It's Freezing Out There

Social media is lighting up with deluges of disinformation around city taxation as we have intentionally entered the overspend zone. Yet again. 

One of the key topics coming from the "spend then tax" crowd is that damned legal document known as the city charter. Seems when this fuster cluck was being sold to the electorate the pro-city folks included a maximum millage rate in the charter. The pitch at the time was this would guarantee we'd not end up with out of control spending and taxing, and since everybody agreed THIS city would be fiscally responsible (wink, wink) it wouldn't ever be an issue. Until it is. Like now. Another interesting deception coming from this crowd spins around the word "invest," as in "invest in the city." Sounds good, right? Problem is none of these lip flappers can can actually show how this so-called "investment" actually pays off. They also fail to mention that these "investments" come with ongoing operational costs for security and maintenance. Who's going to pay to keep these twelve foot wide "investments" clean and safe? Oh, yeah, that would be us, the taxpayers. So they are really "investing" in a future of never ending tax increases.

Another deception centers around the property valuation freeze. Left out of these hyperbolic complaints is the fact that this freeze only applies to homestead properties, which, in the state of Georgia, means you must own the property and it must be your primary residence. Interesting side effect: if you're also a citizen it makes you eligible to become a voter. In the city. Ooops. What this set of whiners neglects to point out, front and center, is that commercial properties, including rental properties, are NOT homestead properties. No freeze for these. Just never ending backdoor tax hikes. This might explain why the city has become a proponent of apartments everywhere. The other fact that gets buried is that when a home sells, it is marked to market. Per Rocket Homes, this includes 43 homes sold in August alone (in July the number was 51). So the freeze gets thawed and the city sees a huge jump in a sold property's valuation. Cha-ching. Maybe that's why the try so hard to piss off long term residents. To get them to sell out and move on.

These folks absolutely refuse to entertain the notion of cost containment. They won't even consider slowing the rate at which they balloon city spending. It is as if the world will implode if they don't spend at least 5% more each and every year. Heaven forbid someone should question why a city of this size needs an assistant city manager. Really? They do like to compare Dunwoody to other cities. Notably those in other counties, and cities which by any objective measure are not comparable. They want everyone to share their fear of missing out but they seem terrified of being ourselves. 

Why is that? Because these folks have no vision but they do have an excess of envy.  So when they see someone else getting something, anything, even if it is inappropriate for Dunwoody, well they lust after it. Not because it is any good, but simply because somebody else has something they don't. It is easily mistaken for a herd mentality but it is far worse. It is greed and jealousy. 

This is why we need to "right size" city government. And "right" means smaller.

Hit By A Truck

Wasn't Going To Be Enforced Anyway

Schoolhouse Brats

Parents know how enervating it can be to stay on top of children's propensity to misbehavior. Sometimes you're just too drained to intervene. But this leads to the same end as encouraging the bad behavior and at that point the only option is the nuclear option. Drastic, even harsh, action is required.

And so it is with public schools. The edu-industry has been running feral for some time, quite a while longer than the general population knew. They've been feeling their oats, pushing indoctrination while abandoning and weaponizing semantic machinations in their own defense. Parents have had enough.

Parents may be patsies but they're not (all) stupid. They know their school boards are ineffective at best, sometimes harmful other times even worse. When they're on their good behavior they are restricted to approving contracts that bureaucrats set before them, hiring a superintendent with a contract the board did not write and setting policy, whatever that is. And it just so happens these three are insufficient to discipline our out-of-control public education systems. 

Previously Quiet Moms have found a good stick to beat the lovely lady: money. By way of elected official who wield real power, manifest in money flowing from the state coffers to public school bureaucrats, parents have found a way to demonstrate to these wayward brats who is actually in charge. In charge of their children's education, in charge of their moral upbringing and in charge of the schoolhouse. The edu-industry hates this and "open" letters signed by superintendents have ensued. They are right to be alarmed as this is an existential threat. And a very real one. Might be time for them to behave and for many of them to begone.

Snail Mail Voting

The only folks who think mail voting is a good idea are those made in the mold of Stacey Abrams who need fodder for their pontifications and lawsuits. Keep in mind that when voter registration was available using technology ensuring completion of the forms it was Abrams' groups that insisted on paper. Why? Because when these were incomplete and/or incorrect they immediately became evidence of malfeasance and voter suppression. At least in their minds. 

