tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12703782.post74009606815210711..comments2024-03-25T13:42:25.771-05:00Comments on Advance Indianaâ„¢: What If?Gary R. Welshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15185079937305083438noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12703782.post-85539184287217656742010-04-30T19:23:40.914-05:002010-04-30T19:23:40.914-05:00So sorry to read here that the council may go alon...So sorry to read here that the council may go along with the mayor, and pass this 'sale', which is as AI here reports. One more loss!Marycatherine Bartonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14674049191412285346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12703782.post-44184788588871859072010-04-28T10:39:26.234-05:002010-04-28T10:39:26.234-05:00I think the average person, yelling at their Congr...I think the average person, yelling at their Congressman in town halls or waving signs at a protest gathering, is also yowling for transparency in government. It's not that sidewalk and street repairs aren't badly needed. It's not that having a basketball team isn't fun when it's affordable. It's that all manner of solutions to all our problems are not to be done from the sale of THE WATER COMPANY.<br /><br />Why can't there be separate financial accounting for street repair and professional sports teams facilities? If you want the public to trust you, shoot them straight with upfront finances.<br /><br />I've got a sign in my front yard that says I'm supposed to be happy that my school district isn't raising taxes. I am. But, I'm unhappy that the temporary fix is to roll funds from one budget to another. <br /><br />How do we ever trust government, make sound decisions to vote for somebody or fund something, when they're constantly funded from rollovers from this or that? When do we get to the part when we say, "The budget is empty. What do you want to do next?"- instead of these Three-card Monte obfuscations?<br /><br />Do you want your kid to bring home the bad papers with the poor grades? Don't you really need to face-up to the total, complete, unvarnished truth on how the child's doing in school to make the best decisions? You really don't want to hear, "Oh, but I can bring that grade up with the next test", when you don't have the whole story on HOW their grade got so low that they need to bring it "up with the next test".<br /><br />Keep the services separate. Keep the accounting simple. Most importantly, tell us the truth!dcrutchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12856825454020971907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12703782.post-14207701595541758592010-04-27T20:35:00.761-05:002010-04-27T20:35:00.761-05:00Obviously, the street and sidewalk stuff is only t...Obviously, the street and sidewalk stuff is only to establish some 'see what I did' campaign talking points.<br /><br />What they are proposing to throw at streets and sidewalks isn't enough to scratch the surface for what NEEDS to be done.<br /><br />Besides, how many streets and sidewalks are going to be ripped out and replaced as the mandated sewer upgrades occur? Do we want to put in some new streets and sidewalks, then have to pay to do it all again in a couple years?Downtown Indyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06239811599722585898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12703782.post-79565728477731030592010-04-27T20:09:48.576-05:002010-04-27T20:09:48.576-05:00I've suggested as much to friends and was prep...I've suggested as much to friends and was preparing to write my councilor - to let her know that if anything happens it should be a straight transfer - it is not much different than moving duties to another city department. Any money changing hands is theft and the money will likely be wasted on unnecessary and poorly executed projects anyway.Citizen Kanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17083803017411939029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12703782.post-4966961650020295712010-04-27T19:54:46.307-05:002010-04-27T19:54:46.307-05:00I consider them pork barrel projects because we ar...I consider them pork barrel projects because we are selling off valuable city assets to pave streets and build sidewalks. That's not how we typically fund these kinds of capital improvements. Ballard is essentially trading off higher utility rates for hundreds of millions of dollars worth of capital improvements today, not to mention control of those utilities.Gary R. Welshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15185079937305083438noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12703782.post-82338130909074065062010-04-27T19:45:35.621-05:002010-04-27T19:45:35.621-05:00Not disagreeing with everything you say, but are s...Not disagreeing with everything you say, but are sidewalk and sewer repair and the infrastructure backbone of the city the same as "pork barrel"?interestedpartyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03135377256153538514noreply@blogger.com