09 May 2008

Oops, Another Weekend...
Yeah, don't you just hate it when a weekend comes along and messes up that work week you had rolling along so nicely?
I didn't think so.
Looks like our city is going to be coming up $5.8 million bucks "short" for next year's budget, with a further shortfall predicted of $13.2 million by 2010.
Breaks my heart...
Mayor Henry had the first of four town meetings with the area partnerships to determine what the citizens should want cut back when the city decides to do so (and it will).
The mayor told the people in attendance that raising the income tax will not happen this year (but bet the farm that it will most likely rear it's ugly head NEXT year).
This deficit in the city budget is being attributed to City Council freezing this year's budget at the 2007 level combined with the Governor's property tax cut. Yeah, that's it..blame the one guy that gave us poor taxpayer's some RELIEF!
At the meeting, each person was given ten stickers to place on a board that listed city services. The people were instructed to place those stickers next to the city services most VITAL. I saw a mess of stickers on the NCE and the POLICE/FIRE slots. Wonder why?
Well...it's like this, Your highness. Parts of this city aren't as "privileged" as other parts, and there are STILL some people living IN those areas that ARE decent, working, taxpaying citizens (as opposed to the vast majority of undesirables currently inhabiting them, thanks to some misplaced gentrification). And it's THOSE citizens that NEED services other parts of our fair city don't need AS MUCH, because THEIR parts of the city don't have the number of ARSONS, DRUG DEALS, BURGLARIES, RAPES, SHOOTINGS, ROBBERIES, FIGHTS, CAR THEFTS...well, you get the idea, right, Sire?
Face it, Mr. Mayor...some people down here do a damn good job of policing themselves. They have to, for their FIRST line of defense IS themselves...and THEN the police/fire departments. I know, because my wife and I are TWO of them. Must be that CIVILITY and MORALITY we/they were brought up with by BOTH parents.
Other people..not so much.
When you have a portion of your citizenry that thumbs it's nose at you and your administration simply because they have NO respect for ANY authority, and are also laughing up their sleeves at you because the government (local, state, and federal) is handing their lives to them on a silver platter, bought and paid for by the working taxpayers of your "realm", it's not hard to figure what services NEED to remain in place, and for what reasons.
Tell you what...let's find a way to truly revitalize the SOUTH side of the city once and for all. How's about this. We RE GENTRIFY the SOUTH part of town, making it more attractive and affordable to THOSE IN THE MILITARY, much like the G.I. Bill did in the late 1940s.
Sound good?
I think so, and for all the right reasons. Our vets NEED housing (along with health care), as do those who will be getting out of the service they're in.
You've already plenty of houses DOWN HERE, and they sure as hell don't COST all that much, even to remodel. It's a damn sight CHEAPER than building a $hitload of NEW homes in some place UP NORTH (like everything damn thing else in this city) at some exorbitant price well over $150,000! That is NOT a price for a starter home...not when you have better options available. Think about it. You'd be helping military personnel get a REAL start, not get them chest-deep in hock, while allowing them to have a place they can call HOME. Talk about an honest-to-freaking-God RENAISSANCE down here. The mind boggles.
If some developer came here with some real BALLS for developing, he could easily see the VAST potential...and I'd wind up with neighbors that were more...well, neighborly in the process (as would others also remaining here).
Would I mind having my current neighbors move...HELL, no. I could do with some peace and quiet, and a helluva lot less stress. I don't give a flying damn where the hell my current neighbors wind up, either. Maybe THEY should move to some nice GHETTO in some MAJOR urban area (like Chicago)....and soon.
Think of the possibilities if a developer would come down , buy up a crapload of these rentals, remodel them, get 'em all up to code, and place vets in them, or currently serving military personnel. Not to mention, it would get a helluva lot of these so-called "landlords" the hell OUT of our area (you can stay, Phil). We could say bye-bye to HUD and section 8 for the most part as well. None of this freebie-house-handout to people that have NO inkling what the hell it MEANS to be a homeowner and how to treat neighbors as PEOPLE.
And as an aside, your highness...the people I mentioned that would be BUYING and moving into these houses down here would be PAYING REAL TAXES to the city (none of this "we too po to pay anything to anybody" crap)...think on that the next time a staff member shoves a copy of those future CITY BUDGETS under your schnoz, kapesh?
Like I say...a breath of fresh air to me.
Be nice to have children that behave back in the area, as well as people that DON'T do drugs, or shoot one another, or play loud ass (c)rap music that cracks plaster in my house. Then this area would look a lot like the neighborhood my Grandmother used to live in back in Northeast Philly...the kind of place I loved to visit.
Maybe it's time to REVISIT such a place...and we can start HERE.
And speaking of Grandmothers...EVERY mother is GRAND in some fashion...you KNOW it, I KNOW it, so who the hell are we kidding?
They've done the unthinkable for the ungrateful for so long with so little, Mothers are now qualified to do ANYTHING with NOTHING...so there!
Not to mention that "if" we were to figure their net worth in DOLLARS...we couldn't AFFORD THEM!
So remember your MOTHER this Sunday...if it wasn't for all the MOMS out there, a LOT of us would NOT BE HERE!
Take her out to dinner.
Give her a back rub.
Buy her some flowers.
Wash her car.
Give her a damn hug & tell her you love her.
((And mom, if you're looking down on me, wondering what's been going on...yeah, I'm still hanging in there.))
Do have a SAFE weekend.

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