And so it will go with USPS mailed ballots. These are sure to get lost, misdirected or delivered too late. And the very same twits that advocate this mechanism will pounce, screaming discrimination and abuse. And how can we be certain? Easy. Even without the sudden flood of millions of ballots the USPS seems to be incompetent at their only job: delivery. Below is a screen capture of their tracking of a car part shipped from Jacksonville FL to Dunwoody GA. Somehow once arriving in the A-T-L it was routed by the twits' choice to San Francisco. Yep, that's right, the folks who invented the ZIP code apparently cannot figure out how to use them. 

San Fran: Shortest Distance Between ATL and Dunwoody

Now, given the current political climate and (non)support for the USPS coming out of DC it is entirely believable that some ballots might be more likely to get "misplaced" than others. But Abrams isn't likely to ever bring that up. No matter who wins, if the USPS is involved in ballot security the loser will claim a corruption that invalidates the vote.

Another Disappeared

Education Is Bankrupt

The AJC reports that Rudy Crew and 67 others applied for the job as Superintendent of DeKalb schools. And Crew was the clear winner. Really?

Let's review some key facts:

• Crew has not been a superintendent in over 12 years
• Crew left district leadership for a statewide public education position
• Crew left K-12 education for a leadership role at an urban college
• Crew has been accused of APS-calibre score manipulation
• Crew has been accused of financial mis-appropriation
• Crew has been accused of obstructing auditors and investigators

We are somehow to believe this is the track record best suited to lead DeKalb schools. It is now time for those who advocated for Crew to fully disclose in a quantifiable, score-able fashion, those qualities they saw in this candidate that not only overcame, in their judgment, these obvious handicaps but also made him superior to 67 other applicants. Otherwise we are left to conclude that the education system is fatally flawed, incapable of producing leaders of great capabilities and great integrity. Or perhaps it is not humanly possible to lead a system of this size and it is time break the problem, and the system, down into more manageable components.

Another DCSD "Surprise"

Here's a shocker: a DCSD IT project has gone pear shaped. IT projects for government, especially government schools, are notorious minefields of graft and incompetence. After all, computer technology is one of the few things you can do right out of prison. Sometimes just before.

Not trusting that their selected IT firm would overcharge and blow up the schedule they insisted on NOT using that firm's management methodology, instead relying upon their own. What could possibly go wrong? Apparently pretty much everything.

Keep in mind that after pouring eSPLOST money down this and other rat holes, these same incompetents are asking you to approve a General Obligation bond. Sadly, having approved so many eSPLOSTs it is difficult to believe you won't approve this as well. 

The Real, Stupid News

The AJC doth protest too much.

Credible? Compelling? Complete? Really?

Credible? More like incredible. Compelling? Well, incessant, embedded editorializing only goes so far. Complete? Really? More like completely contradictory:

Which is it? 41? Or 44?

By the numbers? Wow! In just a couple square inches of ink the AJC has undermined all the credibility they claim. If they cannot get these simple facts straight how can any thinking creature believe that the editorial screeds masquerading as "real news" in any way resemble informed opinions? Hold this up against their current rants about real news and journalism alongside their forced admission of engaging in a media frenzy that destroyed Richard Jewell's reputation. For the AJC, facts have always been elusive. 

Graduation Chazerai

DeKalb County Schools hold their graduation ceremony enmasse and consequently NOT in DeKalb County as there is no venue large enough and, at least this year, not on the usual date as the GWC was booked. Oops. This has some parents pretty darn upset with some suggesting having a separate graduation ceremony and location per high school. Others have floated the radical and unacceptable idea of holding graduations in churches. Definite no-no.

But all the hubbub raises an obvious question: are school systems in Georgia mandated by law to hold commencement ceremonies? Probably not. So the obvious solution is to dispense with whole Cluster-Eff this meaningless party has become. Just mail out the diplomas. In fact, there is some evidence you can mail them out at the beginning of the year. Year over year the credibility of the diploma has eroded so the end of school party is really just that: a party.

So why not let the folks who want to party hold their own party? That's right. Get rid of the school hosted graduation ceremonies and let interested parents organize and host their own. Maybe thru their own church or other local organizations. Once the government hand is off the till there is no church-state issue, opening up access to a large number of mega-churches. Maybe New Birth will have a re-birth.

Eliminating school system ceremonies like this will free that much more money to spend in the classroom, where it should be spent. Who wants to bet that is what Dr. Green's Machine is going to do?

