07 September 2007

Friday Follies...
It's the end of the week...beginning of some serious time off.
And time once again for many of you to fail to stop and read the posts or comment here. Well, it's like I say: "You don't bother to read this blog, you miss way to much for your own good", so that absolves ME.
I'm doing what I do, namely bringing what's pertinent (in news and life) to YOU.
And like any horse, you can always lead them to water, but you can't make them drink. So...with that in mind, let's proceed...shall we?

- Ciao, Luciano - It was with a sincere sadness that I learned yesterday about the passing of possibly one of THE greatest tenors there ever has been, or ever will be. You have to rank Pavarotti RIGHT up there alongside Bjorling, Carerras, Domingo, DiStefano, and even Lanza. To me, there is no greater thrill when it comes to opera than to watch someone just open the mouth and have the music FLOW forth...no strain, no pretense, just song, no matter what language it is sung. Granted, opera is an "acquired taste", and it's certainly NOT for everyone, but (IMHO), in order to appreciate music as the art form it truly is, one has to expose themselves to ALL facets of the art. To "rap", I will ONLY state, that I have "tried" it, and found it repulsive, repugnant, and totally without redeeming social or artistic value. 'Nuff said there.
Opera, on the other hand is about not only the music...it's about a story...about people, and about conflicts and resolutions. It's a fairy tale brought to song; it's about an epic; it's about life. And Luciano embraced that life.
His music is testament to his life, but moreover, it's about how WE interpret life ourselves. Whenever we listen to music that invokes such an emotional response, we can't help but become just a bit introspective. And in that process, we can hope to learn more about ourselves. Pavarotti did that for US, and he did it with such passion. So now...he sings for the heavenly.

- Chief York States Crime Has Dropped -
Well, spank me rosy, will 'ya? When I saw the headline, I thought "Here we go again...more doctored statistics". And from where I sit and live, those figures MUST be from another city, because they don't ACCURATELY reflect MY part of town. When Rusty presented his 2008 budget to council, he cited the "fact" that crime had dropped in the city NINE percent (yawn) with a FOUR percent drop in violent crime (bigger yawn). He said "Even though our population has risen steadily, our crime has dropped".
Well, that ABOITE thing has something to do with THAT, don'cha think? I mean THAT (new) part of our city isn't exactly SWARMING with criminals like MY part of town now, is it?
DUH!
So I can at least extend my THANKS to all you in Aboite (and that includes YOU, Rusty) for making crime drop (statistically-speaking) across town....now, how's about doing something to RELIEVE the ACTUAL crime in MY neighborhood, hmm? Let's put YOUR (skewed) stat sheet away and start looking at MY (actual) stats, OK?

- Lawsuit Contests Property Tax -
Now THERE'S a novel idea.
In out lawsuit-happy society, what BETTER way to make your point about unfair taxation, than to SUE THE ASSES off of local government.
I love it!
I won't bore you with all the details,which can be found (at length) in other peoples' blogs, so we'll just hit the high points.
Homeowners are staging a revolt against increasing property tax hikes...and with good reason. For far too long, cities and counties have relied upon the HOMEOWNER to pay THEIR way, as well as off tax ABATEMENTS to businesses to have them come to THEIR cities and counties. And enough is finally enough.
-Assessment errors have been alleged in Marion and Allen counties. Annual updates of property values (along with "trending") based on similar properties have led to a 24% average INCREASE for residential taxpayers.
-There is no "uniform" of property assessment and taxation, as numerous taxing districts have resulted in wildly varying rates. The suit points out that unfair assessment procedures skews and distorts the true market values of residential properties.
-The Common School Fund, which is a revolving account to give school districts with lower assessed values low-interest construction loans, technology grants, and charter school startup assistance is non-restrictive when it comes to collecting taxes from homes.
(maybe I should sue the city or better neighborhood protection...you here me there at the City-County building? I'm talking to YOU guys!)

-ITT Donates Night-Vision Goggles to Police -
ITT aerospace has partnered with the FWPD and the ACSD to allow these agencies to "own the night" with 32 sets of spanking new night-vision goggles (boy, they could SURE put them to work down HERE).
Sheriff Fries plans to use the 16 pairs of goggles his department will receive for the traffic division. These new models are better than the ones currently used by SWAT.
Chief York will be receiving 15 pairs of the new goggles (wow...that leaves ONE pair unaccounted for...does that mean that I'M going to get them?) and will be using them with HIS Emergency Response Team. At several thousand dollars a pop, I'm sure they will be well utilized (and I'll be home whenever you decide to drop off MY pair, OK?).

