Speaking of streets ...

I saw a streetsweeper out today ... in the rain.
Isn't that a little counterproductive? All he was doing was laying a big patch of mud. It looked worse after he went by than before. Are we to believe all that will get washed away by the rain?
Looks just like dollars down the drain to me.

More snow, less street work

What's with this snow!
Is it my imagination or is this the biggest snowfall of the winter (spring).
If I heard the Monroe city streets chief correctly during the city council meeting, the snow removal budget is shot and continued spending will come out of the street maintenance program.
As if this much snow wasn't bad enough, it had to fall on a holiday weekend. That probably means some double overtime.
So when nothing's being done to repair problems with streets this summer, remember the winter.

Whole lot of nothin' going on

Jeremy Molenda hit the nail on the head during the Monroe council meeting Monday. He said he was disappointed that the library services team didn't come up with something a little more meaty in the way of recommending expansions of the city libraries.
He also was right on the money about the value of a library to a city.
What he might not know is that there was a lot of posturing and infighting going on to make sure the library "team" didn't come up with a really stupid recommendation -- like converting the United Furniture building into an expanded Dorsch library. In fact, one of the main reasons the "team" was formed was to make sure that idea was dead on arrival.
Maybe forgetting about using the furniture building as a library is a smart idea. Maybe not. The problem that remains is what to do with the building. The Port of Monroe bought the thing and owns it, I think. Maybe they should figure out what to do with it.
Councilman Beneteau often makes sense, but some of his comments about the library showed that he's not too familiar with the kind of draw a library can be. Dorsch brings in lots of people who aren't city residents because it happens to be the closest library to their house. I know because I've talked with many of them. He has to view the library as something that draws people to the city, not something that's nothing but a burden. Putting library services on the third floor of city hall is a goofy idea. Some people couldn't even find the Social Security office when it was there.
Maybe the city should knock down the furniture building for now, and build a smaller annex to Dorsch at a future date. You wouldn't have to pay a lot of dough to a consultant. Just poll library users and staff to see what the needs really are and ask
Jim Jacobs to ballpark a new building to meet the needs.
At this point it doesn't look like the city can afford ANYTHING and taxpayers sure as heck aren't going to support a millage to expand the library.
'

I'm for taking all the lights down

I'm told the city is taking down some traffic lights to save money on electrical and repair costs. They're starting with three intersections on an experimental basis.
This is not a bad idea. Did you ever notice that when the power goes out, drivers tend to be very cautious and courteous at even the most busy intersections. I figure they can take out all the lights in the city except three or four main ones downtown -- Elm and Monroe, Front and Monroe, First and Monroe and just put stop signs on the rest. Then if there are accidents, the police department can bill the insurance companies for the cost of policing the accidents. Even if there are more accidents, the city would save money on the operation of the lights and make money off of charging for policing them. Pretty soon the city wouldn't be in the red anymore. Do you think they'll see the light?
Speaking of lights, I was in Milan the other day and drove by a house that still had a big Halloween pumpkin hanging off the peak of the roof. Man, you'd think someone would have a law against that. Then I'm strolling in front of the courthouse with my terrier, Wacky, and I notice that the big evergreen tree on the courthouse lawn still is dressed up in Christmas lights. Do they ever take them down or is that the county's version of a money-saving idea?

Casting a chill on the ice fest

Was that John Patterson giving a little presentation on the ice festival at the city council meeting the other night? He made it sound like the best thing since the jazz festival. Even showed a somewhat cheaply made video of some of the highlights. I found it very informative.
He kind of glossed over the fact that some of the nice ice sculptures were vandalized. I thought sure that in the video Councilman Beneteau was going to say something like, yeah, the creeps ruined the nice gem sculpture in front of the family business. What a display of self-restraint. Or maybe it was filmed before the damage was done.
Was it the work of those nasty graffiti artists that seem to be all over?
Nooooo!
There are some who swear it was the artistry of a few drunken rowdys spilling out of that upstanding joint that thinks downtown Monroe needs a hot bikini contest in mid-winter.
You know the place -- it's where no upstanding Monroe citizens would want to hang out.
Luckily Monroe is a town with a lot of old-time religion that will cleanse all us sinners.
BTW, who was that babe that won that contest?

Back in the saddle

Good to see Mayor Mark back in the saddle after the heart thing. He was running the city council again the other night and you couldn't really tell if he was having any trouble. But it seems like he's returned way too early. I guess he really has his heart in the job.
Seems a shame though that the guy was on council for 20 years and he ends up being mayor when the city's in the sorriest state it's been in for a while. He probably should have been mayor for the last 20 years and the city might not be as bad off financially as it is now.
BTW, I did not put that Mark Ferris guy up to asking about the Monroe Ford tax break deal. I don't even know him. But he made some pretty good points. And at least he got some clarification on why the deal never was discussed by council. As the ever forthright Councilman Beneteau said, it was discussed in a closed meeting.
I guess someone thought they were giving council good legal advice on that one, but it seems to me that deciding whether to try to recoup tax breaks should have been a matter for public discussion outside of whether it should be a factor in settling a tax appeal case. Like, wouldn't you want to CYA with about 2000 contituents by talking about that issue publicly. Then if people said forgive and forget, you use it as a bargaining chip maybe in settling the tax appeal behind closed doors. Like, hey Ford, we got these citizens breathing down our necks. They're going to hang us if we let you off the hook on the tax breaks. You better sweeten up the pot. Doesn't seem like the city played that card too well what with Ford shutting down its plant and leaving town with a fistful of city cash too.
Maybe the houseful of lawyers on this blog could educate the rest of us on how this whole thing went down.