Dunwoody Refurb

Recently the Blue Bag Rag reported our Mayor lecturing on the relative cost benefits of refurbishing existing buildings rather than doing a teardown-rebuild:

Mayor Denis Shortal said that space in Dunwoody is expensive, hard to find and would have to be built. To refurbish is usually cheaper than to build from scratch, Shortal said.

This was true when the theatre at Brook Run was torn down and it is true now. We didn't need to spend tax dollars on a consultant to tell us that. We didn't need to spend money tearing down a theatre but since we did let's not waste money building another one. Let's accept the reality, as demonstrated by a six to one vote, that this city had no compelling interest in the arts.

If council have changed their minds, individually or collectively, voters deserve an accounting.  And council deserves to be shown the door. 

Signs Of The Times

Sure. Sure. It IS still a crosswalk even without the sign. 

No Sign At Dunwoody Road

But you simply have to pause and ponder: What the hell does this city do with our money?

No Sign At Stroll The Knoll

And the cops might do something but between gratuitous meals and violating Constitutional rights they are kinda busy down at Perimeter City. 

Permit THIS

The local chapter of our intrusive permission society headquartered at City Hall demands permits to replace your shingles requiring the installation of a silly drip rail. Why? Because they can. But if this City were for the public good, if it were to improve and preserve the community there is something to do.

If you want to intrude on resident's property rights, and you do, why not require owners control invasive, non-native plant species? Particularly those that are destructive. Think kudzu and english ivy. Sound like too much? Really?

We have a tree ordinance restricting what you can do with "your" trees. We banned chickens until the Girls Scouts wagged a finger at Council. Really--that's the kind of leadership this City offers. So why can we not protect those same trees from a slow death by ivy as we do from the faster death by chainsaw? Do we need to call out the Boy Scouts?

And there are real, public health and safety risks. Ivy provides a safe haven for snakes and is breeding ground for mosquitoes. If you're Mister Mister that is great for business, but if you really care the least little bit about public safety and have ever heard of Lime Disease then Dunwoody's current [non]policy is like encouraging folks to stack old tires in their yard to bolster the vermin population.

Maybe the Smart City hasn't figured out an effective way to monetize public safety. Or maybe it is too much work. Or maybe, just maybe, they really don't care. 

DeKalb Negotiators

When it comes to the upcoming annexation of Emory, Inc. into the City of Atlanta, DeKalb fancies itself a Trump-like, Art of the Deal negotiator. The Commissions top dog, who must be coming up for election, toots their horn thusly:

“The idea was to make sure that our citizens are being protected,” said Gannon, the commission’s presiding officer. “We had to raise those concerns in good conscience.”

Protected? From? Concerns? Really? Here's what she was able to deliver:

The agreement grants several concessions to the county. The city will pay $1 million a year for up to a decade for county firefighting services, adopt the county’s zoning restrictions on development and tall buildings for a year, and require a public meeting on MARTA’s transportation plans.

For up to a decade is an interesting qualifier. Turns out one year fits that definition. As does one month. And nearby residents are protected from the overbearing shade of tall buildings for an entire year. Twelve full months. And MARTA is going to have a public meeting on their transportation plans. Now this seems odd if only because both Fulton and DeKalb and therefore the City of Atlanta are charter members of the MARTA Tax Club.

What no one seems willing to discuss is the transfer of a significant tax based from the County to the City. What tax base you say? Isn't Emory, Inc. tax exempt paying no property tax? Indeed. However they do pay franchise fees and given their power bill that ain't chump change. More important is the occupation tax which is essentially an income tax paid either to the county or, should there be one, the city. Annexation moved these taxes from DeKalb's account to Atlanta's with nary a peep from DeKalb's "leaders." 

Home Wine Delivery

Hot on the heals of City Hall working aggressively to ensure that a Friend of the Family exercise emporium can likker up exhausted electrolyte depleted patrons we now find they are leveraging their "don't ask, don't tell" policy in support of home delivery of fine wines.

See Truck. See Sign. See Truck Go.

After all this IS Dunwoody, founded on the Three P's: Parks, Paving and most importantly POLICE. Certainly our ever-growing Police force would be enforcing a no-truck zone as those trucks also tear up the Pavement. Stopping in, between international trips, our chief concluded "the speeding and/or truck problem appears to be sporadic" so they're just not going to enforce in that area. Sadly that may mean that wine is not being delivered in DaVille and this is just another "sporadic" thru-truck. Just another "hear no evil, see no evil, fix no evil" from a City Hall that puts any business before every citizen. 

