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By Tom, on October 17th, 2009%
Several local paint suppliers have teamed up with Keep Albany Dougherty Beautiful and Albany Mayor Willie Adams to make November “Spruce up Albany” month. The paint stores will offer discounts, and the Herald article about it says “The overall purpose of the program is for those living in the Good Life City to feel better about themselves, and for visitors to get a good impression, officials say.”
Here’s a thought. If you want people to feel better about themselves and for visitors to get a good impression of Albany, why not focus on things that matter? Continue reading You want to know how to spruce Albany up?
By Tom, on August 12th, 2009%
In a recent conversation, a friend of mine pointed out that there were a lot of areas of local government I seem dead set against, but what was I in favor of? Seemed to me like a fair enough question, so why not lay it all out?
Let me preface this by saying I don’t pretend to understand every aspect of city government. I’m educated to some extent, and more so than most, but there were be aspects that might get missed.
My priority is public safety. Cops, and firemen are number one on my list, along with the equipment and training of course. These are people who are charged with keeping people safe and have had their brothers killed in the line of duty while living up to that charge. Maybe it’s just me, but they earned that number one spot to me.
Next, I have to put courts and jails. An efficient court system needs to function to deal with those who break the laws of this town. Jails, obviously, are there for dealing with these law breakers. Without them, we’d have criminals running the streets and frankly, we’ve got enough there already. Of course, most courts are funded with state dollars, not local, but still…this has got to be a priority.
After this, I classify roads as being one of the biggies. Good quality roads are needed not just so people can get to work, but so emergency vehicles can get to the injured and for commerce to proceed efficiently. Bad roads may well deter new businesses from opening in the area. Besides, no one wants to ride on bumpy roads.
After that, public records are important. Since our society is set up to depend on government maintained records, we need to ensure that the offices that deal with those are good to go. Appropriate staffing, state of the art technology, whatever.
And next? That’s it. We can argue about what the city should provide or not, but these are the minimum I can think of right off the top of my head. Obviously, this list may not be what you would think. That’s cool. In fact, I urge you to convince me on other aspects that should be on this list.
Keep in mind, this is for a stripped down government. Personally, I’d rather offer less and it be the best than offer more and it all pretty much suck. But I’m open to be convinced. Inquiring minds want to know after all! Besides, I may well have missed something that should be there by my own reckoning!
By Tom, on August 10th, 2009%
In an effort to try and be a bit more positive about Albany, I figured it’s time to start discussing how we can really put the “good life” back into the Good Life City. Let’s just make a few assumptions, just for the sake of argument. First, let’s assume that the corruption in Albany is minimized to a point where it’s at least consistent with the average American town of similar size. Ridding it would be ideal, but let’s be realistic. Let’s not assume that I-85 will ever come to Albany as well. While it sounds good, and I personally would actually be thrilled with the boost Albany would get, there’s no guarantee that it’ll happen.
So, what should we do? Continue reading Bringing the “good life” back to the Good Life City
By Tom, on June 2nd, 2009%
It’s kind of sad that a restaurant’s closing can generate the kind of news that San Joe’s has this week. From WALB to the Albany Herald, it’s a story that people seem interested in. It’s also a sign of what will continue to hurt downtown Albany. Continue reading San Joe’s A Sign For Downtown
By Tom, on May 20th, 2009%
With the new moratorium on property tax assessments, WALB is reporting that the City’s tax base could drop $1.6 million since there can be no reassessment of property values and thereby increase in tax revenue. Continue reading Must Be “New Math” Or Something
By Tom, on May 20th, 2009%
Recently, I posted about the City of Albany’s skewed priorities toward making Albany a better place to live and work. Number two on the city’s priorities listing is, “Improve City beautification and Code Enforcement efforts.” It might be nice if the city started with their own property, don’t you think? Continue reading Clean Your Own House First
By Jeff, on May 10th, 2009%
Two weeks ago today, Carlton Fletcher wrote an article in the Albany Herald with a quote from State Senator Freddie Sims that was critical of blogs/bloggers, and I responded.
Today, Fletcher responded to my response via his latest column, in which he states
Sound bites can certainly get your attention, but an edited three-second remark is not going to add a lot of depth to a news story. Neither is a dashed-off ‘blog’ based on what someone sitting at a computer terminal all day thinks or has heard. This is not professional jealousy; it’s statement of fact.
There are people who are going to rely on the sound bites, who are going to want to log on and share their opinions with fellow bloggers. But I’ll put my trust in a reporter who goes out and digs around in the muck a bit, who talks to more than the usual suspects to try and find the nuts and bolts of a story … and there are still a few such individuals left in this business.
I have nothing against computer folks and TV news people – Jeff Sexton does a good job with his SWGA Politics blog and Len Kiese and Ashley Knight are actually quite good TV reporters – but if part of your job description is ‘getting your makeup right,’ I’m not going to bank on the depth of your ‘reporting’.
Since he never responded to me privately, I’m not going to respond to him privately, and my response to these statements is below the fold.
[Continue Reading]
By Publius, on April 17th, 2009%
The following was sent to us. Feel free to email us anytime at swgapolitics@gmail.com!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 17, 2009
CONTACT: Mike Sabot
msa651@msn.com
Guest speaker Senator Johnny Isakson at the 2nd GOP District Presidential Dinner to be held tonight, beginning at 6 pm, at Thronateeska Heritage Museum & Wetherbee Planetarium in Albany Ga., will be the recipient of the April 15th Leesburg Tax Day Tea Party proceeds.
More than 1500 tea bags were paid as admission price to the event attended by between 500 and 700 individuals from places as far away as Florida and Oklahoma. Attendance sheets signed by more than 480 attenees will also be presented. Many individuals declined to sign due to fear of Government retrobution.
Senator Isakson will be ask to return the proceeds to congress, with a demand that they begin to listen to the wishes of the people.
Note: Due to Government regulations and fears of WMD, only the Tea tags will be use.
By Tom, on April 9th, 2009%
First, let me start this post by saying I’m not much of a drinker anymore. I used to, like most folks I suspect, get pretty tanked in my younger days, but that was then and this is now. Now, with that said, I believe it’s time to press the cities, counties, and states to repeal all of the so-called “blue” laws and I’m also going to tell you why.
First, as I pointed out here in the case of Connections Church, these laws actually reflect a bias towards certain Christian denominations. Many others have no prohibition against alcohol. But, in the case of Georgia and our laws toward liquor sales on Sunday, they ignore denominations that that have a different sabbath, such as Seventh Day Adventists who’s sabbath (IIRC) is from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. Continue reading Why “Blue” Laws Have To Go
By Tom, on April 8th, 2009%
Since City Manager unveiled his new budget yesterday, I thought I’d post a few suggestions on how to streamline that budget so that property taxes won’t have to be increased, and my Libertarian sensibilities won’t be offended any further with all the extras that the city puts out that government has no place involved in. Early today, I made a suggestion about the Flint Riverquarium, or as I call it, The Albatross (TM). The idea of privatization can work in other ways as well. Continue reading Streamlining the Budget
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