GRU: the economy killer
Mar 9th
I think this is some of my best work. It’s about GRU and how it can bring us all down if we do not set things right!
“There is no fiscal responsibility without a new coal plant”
Craig Lowe wants us to burn biomass. This gives us higher rates and a crippled economy.
Monica Cooper is against biomass, but she is against the coal plant, too. She wants us to depend on solar, which is currently more expensive and less dependable: an economy killer.
Richard Selwach stresses balancing the budget, but without affordable energy it is a moot point. He is for more expensive natural gas. Good-bye Gainesville.
Ozzy Angulo has nothing meaningful to say about energy; as if it doesn’t matter.
Let’s vote to save our city in 2010! Don Marsh for Mayor on March 16th
As a little bonus, I include this new YouTube video I made yesterday!
Beware of Smart Growth Utopias
Feb 20th
To be a smart voter, you need to become conversant in the fuzzy newspeak of your elected officials. This article is a must read.
The same federal agency that brought us monumental failures like public housing wants to play a bigger role in fostering so-called regional “smart growth.” HUD secretary Shaun Donovan recently traveled to Portland, Oregon to announce the Obama administration’s new Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities. This new bureaucracy will distribute $140 million in grants for regional “smart growth” planning… (more at the link above)
Never forget that if it has to be subsidized, it isn’t really sustainable. This naked vote-buying attempt is counting on us not being wise enough to figure out that we are actually taking on long term obligations to counter-productive development for years to come; kinda like that zero-down mortgage so many Americans bought into.
Endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police
Feb 18th
I am quite proud to announce that I have gained the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police, and this is their official release: click here. It is a great honor to be given this trust. Our men and women in uniform do a difficult and often thankless job, and I will do all that I can to be worthy of their judgment.
Yard Sign Pick-up
Feb 17th
I have signs at my home, but I am out of wire frames. It is my understanding that there are both signs and frames at RW Beaty Restaurant Equipment located at 1206 North Main Street. Call ahead at 376-5939 to make sure.
Transparency
Feb 15th
I have been thinking about this a lot. I have been online since 1994, when the Alachua Freenet first opened up it’s dial-up lines to Gainesville residents. I was user afn43269, and in a short time I was on USENET, engaging people in discussions about religion and politics and Dave Barry. When the Gainesville Sun first got online as Sunone.com, I participated on their lively message board from early in its existence as the user, DonTWC, which stands for Don the Window Cleaner. Even though I had a username, I have always been up front about who I was. I have never liked anonymous posting, because I think that your testimony loses power when you are not willing to put your name on it. This is not for everyone, but if you are an elected official, I think there should be a record of what you believe and what you stand for.
After I ran for the county commission in 2002, I started a web site that would allow candidates to get their message out for free. I would give any candidate for local elected office a platform to tell the voters whatever he or she wanted, with no limits on space or content. Sadly, very few have taken me up on it, and no incumbent has EVER posted on AlachuaVoterGuide.com. A few challengers have. Some ex-officials have. But it has been a source of extreme frustration for me that so few will go on the record on a site where they might get…GASP…comments from the public.
During the incendiary leadup to the vote on Amendment One last year, I was the only one to open discussion on the site. When people from around the world came to post comments accusing me of bigotry and hatred, I tried to engage them and find common ground. No other public figure had discussions like these that I have been able to find. No one takes comments and tries to have a civil discourse, AND puts his name on it!
I want you to know that as your Mayor, this will not change. I will still blog. I will still deal with your criticisms, comments, complaints, and suggestions in the same manner that I always have. For me, transparency is not a fad, or a novelty, or an undefined promise that can be fudged on later. It has been my life, and you deserve accountable, accessible leadership. Please vote for me March 16th.
My spot on the Bob Rose Show
Feb 13th
My interview on the Bob Rose Show is available right here in mp3 format. Right click on it and save to download, or left click and wait for your media player to open it. It’s about 10 and a half minutes long. Of course, it you will join my Facebook fan page, you will see they have it on an inline streaming player where you just click a button and listen. Find that fan page link in the right sidebar.
A Great Article on Mass Transit
Feb 11th
Former Gainesville City Commissioner Ed Braddy recently had this article published at New Geography. All local voters should read this to get the other side of the mass transit fantasy that many of our local officials have.
Essentially, policymakers need to see transit as a service with an important but limited role to play in most urban regions. With jobs and more activities spreading to the suburbs and exurbs – a process often accelerated by economically disruptive urban policies, cities should focus transit on a limited number of central core commuters as well as those people who cannot drive. Unfortunately, such goals are too modest for planners who envision transit as the catalyst for large scale social engineering and who have little concern for their regions’ economic bottom line.
