Besides, Mr. Brown survived election musical chairs and occupies a cushioned seat from which he can again move to raise the means.
A certain amount of pride goes with having shiny brand new items like a city hall. I remember a few bad years in depression times like those maybe coming. Then a shiny brand new item was a new pair of tennis shoes. OK, it's not that bad just yet but mortgage or interest payments on a city hall are not much different than on those thousands of repossessed homes all over the country
Surely discussions are underway in rooms we may not know about but here we can kick the can around.
And surely the city Mothers will appreciate your imput. .
19 comments:
I hate to be caustic but I'm on the side of keeping City Hall where it is and only instituting piecemeal repairs where absolutely necessary until Suffolk (and Suffolkians paying the tab!) are in much better financial shape than we are today. If the City leadership don't reach this conclusion on their own, they are obviously out of touch and/or out of their minds!
Besides, I'd bet that one of the real reasons for this is that the City has added so many new employees to the municipal rolls over the past decade that there is no more room for any more without building a bigger building to fit them in!! That is a big part of the City's fiscal problem. It's real easy to justify more employees when you only have to visit the City Assessor's Office or raise the taxes on the entire population to pay for them. Ever tried Belt Tightening? or Zero Based Budgeting? Private companies do it routinely and lay folks off when there isn't sufficient need to fund their services. Most municipalities almost never even try and--when forced--will always lay off First Responders (police, fire, and emergency response personnel) to create the most pain until redidents cave in and agree to more punitive taxation. Sure easier than laying off the dozens of folks who are a waste of valuable oxygen who nobody would miss! But these positions could never again be justified if they were let go and nobody noticed any drop in services! When you're not paying for it, no cost seems too high! Just ask the School Board!
If my house had sagging floors I would prop them up, and if the doors would not close I would trim them off a bit, and if the walls had cracks I would fill them in or cover up the cracks, I would not tear down my house and build and new one.
Why does it have to be an issue about who makes the decision. Let's just decide whether to build a new city hall building. The one we have now is pathetic and dilapidated. To "fic" the one we have now doesn't really accomplish anything.
As you mentioned, has there ever been a better time to borrow money cheaply? The building will last for 50 years and we can borrow money at probably 5 or 6 per cent. That's a steal, especially if you believe inflation is coming some time in the next ten years.
Can we set aside the personalities and just make an adult decision about whether it makes sense to build a new building.
By the way, I know we could get land cheaply on Bridge Road for the new city hall building...(Just kidding!!!)
Whats a couple of million when you want to spend 37 million?. It's just a tad too little
Is CL Willis still alive? If not then out of respect will one of the IS administrators please remove his name. You guys are so busy covering your political tracks, attacking anyone that dares to have a different opinion or defending your highly questionable support of your candidates, that you forgot this good man. Mr. Willis was a giant amonst us and we are far poorer without his wisdom and humility.
Anon 6:56. When team member LES
WILLIS first became ill he gave us permission to continue using his name. It is our way of thanking and remembering the gentleman who first joined us as a malcontent. He spoke, we listened. Anon 6:56 try checking before making monsterous statements. It must be nice to know everything. We could use a man with your talent.
Anon 3:13 writes that he supports building a new city hall when we're in better fiscal shape. When has Suffolk ever been in better shape? How much do you think we need in the rainy day fund before we meet your "better fiscal shape" threshold? When have interest rates for a city with an excellent bond rating EVER been this low? How can they possibly get lower?
And for those of you saying, well just fix what we have...Have you ever been to city hall? Do you work there? Everyone says they want want good city employees...okay, do we expect them to work in a hell hole with a leaky roof, doors that don't close and cracked foundation? The city hall building is a piece of junk and it ought to be replaced now while we can borrow money cheaply and probably get it built or far less that we could have just a few years ago.
And for the smart alleck who questioned whether we have more city employees than 10 years ago...gee, I don't know, how about you call city hall and ask rather then just being a mud thrower. Oh, and I would consider asking whether we need more employees now than 10 years ago since the city has grown by 20 - 25 % in the last ten years. Do you think its possible that more citizens may require more police officers, firefighters, teachers, staff than 10 years ago?
My gosh people, grow up and get a life and quit being such a bunch of complainers. How about getting involved. Show up at a council or planning commission meeting. Ask relevant questions and get educated.
Or, you can sit on this blog in the shape of a circular firing squad whine, moan and complain to no one and have no input or power whatsoever.
If you want to live in sleepy little hamlet where nothing ever happens and there is no growth or prosperity consider moving to Surry County.
