My Side of the Fence

Congrats to the City staff for pulling off another good neighborhood conference.  I was one of the speakers and, while I feel that my speech was not a great one, the point of the conference is to enable the people who are trying to save their neighborhoods so my performance didn’t much matter.

This conference and the City’s Neighborhood Services department are crucial in keeping our strong neighborhoods strong and giving our weaker ones a hand up.  I hope that everyone had a good time and learned some things that can help you in your quest.

If you would like to comment on this, please keep your comments constructive.  Feel free to call me an idiot on my blog but leave staff and other citizens alone.

Obama is our elected President and I want him to succeed so that the country can be successful but how many more retreads can he put in his cabinet?  I am keenly aware that there are a limited number of people who are qualified for these positions and that a guy w/o a tremendous amount of experience would want some of those people but….wow.

Foreclosures have plagued our area for the past year and home values have suffered.  On average, homes have lost ~19% of their value each of the last two years.  Today in the LA Times I read that the average home price in the LA area has fallen 41% since last summer.  Everything sucks right now.

Quoth Tim Demeria:”I’ll give you an Interesting Tidbit……How ’bout them Osbourn Eagles!!?What a game last night in Haymarket. Our kids stood tall and won with 20 seconds left. Best Osbourn game I have seen next to the Salem game in 2006. And I have seen the vast majority of the games over the lifetime of the school system. Next weekend at 11-0 Woodbridge. I think it will be Saturday but I am not sure. Gonna be a real tough game but I know our kids are up to the task. “

I was perusing my server logs today and somebody had arrived here by googling for “manassas city council salaries”.  I don’t know who it was but Council members make about $12,000 per year.  I think we got a 3-4% raise last year and that was the first raise Council had received in some years.  There isn’t any hidden income either - if I want City health insurance I have to pay for it like any other employee.

It isn’t much money (especially on an hourly basis) but that isn’t why I do this.  Indeed, I am of the opinion that if you are in this biz for the money then you should probably find something else to do.

Well, the biggest election in the history of elections is over.  I’ve always been a bit of a political junkie but, towards the end there, even I was getting tired of it. 

After the dust settles somewhat the next phase will begin for the Republican party: the search for where we went wrong.  Did Mac get too centrist or too conservative?  Did he abandon core principles?  Was Palin the problem? 

The answers that we end up with will determine the relevancy of the Republicans for the foreseeable future.  History suggests that Republicans will regain some strength on the Hill in 2 years but beyond that, little is certain.  I believe that an over reaction is certaily possible - the repubican muckity mucks could decide that we went wrong by minimizing the role of the social warrior.  It’s also possible this won’t happen but it is a strong possibility.  With a pro-choice President appointing judges who are pro-choice I believe the role of the social warrior, in combination with Sarah Palin, will be an irresistable target for the republican establishment.

For most people I expect that they feel like we have always been at war with that particular social Oceania and they are tired of it.  Social issues are important to people but, at the national level, the principles that we have abandoned are not social, they are financial.  In the final analysis, social issues are not what got Obama elected.

The Republicans are supposed to be for reasonable government and fiscal respobsibility.  We haven’t just handed those tenets away, we’ve piled them in the street and set fire to them.  The growth of government is incredible.  We have an $11 trillion dollar debt, most of which was run up under Republican administrations, and are borrowing money from abroad as fast as they are willing to give it to us. 

I believe that if we are to regain our former glory, we need to get back to governing in a fiscally responsible way.  We need to get back to that core belief that the role of the Federal government is limited and states rights matter.  The first step in reaffirming this belief is to get spending under control and start to pay off our debts.

I worked the polls for Mac and Wolfe this morning from 6-8am and the line was very long at Baldwin when the polls opened.  However, the line was worked down to nothing within about 90 minutes and, by the time I left, you could walk in and vote immediately.  The democrats have many poll workers - it’s unusual for republicans to be outnumbered on the poll worker front in Manassas - and the majority of them are not from here.  Not good, bad or indifferent, just an observation.

