C'MON CITY FINANCE PEOPLE, HELP US OUT WITH NUMBERS

According to Suffolk supplied numbers there are 29,993 Households in Suffolk with an average of   2.6 persons including the little babies whose diapers have not yet been declared trash or recyclable paper. Using $17. as the monthly cost for this this wonderful program it can generate half a million each month or a little over  six million  for each year.  Seems that the recycled  materials are worth a ton of money and that many  blue cows will produce many tons of very valuable goods. Who gets it  is the simple question.  "IS" will wait a reasonable length of time for answer from the city. Most city officials deny reading "IS" but we know better.  Any Council member will do.                                                                                                                                                            

JUST A BUMP

SO MANY IN  WASHINGTON  CAN'T  TELL  THE  TRUTH  WE  OFFER  SOLID  PROOF  THAT  AN  EARTHQUAKE   TOOK   PLACE  IN  THE  NEAR  VICINITY OF PRESIDENT OBAMA'S  OFFICE.  THE PRESIDENT ESCAPED  DEATH   BY   CAMPAIGNING.

WELCOME ABOARD

Remember all  the nice things Selena and  Mayor Linda had to say about the newly named financial director,  Dale Walker, as he asended to the throne of books that keep track of our dwindling supply of dollars. This is not a test of your memory but doesn’t it seem that the ink on his contract could not have been dry on Febuary 6, the day he joined the long list of forced to resign employees that previously had been toasted for their expertise.  The odds on the new director, Deborah H. White, being a Suffolk employee longer than Dale have improved if only because  she is female.  And she is also experienced and attractive. Picture from SNH

TIME IS SPEEDING UP

Why not,  I asked myself, why not  a picture taken way back, a year after the war.  We are now in the  second half of the eighties and have to remind ourselves we were once young. The picture was taken in 1946, we were engaged even though the U.S. government said to forget it. I stayed in Germany a year fighting the naysayers and finally went home to fight from that end. We won, as did hundreds of other American soldiers. Her dress is made from two kerchiefs and a white parachute, the  best we could do under the circumstances. Of course Germany was in terrible condition, her city of Bremen was bombed regularly and her home severely damaged when the British took the city. But that day was party time with both German relatives and my American buddies celebrating our union and end of the war. 

ARE YOU EXCITED

A well written story by Emily Collins about the up-coming Homerama shows up this morning in the SNH. I believe everything she wrote with one exception, how excited everyone is, a million or more expected to view the "Modestly priced" homes. Now, unless there are a few 1000 square footers in the collection there won't be too many immediate sales and the place will eventually look like most other Homerama sites in the area, sparsely settled. Even though fixed mortgage interest rates are low they won't appear to be so when your pink slip arrives with a sad message about how you never should

have taken the plunge in view of the nations malaise.  And Obama still has a year to do more damage.

The New Cost of Trash Pickup and How It Is Being Billed Shocks Citizens

Karyn Cook, Chairperson of the Suffolk chapter of the Hampton Roads TEA Party sent me this yesterday. While many of us heard during the rushed budget debates that Suffolk was going to start charging us $18/month for trash pick up, how many property owners in Suffolk actually realized this?

"Yesterday I came home to find this huge blue "Property of the City of Suffolk" monster of a trash can (for recycling) in my driveway. It followed last week's delivery of a big green "City" monstrosity. I spoke to the City Refuse Manager this AM and told her I didn't order the cans and they are not practical for my use, living so far back off the road. I can dispose of my trash myself. Sure, if I want, but I will still be paying I'm told. OK, insult to injury: I find out what these undesired eyesores will cost me as well as every property owner in Suffolk: $210/year! Make it worse: On your real estate tax bill!! Of course you can imagine what happens when you don't pay your R.E. taxes...I think I've seen a few of those signs around town.. So, I'm guilty! I didn't examine the 2011-2012 Suffolk City budget line by line. I won't make that mistake ever again."

How many of us realized that the trash pickup charge was going to be added to our real estate taxes--allowing Suffolk to put a lean on our homes if we don't pay it? I didn’t. But that would be fair if Suffolk property owners could also put similar leans on the homes of City Council Members and the City Manager when they can't figure out how to live within a budget without jacking it up every year. News Flash: many of your constituents are on fixed incomes! Many don’t get annual raises—or even cost of living increases! A very high percentage of home owners are underwater on their mortgages for homes that are worth far less in 2011 than they were in 2007—even though City appraisals only reflect a fraction of the actual decline in market value! And as if you really didn't know, many more of us are out of work, working reduced hours, or getting paid less now than was the case just a couple of years ago.