Amen to the previous posters comments!
You need a FOIA to get any information from the city lol
Surry County???HMMMMMMMM
ANY request made by a citizen to a local government is automatically considered a freedom of information act request according to VA law. It doesn't have to say, "according to the VA freedom of Information Act, I herevy request..." So who cares what your request is called. If you want information from the city so that you can better informed, just ask for it. I don't think that's such a big deal. How else would you get the information you want? Is the city or your city councilman just supposed to know what information you want and send it to you telepathically or by email? Show some initiative. Again, is it fair for you to complain about the direction of the city if you don't show any initiative to get involved and make a contribution?
I think the members of Council - all of them - are there to try to do the right thing each and every time. They can't know your position on the issues facing the city if you don't get involved and let them know what you think. HOwever, I would say that your opinion should be based on the facts not just some half-baked reaction to what you "think" is happening or what you "perceive" is happening...
I like this blog. I think it is well run and is timely. It can be a good forum for ideas and a place to share thoughts on the news. But for it to be relevant the contributors would be better served if they stopped assuming the worst about everyone's intentions.
Thanks.
People only make strong statements condeming another's right to express some issue, when they are trying to stifle that person's voice. We have too many in
Suffolk that try to bully ideas about and IS has in a small way provided a forum to address that. So if you are valling for others to be silent, please look inward to your own motives first!
We need all the ideas we can get, because we are lead by morons!
No one is trying to stifle anyone's informed or well-considered opinion on this blog as far as I can see.
It's the uninformed opinions and personal attacks that are dragging down the potential of this local blog.
The last commentator even wrote:
"We need all the ideas we can get, because we are lead by morons!"
You see, this is a personal attack and to be properly written it should state: "we are led by..." NOT "we are lead by..."
If you are going to attack someone for being stupid you should at least know the past tense for the word "to lead." It might, perhaps, give your argument some merit.
Thank you for your observation. I am often tempted to display a few examples of atrocious spelling we have reviewed in comments. And, as you say, usually accompanied by negative statements about a person or activity head and shoulders above the writer. Perhaps it would be better to send them to our English teachers. We often make a mistake and blame our fingers but in the cases I refer to it is usually a defect somewhere else.
While it may be true that there are some in the land of Suffolk blogging with less skill in their expression, to belittle such because of an error in the use of the language, just has no merit. One must also look at why such comments are so often expressed as the real issue, not the quality of the expression itself. We are not all of equal skill in the use of the language, but we all are entitled to express our views about how poorly our local government is run and managed.
Some wish to point at error to diminish the message, but that usually is only due to the lack of any other response, or substance to a claim they may wish to make.
Sound like anyone you know?
Again, we agree with your comment. We have never declined a comment due to misspelled words. We have and will eliminate even more comments because they contain unfounded charges. Most opinions will be allowed unless they are over the edge. We admit on some occasions we have allowed name calling if there was some truth therein. Councilman Brown may be just the man you describe but he has often "earned" derision for asking pointless questions or for making long speeches that sometimes went nowhere. We respect Mr. Brown's position all of the time.
English Teacher, my only point is that if someone is going to call someone else a moron, they probably ought to be careful about exposing themselves to easy countercharges of poor use of the King's English.
Rpock, Mr. Brown can certainly be loquacious or garrulous. He is, however an excellent mathematician. (Seriously.) Isn't that an interesting dichotomy? (No answer necessary...it's just a rhetorical question...)
On the issue of spelling and the use of the "Kings" language, the point is the message was read and understood.Just becuase the poster might not be as gifted with the use of the "Kings" language,may not be clean, articulate and has a nice crease in their pants or skirt makes them any less or more than you. Maybe the poster should sue the school system for failing to provide the "proper" education.
I must commend the writer for finding something that Councilman Brown has skill at, because it clearly is not the skill of leadership in a democratic republic.
I too like this blog, as it is just about the only venue that is open to all and supports real commentary on the significant failings of our local government and other important issues. Suffolk has the trappings of a fine community, but always seems to forfeit that claim due to the very poor way that our local governance is conducted. If in some small way this blog moves some to get involved, that is commendable and of great value.
I would rather read someone's expressions that may not be of the highest quality related to technical English construction, than have more people hiding in their home afraid to say anything. So I invite one and all to express their views as best they can. Perhaps, there will be some nuggets of wisdom that we all can find, even if it is not expressed in the most eloquent way.
Liberals including Jackson and Sharpton and many over at MSNBC want to deny you the right to speak as long as you disagree with them.
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