Test Water, Not Kids

Because testing water shows that someone else isn't doing their job and testing kids shows that Public Schools aren't doing their own job. Because that's the best our Public Schools can do.

Ask The Right Questions

The Fourth Estate has been dropping the ball regarding questions.

Case in point is the recent screw-up around the Secretary of State's release of our personal data. These bozos handed out all the data necessary for bad actors to steal your identity so if you've not done so already you might want to freeze your credit.

And what is the reaction from media? Well, they want information on the chats the SoS had with recipients who have returned or destroyed the data. Wink, wink. Nod, nod. Media attention has resulted in the Secretary issuing a promise of credit monitoring (so you know when you've been robbed) but has done little to offer insight into the SoS's Oh Shit! moments.

A bigger problem is that media are not asking the right questions.

The scape goat who was fired ratted out the process causing the security breach and in so doing did a little name dropping. Turns out this work is not done BY the Secretary of State's office but is actually done FOR them. By a yankee company: PCC Technology Group. These people, whoever they are, already have access to all the data required to manufacture the security breach and probably much, much more. That is where the questioning should begin.

Just who are these people? What security clearances (or even certifications) do they have? Background checks? Does the company outsource or offshore any activities? How are data transferred to and from their systems and how do we know it is secure? Is it link security? Are log files secured? Where are the data REALLY stored? "The Cloud?" Where is it processed? How is access authentication implemented and how are accesses logged and monitored? What security reports are delivered to SoS? What security audits are performed, how often and who initiates and pays for them?

Have the Secretary of State resign and then what do we do? Government has systemic problems often caused by a blind rush to outsource their work and our security to crony companies and those are the problems that need investigation.

Stumpy

If you remember way back when...when the buzz in daVille was all about a park with pavement and a parkway without (or at least with less) then you may also remember the wringing of hands over the loss of trees. Collateral damage due to the annihilation of the median where they were growing. We were told this cost was easily justified as a small sacrifice to build bike lanes for Torpy's One Percent*. We were also told that trees are the ultimate renewable resource. Funny how that's not being said to slash and burn farmers in the rain forests of South America.

But back to renewables. As it turns out these trees are quite renewable. A full six have been renewed down to mere stumps

with another ten standing brown and dead awaiting the arborist's axe. This represents a significant DOA rate, perhaps as high as thirty to forty percent. With that kind of failure we will be renewing these resources for some time before we see any shade on those sidewalks.

The City's stump generation program suggests that Smart City Staff did not obtain these renewables with any reasonable guarantee. You know, like what most folks get when they buy from a reputable nursery. Maybe they were too focused on getting pavement and sidewalk contracts to the right folks to realize if you don't get a warrantee you are likely to get selections most in need of one. Seems like the closest they ever got to anything having to do with trees was sipping Champagne with execs from Treetop.

But that was Staff operating under the direction and supervision of an unlamented former City Manager. Now we have a bloke smart enough to get into Georgia Tech and with the work ethic needed to cross the stage and pick up his diploma so there is a good chance we'll have some renewables renewed before next summer.





*Bill Torpy's At Large is behind the AJC's Pay Wall.

Shut Down The TSA

Pretend airport security is "math" and admit we're just "not good at it." It's OK, no one really uses airport security in the real world anyway. Just look at the TSA, they had all that security training and then what happens on the "real" job? 95% failure rate. Security? Just a word they like to use.

Consider this. Suppose the TSA were 95% effective at detecting and stopping the faux threats presented in the latest audit. Pretty good, right? Wrong. 95% effective is 5% fail. That means 100 terrorists presenting a simplistic, direct attack on these "defenses" would succeed five times. That would be five planes at risk. That would be five more twin towers disasters. That would be five nuclear power plants spewing the toxic snow of our nuclear winter.

Or perhaps it would just be five plane crashes, or five planes taken out by our F-16's. That's OK, isn't it?

But the TSA isn't 95% effective, it is only 5% effective. Calls to "fix the TSA" are insane. This is not a car that needs a new battery, this is a car where the battery is the only thing that works. You do not throw even more money down this rat hole, you act on the facts and admit that TSA is little more than a jobs program for a specific demographic that puts on a (rather offensive) show but offers no meaningful value. But does so at enormous costs in money and erosion of our privacy and liberty. It is time to recognize that facts prove that the TSA IS the terrorists' victory and shut it down.

