Home, sweet home
I was talking with a friend of mine today who's a real estate agent.
He's not a happy camper.
He's found that his income has fallen severely the past couple of years and like any good realtor, he's spreading the word about his pain to try to find some leads or drum up business.
I started wracking my brain about people who might be interested in moving up or who are living in an apartment and might figure out that now's a good time to buy.
I came up empty.
Then it hit me -- I know someone who might need a home: George Brown, Monroe's city manager.
As far as I know, he's still not a city resident.
Maybe he is and I haven't heard about it.
Maybe someone can enlighten me.
If he's not, I can understand it.
Here are the top 10 reasons he might not want to move from Adrian to Monroe:
1. He can't sell his home.
2. He's afraid IKO will come back.
3. His wife doesn't like Monroe.
4. He realizes Monroe's unstable and he might be fired by a new administration, just like the last city manager was fired.
5. The city's taxes are too high.
6. He knows the city council doesn't care if he moves here or not.
7. He refuses to live in a town that has a lame riverwalk and way too many graffiti artists.
8. He refuses to live in a town that only charges $5 for parking tickets and half of those are voided by a merchant-backed program.
9. He'd have to pay higher rates for fire insurance.
10. Too many other people in town are named Brown.
If he's already living here -- nevermind.
He's not a happy camper.
He's found that his income has fallen severely the past couple of years and like any good realtor, he's spreading the word about his pain to try to find some leads or drum up business.
I started wracking my brain about people who might be interested in moving up or who are living in an apartment and might figure out that now's a good time to buy.
I came up empty.
Then it hit me -- I know someone who might need a home: George Brown, Monroe's city manager.
As far as I know, he's still not a city resident.
Maybe he is and I haven't heard about it.
Maybe someone can enlighten me.
If he's not, I can understand it.
Here are the top 10 reasons he might not want to move from Adrian to Monroe:
1. He can't sell his home.
2. He's afraid IKO will come back.
3. His wife doesn't like Monroe.
4. He realizes Monroe's unstable and he might be fired by a new administration, just like the last city manager was fired.
5. The city's taxes are too high.
6. He knows the city council doesn't care if he moves here or not.
7. He refuses to live in a town that has a lame riverwalk and way too many graffiti artists.
8. He refuses to live in a town that only charges $5 for parking tickets and half of those are voided by a merchant-backed program.
9. He'd have to pay higher rates for fire insurance.
10. Too many other people in town are named Brown.
If he's already living here -- nevermind.
posted by The Observer at 3/03/2007 12:54:00 PM
4 Comments:
YOUR MOSTE FEEBLE WORK TO DATE.
I guess you could call and ask him. I'm sure he wouldn't mind. I may be able to answer a few though.
1. Home values are down all over. He may not be able to move his house in Adrian. Can't blame a guy for not wanting to take a bath on his current home.
2. Why would he care if IKO opens back up? (oh, do you mean Iacoangeli? I think that George could work with any Mayor/Council)
3. His wife likes Monroe, and they have looked at homes in Monroe, but haven't been able to realize enough for their current home. (I believe that they even looked at Debbie's old house)
4. He shouldn't be concerned that he will lose his job, since he was actually hired by a process rather than being hired by a friend. Plus he is actually qualified to be in the City Manager's position, having years of experience.
5. Too high for what? Do you mean the City services we all receive. Police protection would rate the highest on my list of services. Call the Sheriff's Department in the County and check their response time. I'll take the piece of mind which comes from hqaving quick response time for both police and fire.
6. The City Council wants him to move into the community, but we cannot force him to take a loss on his home in order to do so.
7. Can't do much about the riverwalk. Wish we had some property owners on the riverwalk who would allow the open areas to be accessed, but we don't. As for the graffiti, I want cameras placed strategically around the downtown so we can catch the little criminals.
8. Parking tickets are going up, and the reason for the validation program is to keep the selfish employees off of the streets so parking is free for customers and clients. Call me and I can explain it to you in further detail if you wish, although it really has no bearing on why George would not move into Monroe.
9. Fire rates would be lower in Monroe I believe. Not really sure what Adrians are, but mine are actually low.
10. There are a lot of Smiths too.
Plus some others which may be more of a reason to not move here, not because of their names, but because of their viewpoints.
Way to go BB. Allow me to chirp in on some of these as well:
2. He's afraid IKO will come back.
Absolutely no chance that it will happen as long as Councilman Compora is on the beat.
4. He realizes Monroe's unstable and he might be fired by a new administration, just like the last city manager was fired.
You forget. Bob Hamilton (a very competent, professional manager) was the city manager for a long time. He was no crony appointment (talk about the CCC coalition. The last administration had the Iacoangeli coalition. Just check the voting history and see how many times Iacoangeli, Sabo, Guyor and compora voted as a block). George is every bit as good as Hamilton. He will be here for a while.
6. He knows the city council doesn't care if he moves here or not.
I seem to recall that there is a state statute that allows him to live within 20 miles of the city boundary.
Then again; I agree with BB, why don't you call him and ask him. I've found George to be a very upfront, honest and straight forward guy. Kind of refreshing from the previous occupier of that office (heck; he even does not cuss as much as the previous occupier).
Does all this mean no one else knows either, and nobody's bothered to ask?
I guess no one does care.
OK, I don't either.
Unless it's part of his contract.
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