Just a question ...

Now don't get me wrong and start jumping all over me for this, but I have a question (maybe two) about the upcoming Downtown Mainstreet Barbeque Hoedown Freedom Walk Night Drive Country-Western Yowl Fest set for this weekend.
I'm all for this contrived crap to generate interest in downtown and get the non-shoppers to give the retailers and restaurants a chance.
But ...
Who's paying for the overtime for the police and DPS on this stuff? And, can we afford it?
(Serious questions, folks. Is the DDA or the Tourism board footing the bill for everything? Does anyone know? Does anyone care?)

A belated thank you

Here's a heartfelt "hats off" to Dorothy Edwards who seems to have decided not to run for re-election to the Monroe city council.
I thank her for the humor she sometimes injected into council meetings.
I thank her for trying to be involved in the community and trying to represent her constituents.
I thank her for having the guts to run for city council in the first place.
I thank her for sometimes being a voice for minorities on council.
You can say what you want about her abilities, integrity or whether she sometimes needs a city-paid chauffeur and can judge her positively or negatively overall. But we all should thank her for having the wisdom to know when the time has come not to run again.
I only wish some other members of council possessed similar wisdom.

About that leaf, uh, log pick up

I saw on my TV scroll tonight that the city is going to pick up and dispose of those logs and branches city residents can drag to their curb.
I'm all for this. It's almost like that leaf pick up plan that that drunken sailor initiated. Oh, yeah, I know. We've always done it this way and the fact that the city's biggest employer plans to exit stage left shouldn't alter business as usual.
That's why I love paying my taxes. I get a lot of services for nothing.

As a side note to Roundybout, one of my favorite commenters, I will take the blame for calling Splash Park critics curmudgeons, pikers and kid haters. It wasn't Just the Facts who said that, as a matter of fact.
It's not a sin to say something's a good idea, even if the devil himself thought it up. And reckless spending might be defined as developing a high-cost ice arena (which I really do enjoy but understand is one of the city's biggest financial albatrosses).

So I like the splash park and like the ice arena. They did cost money (one far more than the other) but both add to MY quality of life. If you can't swim or skate or don't have young children in your life, you probably don't need them or want them.
But given city finances, something is going to give, no matter whose priority it might be.

About that splash pad thing ...

I've resisted the temptation to respond to some of the criticisms I've seen by commenters about the splash park at Cantrick pool, but I can resist no longer partly because of a post by JUST THE FACTS. He or she mentions that those who take shots at the pool are denying a recreational opportunity for a certain constituency in the city. That might have some factual basis -- not might -- it DOES have factual basis, but I think that there's a serious misconception about that pool or splash pad or whatever you want to call it.
Part of the misconception is on the part of people who never get out of their easychairs or are able to pull themselves away from their computers. Part of the misconception is just a deliberate distortion of the facts.
Here is my version of the facts: You can talk all you want about how much the splash pad cost and whether there were overruns. But you can't twist the facts to portray it as equal to the ice rink blunder and, more importantly, you're dead wrong if you think scads of citizens don't think it's a great idea. How do I reach this conclusion? I unglued myself from this keyboard a few times during hot days this summer and took some kids to Cantrick. Here's my suggestion to anyone who is running for office or is supporting someone running for office or who is interested in giving back something to the taxpayers: Embrace the idea of that splash pad because if you diss it, you're going to be costing you or your candidate a lot of votes from people all over the city who think it's a great addition, not just people who live in one neighborhood.
Furthermore, if anyone checks the facts, I think they'll find that revenue at the pool has been up since that splash pad has been installed. Keep in mind also that -- like the ice arena -- it brings in revenue from non-city residents. I'm not saying it's paying for itself yet. But it boils down to this: You think the pad was a big mistake and boondoggle, but you don't mind the ice arena? You either hate kids, you're an old curmudgeon, a piker, a hypocrite or all of the above.

Let's vote on the ice arena

Some guy showed up at city council and said they should sell the ice arena.
You hear other people running down the place, complaining that it's not managed or marketed well.
You hear people talking about how the city doesn't have any money.
Why doesn't the city hold a referendum on selling or retaining ownership of the ice arena? Even if it wasn't a binding vote, it would give them some idea of whether it would be a preferable or viable option based on resident sentiments.

Money crunch? What money crunch?

If money is so tight in the city, why is there a project underway to complete the Third St. - Front St. split. I noticed tons of gravel there today. Are we going to pave it over so there's no chance of a resumption of that Iacoangeli intersection project. Regardless, shouldn't someone say let's defer this "improvement" until later?

Preaching to the choir

Talking about saving money and saving face, did you notice the funny "correction" in tonight's newspaper about the city's operational study and the city attorney's office.
Sounds like city attorney Tim Laitur is circling the wagons.
The correction said excuse us, the study didn't say the city attorney should be lopped. It said the city should evaluate the potential cost savings of lopping the city attorney. That's an important distinction -- if you're planning to file a lawsuit after your job gets lopped.