Recently, county commissioner Mike Byerly shocked residents when they read this in the Gainesville Sun:
Byerly said that he believed too many road-widening projects intended to ease congestion remained in the county’s plans, and the only thing that could make the planned bus rapid transit system work was if traffic gridlock on area roads drove people out of their cars and onto buses.
Voters must be aware that our own local elected officials are trying to reduce our choices and funnel us into their hopes and dreams with OUR tax dollars. Read it here.
Will the church participate?
Feb 10th
At some of my events and interviews I have said that it is important for the city to cultivate a working relationship with the churches because they are the city’s natural allies in confronting homelessness and other societal ills. I recently said that, as Mayor, I would go to the churches to tell them that they are welcome and that their participation is needed to make Gainesville a better place. Although I have not yet been challenged on this, I will anticipate and answer two potential questions in this space.
- Will churches respond to such a call? First, I want to tell you that this is not a setup. I have not held any meetings with pastors to formulate how they would respond to my election. My presumption upon their good works potential comes from my own three decades of ministry work as a volunteer. There are many people in the church who are motivated to feed, clothe and shelter the homeless, visit the sick and incarcerated, and mentor the fatherless. Some of that is already getting done at the expense of those who do the work. It is hard to say how much worse things would be if they weren’t. But I know they could do a lot more if it were not for the ambivalence of both church and civic leaders. The evolving ethos of “church-state separation” has created a hostile environment for people of faith who are told that their faith is not welcome. My opponent, City Commissioner Craig Lowe, has been quoted as saying, “ Our community cannot afford to discard any talent or intellect due to discrimination.” Yet, we discard the talent and intellect of a vast number of Gainesville residents. This must be actively challenged.
- Is it appropriate to do so? It is unjust to tell people, “You cannot participate as fully as anyone else in civic life and discourse because of the beliefs you hold.” A part of the American experience throughout history has been the need to demand the rights that you possess only on paper. It took almost 200 years for African Americans to begin to possess the promises of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution, and it did not happen because they waited patiently to be called on. It had to be demanded. Likewise, the men and women in our churches, who have become timid under the disapproving glare of the Statists who have come to power, must make their demand to be included. It will be much easier for them, however. All they have to do is vote on March 16. Then they have to follow through by living up to the things they believe in.
Do not confuse my call to action with a desire to Christianize the local government. I am just trying to desegregate it. Anyone should be able to take his faith, whether you are Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Wiccan or Atheist, with him into the service of his community. It’s also a good opportunity for us all to interact and learn from one another instead of isolating and writing each other off.
(Reprinted from Alachua Voter Guide)
The Built-in Bailout
Feb 8th
While perusing this year’s Gainesville City Budget’s summary document, I found an interesting fact. It is fairly plain language that even a window cleaner can understand. Therefore, I pass it along to you, the other citizens who are on the hook for the high cost of government. It’s a paragraph found near the top of page 10, and here is the important excerpt:
“Pension obligations are met primarily through three sources of funds. Employee contributions to the fund are set at a fixed percentage of pay. Investment returns on pension assets comprise a substantial portion of pension funding, and the balance of funding required comes from contributions from the employer. Therefore, poor investment return years require higher contributions from the employer to meet required funding levels.”
In case you are missing something here, we, the taxpayers, are the employers. The other important thing to notice is that you, the employer, are obligated to meet funding obligations when investments have a bad year. So, all of you who took a hit in 2008, losing about 40% of your retirement investments, have to bite the bullet to keep the city pension fund from failing to make money.
Keeping in mind that this is, after all, a defined benefits plan, we will not get into the details of whether such an expensively insured plan is mitigated with below average return on investment anyway. But it does indicate that the city should hire employees and create new departments only when the gravest need arises. There are not many companies that can survive not only an economic downturn, but having to insulate its employees from this effect with money it no longer has.
City employees who like this arrangement (and who wouldn’t?) should want to insure this arrangement’s long term viability by helping its employer to NOT incur deficits. But deficits are what we have, and that could be the case for years to come if we do not get some hard-times discipline.
Stay tuned to this blog as I visit other budgetary challenges that could be met with your money and your lack of opportunity.
My Speech at the Tea Party Rally
Feb 7th
I want to thank everyone who came out for this event. It looked like there were 500 people to me, but the Sun says 1,000, so who knows? I had yard signs and window clings available. We got donations and volunteers to sign up. It was a great event!