So there you have it...all the news that's fit to print.
(or is that PRINT to FIT?)

Do have a SAFE weekend!

06 September 2007

It's That Time Again...
There were two stories that just reached off of the pages of today's paper, grabbed me about the shoulders and said: "This is what the SOUTH side is all about".
So..here we go.

- Teacher says guns, ring missing.
Seems a South Side H. S. teacher enlisted the aid of ten students to help her clean her basement when it became flooded (2800 block of Palisade Drive - not one of the "jewels" in the crown of south side neighborhoods...much like mine in fact). The FIRST strike was when she had the students at her place DURING SCHOOL HOURS (Can we all say "oops"?) on 28 - 29 August. I'd wager there might be some POed parents just over that. But it gets better, folks. The teacher WAS at home while the students were there (well at least THAT was a "plus"), and was on sick leave. She discovered the missing items after the students left on 29 August. She went to three of their houses that night to ask about the missing guns.
Of course, the students denied taking the guns and the ring.
The guns that were missing was a S&W .357 revolver, another .357 black revolver, a .22 semiauto pistol and a .25 semiauto pistol. And here is where it gets REALLY fun. None of the guns had SERIAL NUMBERS (yep, you can say "oops" again). They were kept in a bedroom closet (so why were the students THERE instead of the basement?), and the 1/2 carat diamond w/ a gold band was in a dresser drawer. Apparently, none of the students have been charged, and the FWPD could not say if it was still an open investigation (even THEY don't know???).
FWCS is conducting it's OWN investigation. This is turning into one great cluster-f$ck...isn't it? I'd bet that the teacher will be "outta there" soon enough. and having weapons with obliterated serial numbers is not a good thing. Besides, why did she have FOUR guns? I would think that maybe TWO would suffice, but it's damn hard to sell (legally) guns with missing serials...but they are easy to "get out into the streets", where they become the PREFERRED weapons of choice. In any event, it will be fun waiting to see if ANY of those guns turn up in future crimes down here, because we just KNOW that they will.

- Mayor plans SE tour of new homes -
Our illustrious "King of the Realm" Graham Richard (who talks the talk better than he walks the walk) invited the community to tour new homes southeast of downtown in an effort to increase (read dredge up) interest in living (we call it existing) and investing (tossing good money after bad) in the urban core (read slums).
A "City Living Tour" will allow people to tour homes in Renaissance Pointe (there's the *e* again), a new neighborhood (culled from the old neighborhood) created in a public-private partnership. This 36 block area (Hanna - Creighton - S. Anthony - Pontiac) is said by King Richard to have the ability for up to 400 new homes and 100 rehabitable homes near downtown (it's actually a little farther south than that...he needs to check the latest map). There are SIX model homes in the area on the tour, and the houses will cost between $100,000 and $250,000, and are being built with many of the features that older homes have (like leaking roofs, bullet holes, and broken doors and windows?), such as large front porches, and high ceilings (unlike the "high" occupants in most rentals in my area).
"It's being done to protect the VALUE of the neighborhood", says Sherry Early-Allen. Gee Sherry, that's EXACTLY what I'm doing from my $76,000 house in the badlands. In fact, it's what I do every frigging day...try to keep the "Barbarians from my gates", and having to deal with white and ethnic trash in the process.
Whatta coincidence!
Allen also says that MONEY (in the form of home improvement GRANTS) will be available to those already living in the area (How's about you toss some of that MY way, toots?).
But there IS a catch (isn't there always?)...the money is available to those making only 80% of the median income for the county. That would mean $34,350 for a single person, and $49,250 for a family of four (and a welfare momma with 5 kids from 4 men gets it all for free anyway, right?) if they qualify. The houses on John and Smith street are being targeted first (and MY house is targeted every other month, but NOT for grant money).

