Sunday, February 2, 2014

Time to Write Again

Hi folks. For those of you who haven't heard, I am now working at a dentist office and really enjoying myself. My boss is someone who appreciates me, my skills and knowledge and I believe in his approach to helping people by providing excellent dental care.

But, now it's time to post a few things on my blog...and re-enter the debate on important local and state issues. I am pleased that we now have a city council (save one member) made up of individuals who put the interests of the public first. These gentlemen are trying to work with the new city manager and members of the public on the city's myriad and extensive problems. Not opportunities, problems. Opportunities might come out of fixing the problems but believe me, there are NO opportunities out there owing chiefly to the years of mismanagement and corruption.

The new city manager, Mr. Allen, started the right way in my opinion. What better basic service to try to right than the garbage collection. All Malone did was raise fees and reduce services, not to save money but to find money to fill the deficits the boys created by using the restricted fees from water, sewer and sanitation. Meanwhile, these services and infrastructure continued to decline...some to the critical state.

While well intended by Council member Saddler, now is not the time to worry about selling the Babcock Building as Mr. Allen noted. He has bigger fish to fry, i.e., deficits caused by run away costs associated with employee benefits and a declining economy combined with incompetency on the part of some staff and most certainly Malone, Kalb and their chief political hacks - Juanita Jewitt, Crystal Weghorst and Richard Duncan. (More about political hacks and their effects in another post.)

I suggest Mr. Allen that you do what I attempted to do. Stabilize the buildings (proper boarding, checking and repairing leaks, broken windows, etc.) until the right time. And keep your eyes on the ball as you seem to be starting out to do.