Top 5 City Council Stories From 2008
I wanted to do a quick review of what I thought were the top 5 stories involving city council in 2008. There were definitely a lot of fireworks this year so it was difficult to pare it down to 5. If you disagree with the order or think something else should’ve made the list then let us know in the comments. And before I forget, I want to say thank you to all the readers and Happy New Year…
- Harrison Square - or lack thereof.
No supporter could’ve envisioned that the condo and hotel would not have broken ground by the end of 2008. The council has heard excuse piled on top of excuse from Barry Real Estate with the latest “drop dead date” being opening day for groundbreaking. Good luck with that. Of course we haven’t heard anything from the hotel developer since city council hasn’t bothered to bring them to the table despite the hotel being the linchpin for the entire project. - High Performance Government Network.
This unethical (and probably illegal) 11th hour contract signed in the waning days of the Richard administration has been a point of discussion at the council table on two separate ocassions. The State Board of Accounts got into the mix when they said it should’ve been approved by city council and violated the city’s own conflict of interest rules. And don’t forget that the city controller failed to mention she had executed a new contract last time she was brought before city council to discuss the topic. - Councilman Hines hammers mayor Henry over lack of African-American department heads.
You really should go back and watch the video to see how angry councilman Hines was. This all came to a head when the city’s Chief Technology Officer was fired shortly after going to council to present the controversial contract that outsourced the city’s IT department. Hines’ comments came during the vote to override the mayor’s veto on the fire merit ordinance. The mayor thought he had the vote in the bag after getting councilman Shoaff to change his vote but Hines threw him a curveball and the veto was overridden. - Failed Retroactive Property Tax Increase.
The new administration found themselves in quite a financial pickle after the state legislature capped property taxes as part of HB1001. The situation was made worse thanks to the previous council’s poor (unanimous) decision to cut the property tax levy without cutting spending. The new council attempted to remedy the situation by passing a retroactive property tax increase that was quickly shot down by the DLGF and called a “double cross” on taxpayers by the commissioner. What made the situation comical was that the city controller had told the council that in the city’s communications with the DLGF they felt like the DLGF would accept the retroactive increase - oops. - $2.5 Million in 2009 Budget Cuts.
Facing a massive shortfall over the next two years, mayor Henry proposed a flat budget but no cuts. In fact the mayor’s sole idea was to hope that the state legislature changed the law - something that is not going to happen. The mayor was also angling to increase the income tax but did not bother to suggest a single additional cut to his own flat budget. After weeks of discussion the city council was able cut $2.5 million from the city budget without cutting a single job. Getting any level of government to cut their expenditures is quite a chore. And changing the discussion from “what else can goverment do” to “what do citizens want” was quite a paradigm shift.
We are not the only ones
In investigating the funding sources for the last ten Class A new ballparks, it was found that the experience in Bowling Green, Ky. has been following ours in Fort Wayne: go to www.bgdailynews.com, type in “baseball stadium”, click on “archives” and review what they have gone through since early 2008. The “Hot Rods” were the Columbus, Georgia “Catfish” last year and were purchased and moved only after the city approved the $25 million bond issue to finance the ballpark in April, 2008. Note that they also have begun ONLY the public-financed ballpark portion of their downtown redevelopment - the financing for their parking garage via another public bond issue fell through - the bonds didn’t sell. Also, the private developers of a hotel, a retail center and housing, have not been able to go forward on their plans due to lack of financing. Sound familiar?? It looks like the only differences are they didn’t have an existing team or stadium and they were not able to sell bonds for the parking garage - probably because they didn’t have a Lincoln Life needing parking for their employees.
Will be looking at the other eight new ballparks as to how they were financed.
County Council “Surprise”
I’m sure I’m not the only one bothered by this but since nobody else is willing to say it I suppose I will. I am sick and tired of seeing county council President Paul Moss talking about the reduction of the commissioners’ pay as some sort of surprise move that happened during the December 18 meeting. Here’s an example (but not the only case):
An accumulation of events over time sparked the idea, but the salary debate opened the door for discussion, said Moss, who was surprised how quickly the idea evolved at the council table.
Surprised? Really? The day before the meeting, word had already leaked out that “something big” was going to happen and the media had been alerted as well. So spare me the “surprise” - just be honest and admit that this was not some sort of organic snap decision made at the council table. The fix was already in before the meeting started.
And why the traditional media continues to let Moss’ “surprise” quotes go unchallenged is beyond me. They know damn well it wasn’t a surprise. I know this is sort of inside baseball but readers need to know when stories are being innaccurately portrayed.
And the idea that the commissioners’ salary was reduced on a whim and surprised council President Moss is a farce…
Homeland Stupidity
I absolutely hate it when the government makes stupid rules. They made another one a few months ago.
Homeland Security has dictated to the post office that packages weighing more than 13 oz must be taken to the post office. What a stupid rule…
Check out this post.
You can get around this rule by going online and printing off a label. This ends up costing you more in postage and you have to pay for it online and place a check mark next to an agreement stating that “I agree that I will present any items that are liquid, perishable, or potentially hazardous to a postal employee for acceptance and that all fragile items are properly pacakged.”
This was done in the last few months to protect us from terrorists.
Do you feel safer?
Give me a break.
Mike Sylvester
Why the mortgage industry imploded
The mortgage industry is a complete mess because mortgage companies loaned money to people they should never have loaned money to. I have posted about this many times over the last few months. In my opinion there are three sets of people at fault for the mortgage meltdown:
- Politicians from BOTH major political parties have emphasized home ownership and have forced banks to make loans to people who they should have never loaned money to in the name of “fairness.”