Overall I think the turnout looks a lot like the turnout in 2004 when the initial line was long.

is the English!  I love the way of the English with their language.  I will, from time to time, watch Prime Ministers time and admire the way the PM goes back and forth with the members of the House of Commons.  Things get heated but, unless you are paying attention, never seem to get terribly ugly.  A combative politician in the UK once said of a mild-mannered opponent that being attacked by him “as like being savaged by a dead sheep”.  Imagine if that same language was “Americanized” and, further, imagine that someone in America said it.  The firestorm would be incredible.

There is an article in The Economist this week that discusses the likely reaction of Britons to the looming financial crisis as compared to earlier financial panics. In the rocky times following WWII, the government was handing out, as a food ration, a type of fish called snoek. Rather than saying “This fish tastes like hell!”, one columnist remarked that snoek “tastes like mackerel, only more so”.

Another of my favorites, usually credited to Winston Churchill, shows how much fun the Brits can have with their language. For example: in response to a memo issued by a civil servant, objecting to the ending of a sentence with a preposition and the use of a dangling participle in official documents, Churchill red pencilled in the margin: “This is the sort of pedantry up with which I will not put.”

Overall, I am partial to the American version of English but it is interesting to see what goes on over the pond….

I went to the Virginia Municipal League (VML) conference a couple of weeks ago.  I’ve never been to a VML conference before but I have been to others conferences and the quality varies wildly.  I am happy to say that the VML conference was very well run and I learned a lot.  Of particular note was a session on blight abatement and another on economic development.

However, most interesting to me was watching, listening and talking to other local electeds.  We share the same problems as many other localities.  Our challenges have a unique flavor to them but the themes share many common threads with others.  After listening to where other localities are and what they are doing I think Manassas is in good shape.

Compared to many localities, Manassas has had an effective, visionary government for years and the fruits of those years of labor and investment are now providing the raw materials for the next phase of our redevelopment and sharpening focus for our City.  The economy isn’t cooperating just now but when things do come around, we should be well positioned to move forward aggressively. 

If you are worked up about the forecast tax philosophy, simmer down.  The budget situation is so fluid that in between the work session and the Council adoption of the forecast, the numbers changed markedly.  One of the variables in the forecast was that commercial property valuations would be flat.  This week the estimate is that those values will fall about 5%.

The question isn’t if we will spend less money, the question is becoming how much.   We have tremendous exposure to state budget cuts as well.  Stay tuned.

Watching the Obama infomercial….

Obama looks tired during the live segment.

Interesting.  Must have cost a fortune. 

Thoughts?

The Council had a work session tonight to setup the budget process for this fall by establishing a forecast.  The forecast is what the City Manager uses to develop his budget that he presents in February.  The forecast isn’t binding but it does set expectations. 

The presiding philosophy at this point is to hold residential real estate bills, on average, the same as they were last year.  Holding the line on real estate taxes will result in shortfalls to both the City and School budget in this budget year but I feel that this is appropriate and manageable.  For next year, we are expecting reasonably large shortfalls in sales, meals and BPOL taxes so the forecast is far from certain.

For my part, I know that economic conditions are not making life easy for people but philosophically I’m not ready to cut millions of dollars from the school budget, stop funding the stuff we do in Old Town or give up on Manassas Next.  We have to be ready to emerge from this recession strong in order to compete with surrounding jurisdictions.  Closing the Candy Factory, Museum or shelving our economic development efforts only hamstrings our efforts and sets us back 5-10 years.  Fundamentally, I’m jst not there yet. 

Now, I’m not completely crazy.  If the economy completely falls apart, we’ll do what needs to be done but I don’t feel we’re there yet.  Given the way that things are going, this could change by next week…:)

We’ve gotten a good update on the progress of the schools here.  I’m amazed that they have been able to get it together so fast.  I am positive that they will continue to make good progress over the coming year.  It’s also a little humbling to see it actually coming together so quickly and I thank everyone who has pitched in.

We are now entering the final throes of the election. Even if you didn’t know the date of the election but were watching TV at all, it would be pretty obvious that the end is getting near. I’ll be honest, I hate this part of the electoral cycle. The candidates start throwing out plans every other day and nobody with half a brain believes any of it and most people pray that none of the plans ever see the light of day after the election.