This is such a ludicrous idea on SO many levels, that I can barely keep from laughing. If I EVER become financially-well-off, that I have a choice between getting a house for $100K-$250K in the HANNA-CREIGHTON area...OR....a $100K-$250K house in say WOODBURN, or GRABILL, or LEO...or even back in PA, guess where the f$ck I'M MOVING TO? We would leave this area SO damn fast, I'd probably get cited for SPEEDING...a lot!
He ain't driving FAST, officer...he's just flying LOW!
Give me a frigging break...a $100K house on the SOUTH side...what the hell ARE YOU smoking, people, and why hasn't Doc Crawford gotten on your $hit about that? You want to revitalize this whole area? Make it REAL simple for you, because, Mr. Mayor, you seem to do "simple" quite well.
You need to RAZE all the bad houses NOW, REHAB the ones that need it NOW, KICK OUT the human refuse that dwell in these places NOW, FIGHT CRIME with a vengeance NOW, and THEN....maybe....you can RECLAIM this ENTIRE area, making it viable for shoring up your depleted tax base, without annexing MORE "provinces", and pissing off even more people that don't WANT to be part of Fort Wayne, kapesh? .
But until all that occurs, sticking some fancy-ass, big-dollar home in some slum-ridden area just ain't gonna make that dog hunt, bub! You can't even keep MY neighborhood from going down the crapper...I know, I've been here for TEN long years, telling you about it for almost AS LONG, and haven't seen ONE DAMN BIT of "improvement"...quite the reverse, "your majesty"!
It's like driving some broken down jalopy. Putting on a NEW HUBCAP sure as hell won't make that car look a damn sight better, or make it run better. Hell, even FOUR new hubcaps won't make a damn bit of difference.

But our 'King" deems otherwise for his subjects.
Yet no king "rules" forever, so in the meantime...
Exodus...anyone?

05 September 2007

Another Milestone & A Sign Of The Times...

Well, we made it here to POST #300!
(stops to pop a cork or two)
Unlike the other "300", I think the longevity and survival rate HERE will be a tad longer lasting.

Thanks to your continued interest, comments, and encouragement, we here at the "Erudition" are thankful of those who stop by to comment, as well as those (in the news and around my neighborhood) who provide "fodder for my cannon" with their words, actions, and sheer lunacy. Keep it up...I've barely scratched the surface...heh, heh, heh.

Now...(as Paul Harvey would say) "On to the Rest of the story"...

The city's *new* sign ordinance (pause to yawn), made to keep blight along the municipal right-of-way to a minimum, is a good idea that's LONG overdue, in spite of those who put this ordinance forward. That would be the "nanny-squad", and they KNOW who they are. I know for a fact that having all the "local entrepreneurs" cluttering utility poles in MY neighborhood is just adding insult to injury when it comes to making a distressed area look even more...well...distressed.

I personally detest those "ads" that state WE PAY FOR JUNK CARS - CALL 468-8689 (go ahead and call them...just for the hell of it), or HOME FOR SALE (read hovel that's a REAL "fixer-upper") CALL 436-5000 (go ahead and call them as well...I don't mind) tacked with an inordinate amount of staples every damn month.

So, like ANY concerned citizen that gives a damn...I march my 55 year old ass right out there, and rip them the hell DOWN. That pole belongs to the UTILITY COMPANY, and since they're too busy making sure YOU have electric or phone service, they just don't have the manpower or the time to devote to removing this crap from every pole THEY OWN.
Gee...maybe I should "sub-contract" myself out to them...or at least send them a bill for my 30 seconds of "work" I do for them monthly...'ya think? Hell, they can just CREDIT my account...that seems fair enough.

And those GARAGE SALE signs we see BLOCKS from where it's supposed to be a week BEFORE it occurs....and weeks AFTER it's over...they shouldn't be UP that long in the first place. If you DO have a garage sale, put a sign on YOUR PROPERTY...simple, huh? Better yet...take an ad in the CLASSIFIED section of the local papers (but be advised, people don't READ as WELL or as MUCH as they USED to).
Same goes for lost pets. If someone REALLY needs and wants their pet found, tack a sign at the SPCA, grocery stores, convenience stores (always ASK first when placing flyers at PUBLIC locations such as these...a little COURTESY still goes a LONG way), or place them in the mailboxes or doors of neighborhood residents. Again...simple, huh?
Besides, it shows a bit more CONCERN than a mere flyer hurriedly stapled to a corner utility pole...and makes the area look a helluva lot better in the process!

