve constructive solutions. If SOMEBODY simply refuses to compromise and wants to sit there and pout because SOMEBODY is not getting his way, then SOMEBODY is part of the problem!
The most successful presidents our country has seen have been centrists. They compromised. They understood that compromise is what democracy (and life!) is about.
This "my way or the highway" attitude is not only counterproductive, but more, it's offensive.
If the best leadership that SOMEBODY can provide is to sit back and be a victim, refusing to work with his other elected officials, then SOMEBODY needs to get the h*&% out of office, because SOMEBODY is no longer leading... SOMEBODY is just whining.
We've run out of money ... and I'm not assigning any blame. But we simply don't have time to deal with ineffective and counterproductive politicians.
Look where our current SOMEBODY has taken us: from a $4 million surplus to less than $2 million (after tapping the reserve fund) and dropping.
As Carl Henson said in
the article, "It's not a good trend."
How much is SOMEBODY being paid, I wonder...? Whatever it is, SOMEBODY is costing us way too much.
Chattanooga Street Preachers
This is entertaining. Go read the blog posting by Herman Wang at the Times Free Press... the posting about street preachers going biblical on the City Council the other night...
Here's the direct link.The funniest part is where (and I'll have to take Herman's summary of the meeting, as I wasn't there) the street preacher apparently rails on the City Council for not letting him/them "preach" near the Aquarium. Now, the City Council claims that the preachers are actually "shouting at passersby and holding graphic posters of aborted fetuses."
Here's the funny part... the street preacher then says, "If someone doesn't like the freedom we have, maybe they should move to France, a godless nation."
Whoa! So let's see how the logic might go... god gave us natural freedoms... like freedom of expression, freedom of assembly... Wait! We wrote those...
Let's try again... In America, we recognize various freedoms in our society, such as freedom of expression (ahh... now we're cookin'!)... and if someone wants to take away those freedoms -- our Constitutional rights -- then they should just go to some other country where...... they don't believe in god...
No wait! That doesn't work...
So, what's wrong in France? They certainly have enough freedom to express themselves when they don't agree with our opinions. And last I heard, they weren't being attacked because of their religious or political beliefs. Maybe tolerance and neutrality are good things... especially tolerance. Seems like we've (in this country) in many ways just as intolerant of those who "don't think like us" as we accuse them of being.
Maybe the problem we have is not that we do or don't recognize Constitutional rights... but rather, the problem may be that some people (or entities) run around the country (and now the world) "banging our Bibles" in the face of those who would rather not be preached to.
The way I interpret our Constitutional rights (to religion, expression, assembly, etc.) is that we all certainly can believe what we want... Where I draw the line is having unwanted, unsolicited views forced upon me in offensive, aggressive ways.
For many who want to "spread their faith," I often wonder, what's the objective: Convert or die?
Public Safety Fees...
Here's a link to the Catoosa County News article regarding the joint Cities-County meeting on the proposed public safety fee...
Now, I'm not surprised that the cities have already weighed in against the proposal for a public safety fee. It sounds like the main reason, though, has to do with asking lower-income people (or those with lower-level housing) to pay the same fee as higher income residents. Sadly, but not surprisingly, the other reason is that the elected officials fear (a) being tarred and feathered; (b) being hung by an old rope; or (c) all of the above (which is akin to saying, they fear for their jobs more than they fear making an unpopular decision).
First of all, those in the "lower" categories are typically demanding the same, if not more, services than others. Secondly, the higher income residents (with higher level homes) are already contributing significantly more to the budgetary coffers in the form of higher property taxes, higher payroll taxes and higher sales taxes (assuming they're buying more expensive goods, or at least a higher volume of goods).
And, let's not forget that these wealthy individuals represent in many cases the Holy Grail of economic development and success: JOBS! Who's going to employ all of the people to provide the services demanded by the lower income segment?
But here's the quote I loved the most: From staltwart defender of all that is Catoosa, Phyllis Williams said "I think the whole unincorporated area just wants to be left alone."
No roads. No schools. No police protection. No indigent legal defense. No indigent healthcare.
("Indigent," by the way, means lower income and not able to pay for the services demanded.)
If this is the kind of CAVE that some people want, then fine. Just don't crawl out and complain about roads, weeds, ball fields, police, hospitals, schools, or anything else that the other citizens are willing to pay for because they see the value in having them in the community.
Congratulations to Commissioner Ken Marks for having the courage to make the proposal. Whether or not it goes forward, Ken deserves credit for at least being willing to examine some possible, even if unpopular, solutions.
Returning to Reality...
I was away for a few days of needed rest and relaxation... just returned today, so I haven't had a chance to post anything regarding the Commission's decision regarding taxes...
Well, I suppose congratulations are in order... but for whom...?
I suppose Ken Marks deserves kudos for proposing an alternative to a near-term tax increase... the alternative being paying for the budget shortfall by tapping the "rainy day" fund.
I hope that the time that has been bought with this maneuver will be put to good use by the Commissioners. What we need is a long-term investment strategy whereby we can attract new revenue-generating businesses to Catosoa County. We also need short-term restraint (if not out-right restriction) on revenue-sucking housing development.
Do whatever you have to do to become fiscally solvent: public safety "fees"... impact "fees"... whatever you want to call them... taxes or fees... it doesn't matter. The county is going broke and must generate revenue somehow.
In the long run however, taxes or fees won't solve the problems... what's needed is a long-term constructive vision for this county.
Let's try to be progressive, not regressive, in our vision.