- Mortgage companies and banks decided to make loans to people without verifying income, assets etc.
- Consumers borrowed more money they they could afford to borrow. Sometimes these consumers lied in order to get loans they should never have been allowed to take out.
This article says it all.
Mike Sylvester
Community Health Care Discussion Reminder
From the press release:
HEALTH CARE COMMUNITY DISCUSSION
Monday, December 29, 2008 @ 7 PM at
the Unitarian Universalist Meetinghouse
5310 Old Mill Road, Fort Wayne, IN 46807
President-elect Barack Obama has asked all Americans to meet together to discuss the best ways to achieve quality, affordable health care for all.
The Northeast Indiana Chapter of Hoosiers for a Commonsense Health Plan will host the Health Care Community Discussion on Monday, December 29, 2008 @ 7 PM at the Unitarian Universalist Meetinghouse, 5310 Old Mill Road in Fort Wayne.
This is open to everyone in the community – please bring your ideas for change. Light refreshments will be served.
Also, if you feel drawn to do so, please bring a non-perishable item for a collection to be given to the Community Harvest Food Bank of Fort Wayne.
Annual Christmas Rant
Since people in my family are probably tired of hearing my annual Christmas rant I will share it with FWP readers (lucky you). Can I really be the only person out there that despises our consumer-driven concept of Christmas?
Christmas has become about gifts and literally nothing more. I really don’t get why adults have to spend money they don’t have buying other adults crap they don’t need. I can see buying children gifts but even that has gone completely over the top. As an example my own grandmother, who lives on Social Security, spends a couple hundred dollars on gifts for me and my wife. My grandmother has a big heart and buying gifts makes her feel good but I don’t need the stuff and she simply can’t afford it.
The truth is Christmas has become a microcosm of the entire US economy. People spend their way into debt every single Winter and then spend the rest of the year struggling to claw their way out. It isn’t necessary and frankly I find this entire modern-day concept of Christmas appalling.
It shouldn’t just be about material goods and debt. There are people out there that cannot afford life’s necessities and it seems like we would all be better off if Christmas was about them - you know the old (out-dated?) idea of helping those less fortunate than ourselves. Am I truly out in left field on this or are there people out there that agree?
If there are people out there that agree then how do you celebrate Christmas? Perhaps you can share ideas with me on what you do to make a difference rather then just running up debt buying worthless junk from China.
Oh yea, and Merry Christmas to you all…
City unable to fill Controller position to date
Unemployment has risen dramatically this year. A lot of people are unemployed and looking for work. I would think it would be relatively easy to find a new Controller for the City of Fort Wayne; however, that has not proven to be the case.
Per the City website the position has been posted since 9/16/08; in other words, the City of Fort Wayne has been seeking a new controller for well over three months to date.
Per Thursdays News Sentinel Pat Roller, the current City Controller, has agreed to stay as City Controller until the end of January rather than the end of December as previously announced.
I am really surprised that the City of Fort Wayne has not had several qualified applicants apply for this position. I imagine the position will pay close to $100,000 per year in salary and it certainly provides great benefits.
Why do you think the City has not been able to find a replacement City Controller?
FWP Readers Chose Obama 50-42; New Poll On Auto Bailout
The last poll we did was to ask readers who they voted for in the Presidential race. We did this to try and get a feel for the political persuasion of FWP readers and not surprisingly the results were fairly evenly split. Readers supported Obama over McCain by a margin of 50-42 with the other 8% going to Bob Barr.
It’s always interesting when people tell me that only liberals or only conservatives read FWP. I think this poll shows the readership is pretty evenly distributed. This doesn’t surprise me but it maybe it does others.
The newest poll is related to the $17 Billion auto bailout and it’s something Mike Sylvester wanted to poll readers on. So please take 5 seconds, literally, and answer our latest polling question…
White House Approves $17.4 Billion Auto Bailout
From the AP via TPM:
Citing danger to the national economy, the Bush administration came to the rescue of the U.S. auto industry Friday, offering $17.4 billion in emergency loans in exchange for concessions from the deeply troubled carmakers and their workers.
President Bush said, “Allowing the auto companies to collapse is not a responsible course of action.” Bankruptcy, he said, would deal “an unacceptably painful blow to hardworking Americans” across the economy.
Bush said the rescue package demanded concessions similar to those outlined in a bailout plan that was approved by the House but rejected by the Senate a week ago. It would give the automakers three months to come up with restructuring plans to become viable companies.
He said the companies’ workers should agree to wage and work rules that are competitive with foreign automakers by the end of next year.
And he called for elimination of a “jobs bank” program — negotiated by the United Auto Workers and the companies — under which laid-off workers receive unemployment benefits and supplemental pay from their companies for 48 weeks. If they remain laid off beyond that, they move to a jobs bank in which the company provides about 95% of their pay and benefits. Until the most recent contract, people could remain in the jobs bank for years. Early this month, the UAW agreed to suspend the program.
This may be one of the few decisions I’ve ever agreed with Bush administration on - clearly that gives me pause that this could be the wrong decision.
But we can’t forget about the crooks on Wall Street:
At the same time, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Congress should authorize the use of the second $350 billion from the financial rescue fund that it approved in October to rescue huge financial institutions. Tapping the fund for the auto industry basically exhausts the first half of the $700 billion total, he said.
