NOW THAT IS REAL PROGRESS

Negotiators, our deep thinking politicians in Richmond  finally agreed on a plan to require state workers to contribute 5 percent of pay towards their pensions. BUT  OFFSET  BY A 5  PERCENT RAISE FOR EMPLOYEES.

Ferris wheels also produce a lot of noise, but aren't going anywhere.

MESSAGE FOR ALL CITIZENS

contributed by AC  An opinion

Thank you employees for your loyalty to our City. We are here to provide a positive employment experience. And thanks to you fine citizens who pay taxes without question, especially those of you who patiently sit through Council meetings to approach the Council with matters important to you and never get an answer. Henceforth all questions, comments, concerns, complaints, frustrations, irritations, aggravations, insinuations, allegations, accusations, contemplations, consternation and input should be directed anywhere but here.  Signed  SCG and LJ

NATERING NABOBS OF POSITIVISM

There is a very complimentary piece in the SNH proclaiming that the third Homearama in ten years indicates Suffolk is the place to be and  buying an expensive home is the “thing.” The piece presumes that inserting, “nattering nabobs of negativism” will head off all contrary thinking. But my first thought was to consider the current status of previous Homearamas. Following that were financial conditions of some overeager developers, many former owners, and even banks with large inventories of now empty homes. Nor would I choose to live on nearly treeless plains where immense mushrooms loom above stretches of grass. The SNH piece pictured a typical developer touch…an oasis with pond and bridge where it is assumed the subdivision population may gather to visit and cook wieners on hibachis while they converse about local issues and share pictures of the kids who are at the oceanfront. Lord just let us keep our average home among the trees with room for a few tomatoes.  

New Deputy Superintendent for Suffolk Public Schools

Sometimes I just scratch my head and wonder . . . .

Struggles With Student Achievement on State Tests
By her own admission, the new deputy superintendent of Suffolk Public Schools was disappointed in the number of schools in her charge that made AYP during her recent tenure with Savannah Chatham Public Schools. While I understand that the raised bar was harder to meet, the bar wasn’t a surprise to anyone. In fact, the AYP bar was set back in the year 2001 giving schools time to determine how to meet and/or exceed the AYP targets.
http://savannahnow.com/news/2010-07-20/state-17-local-public-schools-fail-make-adequate-yearly-progress


Struggles With Achievement on ITBS
Additionally, Ms. Chavis shared "We’re not happy with this, but we will continue to implement those things that we know can work,” said Chief Academic Officer Jackie Chavis.
http://savannahnow.com/share/blog-post/jenel-few/2010-02-03/heres-what-happened-february-2010-savannah-chatham-county


Changing of the Grades
When dealing with an ethical issue, Ms. Chavis – as chief academic officer of Savannah-Chatham Public Schools on one hand stated that a principal should be terminated for making arbitrary grade changes and on the other hand suggested that the County school board offer that same person a non leadership position in Central Office as punishment for her bad decision citing the employee as dedicated and highly effective.

Does this sound familiar? Ms. Chavis once worked for Norfolk Public Schools
http://savannahnow.com/latest-news/2010-09-15/update-deonn-stone-gets-30-days-without-pay-keeps-job

Hired Before the Application Deadline?
It certainly appears that the deal was sealed with Suffolk’s new Deputy Superintendent even before the stated deadline for applications for the position. The announcement, given on November 23rd by the superintendent of Savannah-Chatham Public Schools, stated that Ms. Chavis would be taking a job with a Virginia district. The application deadline for the position was November 30, 2010. How fair is that?
http://www2.wsav.com/news/2010/nov/23/sccpss-school-supt-dr-thomas-lockamy-talks-about-s-ar-1126636/

And Then There’s the Money Issue
As a public employee, Ms. Chavis receives substantially more than the advertised salary range posted in Suffolk’s job application.

As citizens, we’re working our own hard and long hours, opening up our wallets to help fund the bloated salary of a person who brings the kind of achievement record we really don’t want in Suffolk. .

CITY MANAGER NOT TALKING BUT DALE WALKER IS

 
Quit or be fired, your choice, Said Selena Cuffee Glenn and don’t expect to know why, just pack and git. That’s about the way the ex-Finance Director Dale M. Walker sees it. Nice way to dispose of the $113,000 position held since April 2009, Even the public deserves more than that since we had no part of the hiring but we did pay his salary and great benefits. How could the tight-lipped manager have made the mistake of hiring him in the first place if she would handle the dismissal in such a crude manner, have him ushered out of the building without his personnel effects. If there was an error in judgment it was hers. It is no wonder that Walker was stunned and flabbergasted. Even the city spokes-person, Debbie George was speechless. Surely the citizens are due a little more “openness and transparency” than that. I remember the mayor promising that would be the first order of business.