I was lucky enough to catch part of Tim's appeal to the city council on TV Monday. If you missed it, he said something like jobbing out the city attorney's office wouldn't work. He told a rambling story about getting a speeding ticket up north and how he couldn't get ahold of the town's city attorney to talk mano-a-mano.

During the course of his plea to city council, Tim says something like anytime you have a contract with a law firm -- if you outsource the work instead of having it done by a staff attorney -- you'll pay through the nose.

That was sort of like preaching to the choir. The city council knows that all too well, since we have two city attorneys -- an in-house one and an out-house one -- the contracted firm of Ready Sullivan & Ready (or whoever might happen to be the favorite of any sitting administration).

Haven't there also been times when Laitur has pitch-hit on the dais?
Can we really afford to cut checks to two lawyers?
Come to think of it, when the going gets rough (I'm thinking of ADA lawsuits here) the city hasn't seemed to hesitate to hire a third law firm.
What gives?

There's a brush fire a startin'

It doesn't take too much insight to see the flame up in the offing with respect to part of the city's financial problems that Monroe's finance director Ed Sell sold to city council the other night. He was talking about the growing costs and expenses and said that the city has had to kick in big bucks to shore up the pension fund.
Councilwoman Compora asked a few questions about this. My guess is it wasn't just idle curiosity. Fire inspector Jim Kansier has taken out petitions to run against Compora. That probably doesn't worry Compora, especially since Kansier hesds the city pension board, especially since Kansier was among that big group of city and county people who just had to spend a wad of pension fund money to go to Hawaii for a week to find out how to make their pension funds perform better.
So Kansier can attack Compora for attacking people and being disruptive, but he better come up with something better to put out the brush fire that threatens to consume his run for office.
That's probably one of the reasons Compora made a big declaration about never wanting to cut police and fire. She probably wanted to lay groundwork for the fact that when she starts to attack Kansier, she's not attacking the fire department, she's attacking his role on the pension board.
Anybody think I have this all wrong?

Did I hear what I thought I heard?

Caught parts of that strange Monroe city council meeting and I couldn't believe I heard what I heard.
Pat McElligot said he's so worked up about the state of the city, he's decided to run for mayor.
His platform: Let'em die in the streets.
To be fair, he said something like he didn't think the city fire department should be involved in the ambulance business. They should put out fires.
It sounds crazy, but the city's predicament does seem to boil down to hard choices like this. Firefighters at the meeting said hey, we can respond in three minutes and we're saving lives.
So how much is a life worth? Should the city cut out the ambulance service. Let's face it, not every city resident needs an ambulance every day. The service does bring in some money, but not enough to cover expenses.
Maybe the ambulance service should be scaled back -- operating only after regular business hours when families are home beating and stabbing each other.
I have to admit, the ambulance service is a fine luxury. But as Pat should know, it's also a pretty good insurance policy.
After his comments Monday night, I just hope he doesn't have a medical emergency anytime soon.
The outcome probably will be a lot like his mayoral bid: Dead on arrival.

Jazzlock?

Is it just me or does it seem the jazz festival in downtown Monroe might need a new venue or parking or something more spacious in a few years.

I see a much bigger show at the fairgrounds in a little while. Just watch.

Did this backfire or what?

I was walking the dog past the Downhound Hound the other day and what did my eyes behold? A sign in the window of what used to be part of the Hound, saying ALANO Club.
This is curious.
From the bits and pieces I've heard, the AFL evicted the ALANO types because they need the space on W. Front St. for the Newton strike labor museum exhibit. Apparently, someone in the city said they'd help find the ALANO folks a new home. What wasn't said was that that new home would be somewhere convenient, but tucked away. A cozy but not so obvious place, like under the Macomb St. bridge.
The idea is we don't need a bunch of socializing alcoholics clogging up the sidewalks and making our city look like a bowery.
But wait! Someone must have taken a wrong turn.
Now the club will be a whole lot more prominent and obvious than it once was. It's fine by me, but I don't think that's what the brains in city hall had in mind.
Maybe if someone does some fast footwork, we'll find something in the zoning code or facade ordinance that will disallow this use. Hey, isn't it illegal for alcoholics to congregate within 500 feet of a church?

Felons on the loose?

What's behind this one? I'm told the city attorney has been asked if it's okay for a convicted felon to run for city council.

Is there a felon running for city council, or plannning to?

The plot thickens.

Expo center looks like a winner

Got a chance to visit the new MBT Expo Center at the fair the other day. Wow!
This is one of the smartest moves for the fair in years. Not only does the place seem to have a lot of room, it's air conditioned and has huge, clean, automated bathrooms.

If I understand it, the bank only bought the naming rights (which subsidized the building cost), but the bank name is prominent on the building (which is pretty smart too).

This building certainly will be useful after the fair is over. I can see all sorts of uses for it, including wedding receptions, antique shows, etc.

The problem is it's bound to rob revenue from other venues, including the city's skating rink, which doesn't need to lose a builder show, cat show or any other kind of revenue-generating gathering.