Whatever sign you choose to place ON YOUR PROPERTY is YOUR business, and should be acknowledged as such by the city. No one ever begrudges a person a BEWARE OF DOG or a NO TRESPASSING sign on their property, do they? In many cases it provides a single glance overview of the property owner's wishes, and we should abide by them, unless we're really feeling "lucky" (well...do 'ya punk?)...!

So I would have to say that it's about damn time city council did something (IMHO) noteworthy...it just took them a decade or two to make it happen. Can't WAIT to see how long before we see another ENFORCEABLE ordinance come our way, unlike so many other ordinances that are there in black and white, but are just not able to be enforced. Then again, it takes a few more concerned citizens than just ME to take back ANY neighborhood (such as mine), or at least keep it from deteriorating further (like mine).

It's OUR neighborhood...OUR city...and OUR choice.

04 September 2007

How NOT To Spend A Labor Day...
Witness to a criminal trespass, talking to officers, seeing people get arrested, and even using a rake and a shop-vac to clean a former neighbor's house all seemed to figure into MY labor day "festivities". Funny...I didn't PLAN it that way.

But I was too busy ripping pages from my Crimestoppers Texbook!

Seems a former neighbor was selling their house (NOT the one pictured here, btw) ON CONTRACT to a single mom, who missed a few payments, did controlled substances, lost her job, committed fraud at that job, and was otherwise going downhill a lot faster than a runaway train on Pike's Peak (and I don't think they HAVE trains there). The person was told to vacate in 30 days (reasonable), but she never bothered to get her "stuff" until 2 days AFTER the original 30. She then enlisted the aide of our very own village idiot, who does curbside auto repair, is a 4 time DUI felon (ugly mug shots as mug shots go...all of them), and is the self-appointed neighborhood busybody.
Strange thing is, "things" happen in the neighborhood whenever he is involved. Like the 2 times I called the fire department when his "buddys" were having huge bonfires NEXT to a garage (a code violation). Within several days, a BRICK came through OUR window (imagine that). I called NCE for a broken garage door at another one of cronies hangouts, and OUR house gets "egged" (imagine that). Still, another time, I called on broken down cars on a property and OUR garage gets several BBs through the windows shortly after that (imagine that). So, although I did not actually SEE the people doing this to our house, I DO have my "suspicions".
It's just all too coincidental, don'cha think?

But I digress....

These 2 perps kicked in a basement window and she had to have let HIM in, as he was coming OUT the back door when I spotted him. Now, if ANY defense attorney wants to belabor this point, the kitchen, as well as the back door IS (firmly) attached to the house, and he had to be INSIDE in order to get OUTSIDE (I love logic most times, especially in THIS case), right? So the FWPD is called, they come, I explain things (and have 2 new keys left to me BY the owner after the locks were changed), the owners show up, we all have a nice labor day "Pow-Wow". After all is said and done (the officers went to talk with the perps), the two trespassers were ARRESTED BY THE HOME OWNERS. That's right...a bonifide Citizen's Arrest was invoked.
I love it when a law WORKS.
My subpoena will be arriving and I'll be asked to "come on down" and testify as to what I SAW. No problem there, I have no problem with telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing BUT the truth...so help me God.
Hey, all I'm doing is looking out for the decent people and their properties...the best way I am allowed (they won't let me just SHOOT the darn perps....a shame). I will admit to "almost" going down to the house, gun in hand, and capturing the perps myself, but after a lightspeed analysis, I reasoned I don't have a CCW permit, could NOT take any of MY guns off of MY property (unless locked in a case) and that I would probably be taken in on those charges ...and I didn't want to ruin a spotless record, even in doing the right thing.
Hey... it's what *I* do.
I later joined in as we went through what USED to be a damn nice house....animal feces, trash...you name it. What a wonderful SMELL I discovered, as Han Solo would have quipped. With rakes, brooms and a shop-vac, we gathered and took out FIVE trash cans FULL of junk, and we've yet to tackle the basement (that's this week).
Again...it's what *I* do.