However, there was an important moment on the campaign trail on Sunday (I believe) and it illustrates why Mac is behind in the polls. The moment involved an older lady who struggled mightily with the accusation but finally got it out that she believed that Obama was a “arab”. Mac very politely snatched the mic away from her and said “no ma’am. He’s just a decent family man that I happen to disagree with”. When i saw that, I saw the guy that came back from the dead to kick ass during the primaries. A decent man who is utterly dedicated to America. A guy that will always do what is best for America. His campaign over the past month has not reflected the man at all and many of his”allies” haven’t helped.

It isn’t too late for Mac to come back and I hope he can pull it off.

Dude, we went to the new restaurant called “noodles” on Saturday night and I am happy to report that it is really something.    If you get a chance, go by.  It is on Liberia one shopping center down from Staples.  Prices aren’t cheap but are reasonable.

The NG unit based (partially) in Manassas - the 266th MP unit had its shipping out ceremony today.  The City Council and Mayor were there as was the Governor.  I’ve seen many of these things on TV and you can get some sense of how difficult a time this is for family members but there is really nothing like being there.  Everyone tries to keep a stiff upper lip but its tough for a young mother who has a little one on her hip and another by the hand or the family seeing their young son or daughter go off to war.

Watching those families go through that ceremony was one of the toughest things I’ve done lately.  They have my respect and admiration.   I hope they all return safely.

The employee housing program is still moving forward but it has been sent back to the Land Use Committee to be reviewed and possibly resized.  It was originally authorized at $675k and since then, the economy has pretty much disintegrated before our eyes.  That $675k was coming directly from the fund balance and in such uncertain economic times the City needs to keep its options open.

So, here is what I am going to propose: fund it at a lower rate around $250k for the next two years and we’ll take a look at it after that.  Keep in mind that this program passed the Council 6-0 so there is clearly support for it but prudence demands that we at least discuss resizing it for the near term.

The Fall Jubilee was really cool.  Above is a picture of the “Chainsaw Chix”.  They made sculptures from logs with chainsaws.  It was nifty.  In addition, there were vendors that sold everything and there were tons of people there. Quite a success for the City!!

I thought that Palin dragged Biden around by the collar for the first 45 minutes last night.  Just abused him.  The second half of the debate was more even with Palin seeking comfortable ground by repeating answers that she clearly understood and avoiding subjects she didn’t understand.  She did operate extemporaneously a couple of times and did ok.  If you thought Palin was a little dim before the debate, your opinion is unchanged.  If you thought otherwise, you too had your opinion confirmed last night.

I do wonder that the moderator allowed her to simply ignore her questions and talk about whatever she wanted.  It is a curious debate format and I wonder why they bothered with it.  As it turns out, conservatives had nothing to worry about there.

Biden’s performance was very even but, with the excpetion of one bright spot where he beat up the “Maverick” label, unremarkable.   It’s probably about the best that they could have hoped for.  Biden has been a senator for way too long to deliver much in the way of a surprise.  He wants to explain everything….dull.

Uncle Sam wants to bail out Wall St. with my money?  Whatever.  It makes me sick but I suppose it needs to happen.  However, attaching a hundred billion dollars of tax breaks and other pork to the bill makes me want to break things.  I hope the house republicans kill this thing.

America has a very fundamental decision to make regarding the nature of our capitalism.  Wall St. CANNOT continue to have it both ways.  They take insane risks and we make them whole?  Not without some strings brother and I see no strings in this bill, no commitment to regulate the industry going forward.  If public money is to be used to fix this mess then the public interest needs to be looked after.  I view this in the same vein as Title IX that drove the emergence of womens sports in educational institutions.  The Universities that took public money had to let the girls play and if Wall St. takes public money, the regulators need to be able to do their thing.

Don’t even start with the “government made them do it” argument.  It is baloney.  If you are the CEO of a company and you allow your company to run in a manner that makes it insolvent, you have but one person to blame.

Here endeth the populist rant…:)