SPSA SLOWLY DISAPPEARING

SPSA, bothered for years by less income than required apparently believes that the secret to profitable growth is to continue selling parts of itself. Their garbage-fueled power plant went to Portsmouth for 150 million of debt. Then, recently, they sold off its recycling headquarters in Chesapeake to a storage company for just over $1 million. Of course SPSA can explain how that debt was created.  Now to cut costs and prevent more debt the plan is to close the gates two days a week, put more people out of work and forego planned improvements to the operation. Seems there has been a dollar crisis for years for different reasons that seem to pop up. Now they are getting serious, moving to a strategic decision, “Should we sell the landfill? The deal was to survive to 2018. Didn’t they just find money by selling the valuable gas garbage puts out? Haven’t dumping prices been adjusted upwards often enough driving customers to seek other solutions? It does leave us wondering about the planning that appears off the mark, and the management. If they sell the odorous heap SPSA is down to owning only the garbage transfer stations. After they go Suffolk the woods and highways become dumping stations.    

WHAT DID SID LEAVE BEHIND? 3 percent decrease

Home assessments dip 3 percent in Va. Beach, 

Chesapeake  3 percent, 

South Norfolk 4.19

Western Branch 4 percent

IT AIN'T ALL BAD IN OUR SCHOOLS

Nice to see the picture of the actors from Nansemond River High School in the SNH, all smiling and obviously pleased to be recognized for their hard work and talent. Reporter Heather McGinley brought us some good news about what goes on in our schools. Next competition is at the state theatre level, the first time our high school actors have played on that “stage.” So hats off to the students and drama and choir teacher Joleen Neighbours. It is the first year the drama students have made it to state competitions. Now we would like to hear about a group of Suffolk top math students equally excited about their accomplishments. And the teacher that made it happen. 

FROM $10 TO $308 TO

Leslie E. Dildy Jr. thought it OK to wheel his lawn tractor on Bank Street. If he was near the Courthouse and doing wheelies he was tempting fate. But if just going to cut a friend’s lawn, nearby, well how else can you move five hundred pounds of deadweight? This criminal court case needs more investigation than it got in the newspaper. Assuming the driver was sober and just practicing for his first Nascar race, I mean how fast can a lawn tractor go? There isn’t much grass to mow in August but maybe a friend had offered to sharpen the blades. But astute Suffolk police halted Dildy, 35, and ticketed him for driving without a license. The judge in General District Court demanded a ten-buck fine. Apparently Dildy’s attorney Jim Grandstander, that’s not right, Gandfield  had studied the constitution of the United States and did not want this crime on Dildy’s record and appealed to Circuit Court. Congratulations to Mr.Dildy who stood up for his rights. Wednesday he was found guilty again and fined $50 and $258 in court costs. Of course the attorney will take the case to the State Court of Appeals. Assuming Grandfield is correct, that a lawnmower is considered a farm tractor, I’d take it all the way to the Supreme Court, assuming Dildy has the money.

IS THERE AN INDIAN DANCE PROMOTING VICTORY

The Nansemond Indians have been struggling for recognition since before 1946. Documentation no longer exists since a Virginia registrar of Vital Statistics for Virginia tribes, a white supremacist, decided long ago that Indians were really Negroes.  But Democrat Twins, Webb and Warner have reintroduced legislation that could result in a reversal, much needed by our builders of Mattanock. It would give Chief Bass a key to the benefits provided by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and other federal agencies.
 “We’re just still trying, still working on it,” Nansemond Chief Barry Bass said. Making matters worse is the fact that the Virginia tribes’ peace treaties were with England and not the United States.” So thanks to Walter Plecker, the “evil” registrar (My computer indicates Plecker is misspelled) the Nansemonds have needlessly suffered. It is time they got a break. We hope Webb and Warner can charm the government.

TWO MORE HIGH SUFFOLK OFFICIALS MOVE ON

 

 Two years on the job and city finance director Dale M. Walker resigns. He is the second city official out of a sinking boat or what? When he boarded he was declared ripe with experience and dripping leadership qualities. Not a word from Market Street as he jumps ship. OK, it’s his business. Perhaps he just didn’t like the daunting numbers during reductions. Can’t be much fun. Or over worked with city payroll, accounting, issuing bonds long and short. Then another bomb when the most “hated” man in Suffolk had enough of satisfying the spending members of Council by pleasantly asking citizens to dig deeper for property taxes. His feminine predecessor had more to say upon leaving than Sid. And unspecific “personal reasons” can cause puzzlement. He says it is completely voluntary at 55; he wants to see what’s up the road. Tough sledding would describe it.  The C M offered no comment, unusual for  her, on Walker’s resignation, or that of city assessor Sid Daughtrey earlier. And the Mayor offered no reason or explanation. We have seen this many times in the recent past when high employees left.

WHAT DOES THIS PROVE

Washington, D.C. – Congressman J. Randy Forbes (VA-04) announced that, this evening, the House of Representatives passed a measure in the Fiscal Year 2011 Continuing Resolution that would prevent the use of funds to close the U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) for the fiscal year to allow Congress the time to study how restructuring JFCOM could impact national security and the ability of the Armed Forces to work jointly.