And isn't this just one more reason to demand that the Suffolk City Manager put out her next city budget proposal at least 90 days before the Council schedules their first meeting to go over it? This annual game of sliding it out at the last legal minute and pushing Council Members up against a ticking clock to pass bad budgets has to end. No citizen showing up at a Public Meeting on the proposed new budget should ever hear a Council Member asking us to explain to them how to arrive at a balanced budget. After all, the only reason Suffolk has to schedule a Public Meeting on the Budget EVERY year in the first place is because Virginia Law requires that any municipality proposing a new budget that exceeds the current one by MORE THAN 1 PERCENT must do so. If Suffolk could live within it's means, the annual charade wouldn't be necessary! When Council Members have to ask their constituents for the keys to the Clue Locker before they can figure out how to spend less than the revenue coming in, something is very wrong! So give citizens a chance to help our elected officials perform the jobs that they admittedly aren't able to perform! Give us the proposed budget and time to look it over before bringing it up at the first Council working session!

IT'S PATHETIC: OBAMA COMPARES HIMSELF TO MLK Jr.

“We Forget When He Was Alive There Was Nobody More Vilified, More Controversial”. Wasn’t he a republican? Barrack, you are no MLK Jr.

Obama is delusional, but I too have a dream. Obama being impeached

Obama, the narcissist and chief also has likened himself to Lincoln. There could not be a more stark difference between him and Lincoln:

Lincoln said you can’t bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You can’t strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You can’t help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You can’t further the brotherhood of man by encouraging class hatred.
You can’t help the poor by destroying the rich.
You can’t keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.
You can’t build character and courage by taking away man’s initiative.
And you can’t help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves. *Obama’s leftist ideology essentially violates everyone of these principles handed down in the writings and speeches of a great president he wants to compare himself with.
Guest author AC

SO HE DOESN'T LIKE THE DECISION

 

So he doesn't like the decision. But what has Leroy done other than serving on various committees  Although surely there have been many or his fans  would not be satisfied. But to claim foul on the part of those who had the duty to determine what was fair and equitable was wrong. The city should stick to their guns if what they decided will stand up in a court. Perhaps the Mrs. Borough chief, his a partner should remain quiet on  the suggestion that race is a factor. There is little difference between 5-3 and 6-2 votes and if color does matter that much then what about the whites that like the change from status quo. It sure doesn't smell right if this one is changed.

AN ADDITION TO THE POST "NECESSARY CHANGES MADE TO "IS"

There have been many comments made, some good, some bad and a recent comment asked if there is  any record available of statements made in past comments to Posts. The answer is "yes." You can easily use the search engine located on the Home Page of "IS" on the right side of the page.  Type in, for example, Mike Duman or Mrs. Martin, wait a minute then go to the top of the Homepage,  where you will see comments that were made at the time of the Posts some time ago. Also, to refresh your  mind,  check the listing of Past Posts. "IS" hopes this will assist your search.

A NECESSARY CHANGE TO INSIDE SUFFOLK

YOUR  COMMENTS  DESERVE  RULES  AND YOUR POINTS  MADE  WITHOUT RACISM

 We encourage an open discussion with a wide range of viewpoints, even extreme ones, but we can do without racism, profanity or slanderous comments toward the author(s) or comment participants. Make your case passionately, but civilly. Stop the name-calling. Logical arguments supported by facts are far more effective, shows respect for your fellow readers, and garners positive judgments from even those who disagree with your position.  This site was created to encourage positive and interactive debates to lift public knowledge and, hopefully, support positive changes throughout our community while keeping what is working for us.  If your comment does not appear, it is likely because it violates the above policy.  We reserve the right to remove comments at our discretion. We encourage you to make your comments under your name or a blog name of your choice. This permits our readers to recognize those who enhance public discussions and remain on the lookout for future comments from those whose comments they have enjoyed reading in the past.  

We will do our best to enforce these “rules of comportment.”

