A Rant

I haven't written on this thing in forever but the latest ice storm has given my cause to open up my mouth and let out a little frustration.

The ice storm came through Jefferson County and brought down numerous limbs in the city where I live. It wasn't as bad as when Ike came through in the fall, but bad enough that people asked when we (The City Commission) were going to start clean up. You see when Ike came through we let residents know that they needed to get all debris out to the easement and we would bring in crews to clean up everything big and small.

This time around a new commission is in charge (I am the only remaining member re-elected in the fall). I am no longer the tree commissioner. A new person is doing the job. When this incident happened it was my first inclination to get everything cleaned up right then. Tell the residents get it out to the easement, we'll pick it up and were done. Life moves on.

Instead this time around the commission wanted to get bids to pick stuff up. This, though I didn't like it, is understandable. We spent $12k last time to clean up our 300 house city. It stalled what I thought needed to be done but how can you argue about getting a better price? The bids were in, but in the mean time no one wanted to tell the residents what we were going to do. Why? B/c no one but me wanted to do anything but wait.

Their plan was to get bids, talk about it at the Commissioners Meeting a week and a half after the first ice fell and then make a decision. In the meantime the Louisville Commissioner for our district said for us to "wait cause we may give you money to do it" and the governor had requested the federal government to declare Jefferson County a Federal Disaster Area opening FEMA money to cities. These were all nice things as my city would have gotten tax payer money to clean up, but it would have been given to us if we spent the money anyway. All we would have to do is request reimbursement for expenses. Instead we waited to see what the higher ups would tell us to do.

So I get an email this morning stating that the mayor of Louisville has told the entire city that Louisville Metro will be cleaning all streets and that we should put our debris out at the corner. It will start February 9th, a week and a half after the first ice fell. They will eventually get to us and it will be "free".

Aside from the reasonable expectation of getting the best price on a clean up, I do not agree with anything that we have done as a commission up to this point concerning this situation. We are a small city which means we have the ability to move nimbly in situations like this. We can clean up faster and more effectively by hiring private individuals to do it. We are a financially stable city and are fiscally responsible so we have to funds to do it. The funds are provided through the city tax that we levy to the residents.

The money we spent last time is likely to be reimbursed through FEMA and the State of KY. I'm happy to take the money from these two organizations as long as the Federal and State governments keep their hands reasonably out of our small city's business and allow us to make our own decisions in our own way.

What we have chosen to do instead is supple at the breast of the larger government organization. We have given up the power we were elected to use and handed it over to a bigger government for a hand out. If we are capable and financially able, why are we waiting for a free hand out from a big government entity? In the name of "fiscal responsibility" we gave our responsibility away. In my opinion, fiscal responsibility for my small city is not "not using the city's money" but "using the city's money wisely." The people here pay taxes so we can effectively take care of the city.

I like free just as much as anyone, but why even be a city with our own power and financial responsibility if we aren't willing to use it? Give the people a reason to have their own government and they will elect it. Do nothing and they'll wonder why they have it in the first place. We can do a better job more effectively for a price or we can sit and wait on someone else to take care of us. It really ticks me off.

A Couple Things

So it's obviously been a while since I've posted anything here. I am actually thinking of abandoning the blog and just working straight from Twitter and Facebook. I've got other pages like myspace and linkedin, I just never use them. And can I really abandon a blog that I barely use? Eh...

So I've been extremely busy with VuPal.com. I'm the Director for the shows there, making sure final scripts are up to par, making sure talent hit their marks and shooting the shows. Lots and lots of learning going on. Here are the links if you are interested in "vu"ing them. Ha!

vupal.com
therookiecookshow.com
foodgearshow.com
groceryschool.com

There are two other shows we are shooting that have not launched yet - Girls Unwined and Dog Knows.

On top of this I'm still flirting with housing. I've rehabbed one and am selling, wholesaling one and bought a rental. Real Estate keeps my life exciting for sure.

Spacekicker's Madnes... I mean genius.

I Need Help

I am addicted to Scrabulous on Facebook... and it is becoming a major problem.

Many years ago in a lifetime far away, I found a friend whose wit and intelligence met mine at an equal point (though his was a bit lower, we'll just keep that to ourselves).

We began to play chess one day. A friendly game became a decent time waster and soon moved into battle royale. 9574 games later we realized the depth of our depravity as we noticed we were thinking about chess moves even when we weren't playing. So we stopped.

Years have gone by and I have once again found a battle ground where our equal skills (but not quite equal as well all know... *wink*) are being played out. We are bloody from the game and at the same time smiling through our toothless grins. Madness!

Damn you Scrabulous. Damn you for the beautiful game that you are.

Best Relationship Advice

I am a huge fan of Kige Ramsey...

Hubspot

Ridelust

Thoughts

Heard a story tonight about a family who was being interviewed by the Make A Wish foundation. My friend was visiting them and was told ahead of time the family was very poor. Their young son has an inoperable brain tumor.

When they asked what the boy's wish was he told them he wanted to go to the Mall of America so he could buy shoes for school and a computer so he could do his school work.

I gotta tell you that breaks my heart, angers me and shames me all at once.

A dying child is worried about shoes for school that may not matter in a year or a computer to do homework so that he can prepare for a higher education that he will never see.

If this were my situation how sorry would I feel for myself? Would I even get out of bed to attempt life?

I could single handedly make this boys simple dream come true. I could buy him the nicest shoes a store sells and get him the most amazing computer out there and not blink an eye. My life would not skip a beat.

Why is he having to ask for these things and why am I not giving more to people?