Congressman Forbes made the following statement:

"Over the past couple years, the Pentagon has refused to provide shipbuilding and aviation plans to Congress as required by law, placed “gag orders” on senior defense officials preventing them from providing information to Congress, refused to send specific witnesses requested by the House Armed Services Committee, failed to meet deadlines for requests for documents related to defense cuts, withheld information from Congress on defense decisions, and failed to supply cost-benefit analysis for its move to shutter one of our nation’s ten military commands.

“That culture of secrecy and defiance ends today. Members of Congress from across the country have made it clear that we will no longer allow the Department of Defense to exercise blatant disregard for Congress’ oversight responsibilities. The amendment sends a clear message to the Department of Defense that we intend to exercise our constitutional oversight role prior to allowing actions that have, up until this point, an unknown effect on the future of our national security.”

SCHOOL BOARD ONE SUPT ONE

 Three school board members intimidated by parents backed off closing two schools a year earlier than planned. Members Hinton and Skeeter had reservations in spite of telling the superintendent he must find a way to shave 5.2 million from the budget. Of course cuts can be a hardship for students, teachers and parents, it is called “life” and happening to nice people all across the country. Ask the Franklin paper mill ex-employees or the thousands from DefCom. How bad a cut hurts depends on how much one is paid, two years of no Social Security increases hasn’t put a smile on retirees faces.  It is already obvious that few citizens realize the entire nation is in deep trouble. When students, if true, can’t afford batteries for their calculators, as one teacher lamented, it indicates we aren’t far from going without meals as happened back in 1929. Don’t think that can’t happen again. It is true that Boards of all institutions have their duties and must serve the people by protecting them from all evil. Allowing the Superintendent to spin in the wind, however, isn’t one of them: we expect to see the red pen in their hands. The board did give the Supt one victory, to offer 140 thirty-year employees a plan for early retirement.      

DO YOU REMEMBER THE MAINE

All was well until just after 2140 on Tuesday, 15 February, when suddenly and without warning the MAINE was ripped by a violent explosion. Immediately the Spanish lent assistance, the cruiser ALFONSO XII rescuing survivors.  In spite of this 260 of MAINE's 358 officers and men died.  The Spanish authorities in Havana proved helpful and cooperative in the days that followed, but from the start Americans suspected sabotage.  A Court of Inquiry chaired by CAPT William T. Sampson determined that the MAINE explosion "could have been produced only by...a mine situated under the
bottom of the ship."  When this news reached the United States there were immediate calls for war.  Any remaining pacific voices were further quelled by the earlier release of a private memo written by the Spanish ambassador in Washington, Dupuy de Lome, that characterized President McKinley as a
"small-time politician" who was too inept to discover Spanish duplicity in their intentions over Cuba.  These coincident events prompted the US to declare war on Spain on 21 April 1898. In truth Spain had little to gain and everything to lose by provoking the US.  In 1975 ADM Hyman Rickover and a panel of experts reexamined evidence and photographs of the salvage efforts and concluded that the MAINE was likely the victim of an accidental internal explosion. It is theorized that spontaneous combustion in a bituminous coal bin burned through a bulkhead into a magazine. Though the battle cry "Remember the MAINE!" may have been based on a misconception, the subsequent successes of the US Navy in the
Spanish-American War served to announce the emergence of our Navy as a true world power.  In recognition of this the salvaged mast of MAINE, still contorted from the blast, has been mounted at the Naval Academy in Annapolis.  Sent to me by a friend. "A second look, too late, found the truth."

KNOWN HISTORY OF THE HILTON GARDEN INN

Despite the opposition of many citizens it opened in 2005 built on prime river property for 23.6 million. Suffolk put up half the money and 5 million of that paid for the ten-acre park and 28 slip Marina. The hotel contained 150 rooms, 14,000 square feet of conference rooms. Those persons familiar with the area warned of tricky soil conditions and someone suffered financially when the seawall failed to behave and had to be repaired. It proved that opposition could be correct.

In 2008 Landmark Hotel Group bought the hotel and Conference Center for $14.3 million. It seems someone absorbed a loss when you see two numbers, cost to build hotel and price received. Within months of the purchase the bottom fell out of the need for hotels and a dismal occupancy rate followed. There is some question about the Marina occupancy, are they legitimate or just there to make the marina look busy? The city still owns the land and picks up ten grand for the lease and $134,000
from the down-sliding property taxes as hotel assessment dips. I have never seen a lowering of my  assessment. The hotel felt a loss of revenue when the Franklin paper mill disappeared and slicing up JefCom won’t help. Remember the schmaltz at the time the city was pushing public/private investment and how the hotel was to be the Gateway to Historic Suffolk. With a current occupancy rate still under fifty percent it could get worse until a new Congress redesigns the national budget.