Do
Something, Even if it’s Wrong
I recently found the city budget on the local-opinion web site. I have read comments that there is no point going over that budget line by line. Perhaps I’m not smart enough to understand it. I will admit that it is complex. What’s that old saying, “The devil’s in the details.”?
One department has cars. This department rents the cars to other departments.
Another department has computers. They charge other departments to process data.
I THINK that’s how it works, but like I said, I may not be smart enough to understand the way that it works.
I just moved to
I can build my own house. I
can do it at for a price that will make it worth while. If
I build the house to sell I will have to pay a licensed builder, plumber,
electrician and heating contractor. It will cost more than I would be able to
sell a house in
If I build the house to rent, which is the business I am in, I would not only have the aforementioned expenses but would then have to pay for rental registration and the annual inspection fees and be saddled with whatever additional rules and regulations. The non-owner occupied property tax on a brand new house would take 3 to 4 months of rent. For a tenant to move in they would have to pay what I think is about $250 dollars to have the water put in their name. With what I would have to get for rent the house would sit empty or I would have to rent it at a loss.
Councilman Byrne made a very similar point in a recent newspaper column. Were it not for my special circumstances I would never have built this house. I would still be paying taxes only on a empty lot.
The city actually didn’t really make it easy to do this. My first application for a permit was denied. They did not want a long skinny house on a long skinny lot. They told me that the house could not be oriented in that direction and therefore would not fit on my lot. They suggested that I look at some other designs that they in their infinite wisdom might approve. They also told me that if I build a house I must build a garage. Then they told me that garage had to have a paved driveway and that driveway had to have room to park 2 cars. I couldn’t believe that. Most of the people I talked to couldn’t believe it.
I think they have written a zoning ordinance that in fact extends far past the authority granted to them by the state.
Of course the city will tell me what kind of house I can build they involve themselves (and we taxpayers) in projects that they favor.
The last election was my first chance to vote for city council. I’m happy that all the people I voted for got elected. There is no doubt in my mind that I voted for change. I just hope now that it happens.
Mark Byrne has some good ideas. He wants to relax things a little and I am all in favor of that. I don’t know of any other places where alcohol is prohibited in public parks. I have a little outdoor fireplace that I’ve been using all along. I never thought about it being illegal. I guess I didn’t think about how much personal freedom I might be giving up for the convenience of living in the city.
This town is a hard place to make a living right now but there’s no reason it has to be a hard place to live.
Most of my adult life I have worked as a moldmaker. It is a precision job with a lot of difficult decisions. You can ask questions, study blueprints or just stare into space. But at the end of the day there had better be something sitting on your bench. You might do something wrong, but you had better do something.
The worse case will be that this council will study and debate every little thing and wind up doing nothing. They might listen to every paranoid argument about every tiny matter and try to please everyone.
A recent article by Jeff Ragan advocated selling Mc Morran. That makes more sense than any other option. I also heard something a while ago about selling the MOC and relocating somewhere a little less pretentious. That makes even more sense.
So what’s my point? Two years are going to fly right by.
Do something, even if it’s wrong.