Shaggin' Wood

Under the boardwalk, down by the sea, yeah
On a blanket with my baby, that's where I'll be

out of the sun
[under the boardwalk]we'll be havin' some fun
[under the boardwalk]people walkin' above
[under the boardwalk]we'll be makin' love
Under the boardwalk, boardwalk!

Looks like we got some real shag lessons goin' on down at City Hall and the Poh-Leece is planning to shag their way on over to Myrtle Beach for an annual City-paid holiday. That's right, the Police Chief wants to build into our budget a junket for select officers to attend Bike Week at Myrtle Beach each and every summer. Now of course he is trying to fly this under the radar as "providing assistance" and promises it will be reciprocal. Yeah, right. Like Myrtle Beach is going to send over help for the Arts Festival or Lemonade Days--who wouldn't want to leave the Carolina coast for that? Or maybe they'll send someone who doesn't sell his badge for cars and trips. Or maybe the psychology is based on the belief that if we GIVE them a vacation they won't feel the need to parlay trust for tickets.

And you have to wonder, is Billy's Brigade going to fire up that APC and see if it is seaworthy or are they going to convoy all those nice new Police SUV's? Or is the host city going to provide our boys with all the recreational toys they'll ever want? Part of a reciprocal agreement where we let them cut donuts in the dog park with our ATV?

If our force is as understaffed as we're told every time Billy wants to expand then maybe we should be keeping these necessary members of our Police, charged with maintaining our OUR safety, close to home instead of sending them off on a junket, no matter how nice the destination. Seems like Billy should be solving cold-case murders, improving employee screening and moderating his hypocritical justifications for budget expansion rather than shaggin' the Citizens Of Dunwoody.

And it appears our new City Manager has another data point indicating an upgrade of Police leadership is past due. 

Hall Effect

No, not THAT Hall Effect. We're talking about the now infamous test cheating scandal whirling about the now deceased Beverly Hall. That Hall Effect.

Most pundits are pondering her legacy. Will it be "Cheater in Chief?" Or will hollow excuses about how she didn't conspire, perhaps didn't even know (willingly or not) paint a prettier picture? Or will this be countered with "if she didn't know she should have," implying she raised the Peter Principle to levels that cannot be explained even by the Black At All Costs policy metastasizing in our neo-Urban PC public schools?

But it isn't about her legacy. There are much more important things going on here.

First there is the "perception of" culture that permeates government at all levels but is most odious in public education where one would expect facts, and knowledge thereof, to be highly prized. These days when it comes to public service (which is EXACTLY what public schools are alleged to be) reality no longer plays a part as it has been deliberately displaced by the "perception of" some reality. How many times have you heard a teacher or principal tout the wonderful education your child is receiving at their hands even when every objective fact tells you exactly the opposite? Why do they do this? Because it is significantly easier to convince a parent of an easily outed falsehood than to actually deliver on an educational commitment. And they've become so adept at the former and incompetent at the latter that in today's schools there really is no other viable option. Hence Bev's pre-retirement predicament.

Then there is the bureaucratic pyramid where success is defined by outrageous compensation, self-serving awards from your "peers" and undeserved ovations from your bosses for doing little more that putting as much distance as possible between yourself and the service your organization is supposed to deliver. In this regard it isn't about Cheaters Hall at all. It is about the fact that society has constructed a system that can do little else but create the likes of a Beverly Hall and given the very existence, let alone actions of the Blue Ribbon Committee we have become a society that will accept nothing else.

Perhaps there is something to be learned from the so-called not-for-profit sector. Remember William Aramony? The former head of United Way convicted for all sorts of malfeasance--rumored to be only the tip of the iceberg? Sound familiar? The one positive that came of all the bad behaviour permeating the not-for-profit industry, and like education it IS an industry, is that the public took notice and established watchdog organizations tracking how much of the money taken in goes out to benefit of the stated cause and how much is doled out in "administration." When you examine the cozy relationship  not-for-profits have with business executives who earn gold stars for "employee participation" then the fact that schools (unlike not-for-profits) are taxing authorities becomes an irrelevant distinction. Do parents have the courage to look under the highly polished rock of their children's schooling? Do they dare stare down the harsh truths and actually do something about them? Or, are the Bev's of the world right that parents much prefer a warm, fuzzy "perception?"

You may not like it but so far the facts suggest that Beverly Hall knew us better than we knew her and much better than we know ourselves.