Suffice it to say, I wasn't much in the mood yesterday to do anything but get CLEAN and have a cold one. We did salvage a small cookout (Salmon, ribs and burgers, although MY appetite was less than usual...imagine that) for the homeowners, as they were ORIGINALLY on their way down here to visit us (what a coincidence).

So I hope NEXT labor Day is less fraught with angst...we can but hope.

03 September 2007

Special LABOR DAY Edition...
Time for some random thoughts and snippets from the news mixed with an ample dose of pungent social commentary...in other words, the kind of enlightening material you've come to EXPECT from this blog (unless of course you don't READ this blog...which would make you uninformed on SO many levels). And remember, they don't call it LABOR for nothing...ask any mother during CHILDBRITH!

* * * If you work in Indiana, chances are you dislike your job more than the average American (big surprise there). But at least the cost of living is a bit LOWER (but at this rate...not for much longer). This latest study show that employee loyalty is taking it on the chin in the Hoosier state. Loyal workers are more likely to behave in ways help the company (gee...'ya think?).

I worked for a place that after nine years, hired some hot-shot mover & shaker, who promptly proceeded to pry as much information out of all the employees about their jobs (he didn't know $hit), and then found ways to claim "they were expendable" (not a John Ford film). And I was one of those "lucky" ones. Today, that still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth...and that as in PHILLY!

* * * Home repair sales are expected to DROP to the tune of about 1.3%, and isn't expected to improve until 2008. Now I understand that HOME SALES themselves are on the skids, and it's a buyers' market out there for existing homes, but excuse me for being a bit curious about this. Did houses suddenly find ways to MAINTAIN THEMSELVES? Sorry, but ANY house that is NOT less than 5 years old will need SOME kind of maintenance (unless you live in MY neighborhood, where we fix houses by slapping on a coat of paint and calling it practically *new*...and then resell them for UNDER $10K!!!), and the older they get, the more they need it. It's like the human body. You get out whatever you put in. Junk in - junk out (wow, if THAT doesn't sound like the RENTERS here...LOL).

* * * Changes in manufacturing have chipped away at the median income in Indiana (and here I thought it was all those CHINESE IMPORTS we were scarfing up at a record pace...silly me).These economic development "officials" claim the best way to stem or even reverse declining wages is for people to get more training and education to be prepared for those "high-paying, high skill" jobs when they come.
OK...got a lot to gripe about here.
First off, if we DIDN'T send ALL our manufacturing jobs to MEXICO...or the PHILIPPINES, or CENTRAL AMERICA...we'd STILL have them, wouldn't we? The companies created this debacle...they can damn well FIX it as well.
Next, I agree that you're going to have to educate people, but not for all these 'high-tech" jobs. Who is teaching cabinet-making? Or plumbing? Or carpentry? Right...it's the TRADE SCHOOLS. We haven't yet got to the point where we have a bunch of robots doing everything FOR us (and if it gets like the movie I,ROBOT...we might not want to). The median income in Indiana for 2006 was $57,601 (wow...don't tell those teachers and fireman and police officers and nurses in FORT WAYNE about this crap, 'cause they sure ain't making THAT money anytime soon). Since June of this year, Fort Wayne has SHED 8,700 manufacturing jobs (not good). MY solution would be for ALL of us to get on welfare, have a $hitload of illegitimate kids by as many fathers as the women can find, leach off of the state and the Feds, and then deal drugs on the side. Well, it DOES seems to work for the minority sector quite well...and face it, you'd really LOVE to have that new ESCALADE and not have to worry about gassing it up (like the people we see all the time on the S.E. side of town)...right?

* * * Lastly, a carwash worker in Wyoming, Michigan (why does it always happen in MICHIGAN?) became entangled in the automatic brushes and died. Sadly, the man as closing the facility when a customer returned to have his vehicle washed AGAIN (picky bastard, huh?). I suppose that customer bitched about the BLOOD on his car then....("it clashes with the white exterior")... Our lesson here? Stay IN the damn car, even if you WORK there. but if you HAVE to venture INSIDE the carwash...make the hell sure everything if OFF or in NEUTRAL first. The life you save might be your OWN.

Aww...screw it...wash you OWN damn car...show a little PRIDE and don't be some damn afraid of getting a tad wet...'ya wuss!

And there you have it...stories of labor...stories of the love of labor...and the labor of love we call....life.

Have a safe holiday.