WE CAN HARDLY WAIT TO GO BLUE

My neighbor's driveway is over 1500 feet long, enough to have two steep hills and a surface rough enough to loosen your teeth if you were to push or pull the blue 90 gallon bin to the street even half full of whatever will pass for reuseables. And I must pay over $200 each year for the privilege. I'm only 86 and our driveway only 800 feet and I have not walked that far in ten years. So we have a challenge facing us. But that's not the hard part, remembering what can't go in there. I realize you don't toss half of a  soggy left over cupcake in there but it  will take pernhap  months to avoid mistakes, upsetting the sorters  that make final decisions. I haven't yet heard about punitive damages, or any rules regarding limiting particular materials but I assume there are fixed rules. I just know this will be a grand experience. A few tips, that's no parts of a chicken ever goes in Blue can but the paper wrapping it came in may qualify. Steel cans go Blue but only after wasting water for rinsing sticky juices. Only empty beer bottles are recyclable, alcohol goes with paint cans and used oil.  We still don't know who gets the profit from sales of the recycled materials...city or  recycler. Lots of money there that could be used to reduce citizen cost.

WISE INDIAN SAY BEST TO GET OFF DEAD HORSE

However, in business and politics we often try other strategies for dealing with dead horses.

1. Buying a stronger whip.
2. Changing riders.
3. Saying things like "This is the way we always have ridden this horse."
4. Appointing a committee to study the horse.
5. Arranging to visit other sites to see how they ride dead horses.
6. Increasing the standards to ride dead horses.
7. Appointing a tiger team to revive the dead horse.
8. Creating a training session to increase our riding ability.
9. Comparing the state of dead horses in today's environment.
10. Pass legislation declaring that, "This horse is not dead."
11. Blaming the horses parents.
12. Harnessing several dead horses together for increased speed.
13. Declaring that "No horse is too dead to beat."
14. Providing additional funding to increase the horse's performance.
15. Do a Cost Analysis to see if contractors can ride it cheaper.
16  Procure a commercial design dead horse.
17. Declare the horse is "better, faster and cheaper" dead.
18. Form a quality circle to find uses for dead horses.
19. Revisit the performance requirements for horses.
20. Say this horse was procured with cost as an independent variable.
21. BRAC the horse farm on which it was born.
22. Promote the dead horse to a supervisory position

How long have you been riding a dead horse?      

IS SELENA TIGHTENING UP

Some charitable and other nonprofit organizations could be denied local tax-exempt status under a proposed policy change that is expected to come to the City Council this fall.
City Manager Selena Cuffee-Glenn plans to ask the council to revisit its policy for exempting such groups from real estate and personal property taxes, Deputy City Manager Patrick Roberts said. The exemptions cost the city more than $1.4 million a year.
"It has become increasingly important for all city organizations to cover their fair share of government service costs to the community, given the economic pressures that have confronted the city in recent years," Cuffee-Glenn wrote council members in a recent letter.

Would this include the   SCCA?

RIGHT OUT OF SNH HERE WE GO AGAIN

"Only three Suffolk schools met federal learning goals during the 2010-2011 school year, ranking the city at the bottom of the pack in Hampton Roads in terms of school achievement. According to reports released on Thursday, 84 percent of Suffolk schools failed to meet federal standards for adequate yearly progress toward the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act. The schools that made AYP were Hillpoint, Northern Shores and Oakland elementary schools. Deputy Superintendent Jacqueline Chavis said school officials are disappointed so many of the schools didn’t meet the federal standards.
“There are some disappointments because we know how hard the schools, the teachers, the students and the parents have worked,” she said. In order for a school to make AYP this year, 86 percent of its students must have shown proficiency on standards of learning tests for reading and 85 percent must have passed the math tests."

Are 15% of our students stupid or uncaring, or is there still something amiss with our teaching methods?

THE ACTUAL NUMBERS FACING US AND THE KIDS

If this doesn't simplify what these idiots (on both sides of the aisle) in Washington are doing, nothing will!

From the federal Budget Office ...

The U.S. Congress sets a federal budget every year in the trillions of dollars.
Few people know how much money that is so we created a breakdown of federal spending in simple terms. Let's put the 2011 federal budget into perspective:

* U.S. income: $2,170,000,000,000
* Federal budget: $3,820,000,000,000
* New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000
* National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
* Recent budget cut: $ 38,500,000,000 (about 1 percent of the budget)

It helps to think about these numbers in terms that we can relate to.
Let's remove eight zeros from these numbers and pretend this is the household budget for the fictitious Jones family.

* Total annual income for the Jones family: $21,700 * Amount of money the Jones family spent: $38,200 * Amount of new debt added to the credit card: $16,500 * Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710 * Amount cut from the budget: $385