Odds and Ends...
There are some days when blogging is a chore...no kidding. And, it certainly isn't for the LACK of things to blog about.
Quite the contrary.
It's usually about WHICH things (out of the ever-growing pile of "stuff") to select, while hoping you've gotten whatever point you were trying to make across to your readership.
Now, I could do a "snippets" thing, where I just toss a headline out there, and let YOU go play "seek and find", but I prefer to make it a study in OBSERVATIONS (with a "side" of editorializing)...what I see, what I feel, and what I conclude, after gleaning as many FACTS as possible, unlike much of the political world, which wallows in self denial, and self-effacing lunacy.
And that's on a good day.
So here we go friends...off on another "Journey through Oz".
Please observe the NO SPIN sign, and do remain seated until the blog has come to a complete stop.
** Our very own Fort Wayne Police Department has decided to MOVE it's headquarters to a DOWNTOWN building (Renaissance Square), and I've got some mixed feelings about this.
The current location (Creighton Ave) is pretty much near the "badlands", and that's good for law-enforcement - bad for crime..
The current building is being RENTED (yearly basis), costing less than a MIL, and it's a rather aging structure.
The "new" facility can (and probably will) be purchased for $7.3 MIL (renovation, etc), and will be a lot closer to the courthouse. And it has the capacity to also become a new CITY office building, leaving the former City-County building ALL to the COUNTY.
The neighborhood where the current FWPD HQ is located will no doubt suffer from the move. The downtown area will no doubt prosper to some degree.
Will more "outposts" for the FWPD be in the offing after the move to cover problem areas (like East State Street)?
Will taxpayers have to fund any or all of this move?
You see...there are a lot of things to consider.










Coming from a city where the police had a FORMAL HQ to begin with (called the ROUNDHOUSE as seen here, and located at 4th and Race Sts), I find it difficult to wrap my mind around why the city RENTED any building for the police here.
And given the city's location, in relation to OTHER, more heavily crime-ridden cities, it would have made SENSE to have a more "proper" facility for the growing number of officers you would eventually HAVE to hire.
Better late than never, I suppose.
I only hope the city doesn't wind up dismissing the SOUTHEAST side of town (as was the case over the last 30 or so years). Some of us have a vested interest in our neighborhoods, STILL pay taxes, OWN our homes, are PRODUCTIVE members of this city's population, and we get damn tired of being handed the shit end of the stick time after time. We get miffed when the city dumps it's lazy, welfare-sucking NO-INCOME human refuse in OUR part of Fort Wayne (as has been the case for decades). Time to "share the wealth" with the rest of the city...spread these morons out a bit more, and allow our neighborhood to spring back from the precipice of urban blight.
Maybe this new FWPD HQ will help to make that happen...maybe not.
Time will tell.
** Would someone PUH-LEASE keep those damn pens OUT of the hands of our current President?
Once again, he signs something, and the hairs on the back of my neck are "at attention"!
Obama has signed "sweeping" legislation regarding the FDA's new power to regulate the TOBACCO INDUSTRY.
Don't we have a "Tobacco Czar" by now? What the hell is taking so long?
(and I hear Obama still smokes...and I'll bet HE gets his Newports for FREE)
Now, it would be nice to quit smoking...save a lot of money for us...money we could use to speed our departure from this "blighted area", back into a NORMAL neighborhood once again (or buy a lot more ammo to off the morons, "if" the city opens the proper hunting season).
But there is ONE THING all these D.C. dipshits haven't considered...
What is the government going to do with ALL THE MONEY they USED to get from the tobacco industry, but will no longer receive after all this legislative crap hits the fan, hmm?
Big Tobacco pays a hefty sum into the governmental coffers, so "if" more people quit using tobacco products, and the cost for such items becomes prohibitive to even more, that source of revenue WILL dry the hell up faster than a puddle in the Mojave at noontime.
Another case of the government's LACK of "common sense", and a damn fine way to shoot oneself in the foot (more like blowing off the foot at the ankle).
Guess taxes WILL be rising, as many surmise...
** Fort Wayne has, for the THIRD time won the ALL-AMERICAN CITY award (last 2 times were 1982 and 1998).
Helluva "threepeat".
But, considering the "criteria" for such an award, it shouldn't mean all that much.
I mean PHOENIX, AZ won the same award, and THAT city is the Kidnapping Capitol of the USA (second only to Mexico City...#1 in the WORLD), so you can see that being an "All-American" city ain't all what it's cracked up to be any longer.
One facet for judging was based on the ability of the community to work with the city...yeah, right. Doesn't happen all that much in MY part of town, that's for sure. I'm a damn "army of one" when it comes to getting "help" from the city, and I'm not even on ANY payroll.
I do it because I and my wife (unlike the local welfare-sucking rabble) do NOT prefer to lie in squalor, and expect city agencies to maintain the SAME level of service as they provide to all those "nice" neighborhoods...
Not too much to ask, and whenever WE have an issue, most city departments respond very well.
I have those in Waste Management, Animal Control, and the Street Department who I would consider buying a beer for, if I ever met any of them...I've got that much respect for them and their work.
Same goes for the FWFD.
And as far as the FWPD goes, I have people with whom I regularly am in contact with, so no problem there, either.
Others ignore the hell out of you...like the FWIA...and the "neighborhood liaisons" and district councilmen.
You wanna piss me off...ignore me when I bring real issues and concerns before you.
THAT will cheese me off to no end, and others WILL hear about it from me, as a result.
So much for the ALL-AMERICAN spirit, right?
Still, I feel this city has a long way to go before it becomes a TRUE "All-American" city, but that's based on MY belief that a city helps EVERYONE in EVERY neighborhood equally, short-changes no one, and is answerable to the populace that elected it's officials.
Because, as we all know...ANY city is ONLY AS GOOD as it's WORST problem or neighborhood.
Again...that's just more COMMON SENSE.
Funny thing is, if MORE people practiced common sense, they might find out it's not going to shorten their lives. It's not going to make their hair fall out, and it certainly won't cause erectile dysfunction, glaucoma, high blood pressure, or even diabetes.
There is one "side-effect" though. It might just cause people to THINK...and a lot more clearly. And somewhere along that way, they might wind up making better decisions, causing better results, and maybe even....making the nation STRONGER.
And that is a change you CAN believe in, my friends.
(You can now return your flight attendant to his/her upright position...LOL!)
And, by all means...
Stay safe out here, America.