What's On A Website?

Have you used the city's website? Lately? Pretty slim pickings, eh?

If you need proof, cruise on over to the calendar, search for the upcoming special called meeting being held at Vintage Pizza and click on that link. Now muddle around to get to the agenda. Three items: Call To Order;  Dunwoody Village Planning Discussion; and Adjournment. For funsies click on the Planning Discussion for item details. Spoiler alert: all you will get is "Dunwoody Village Planning Discussion." Maybe if they cannot post a proper agenda and meeting materials they shouldn't be having this meeting. Not now. But, it would be worth attending just to see how much alcohol is involved in the "planning" that goes on in this city.

If that didn't steam your broccoli check out the PD request for public feed back. The online form is "unobvious" and once you get there it is far from a solicitation of your views and opinions. Instead it is limited to two questions: what are we doing great; and where could we improve? And before you submit you must agree to "Terms and Conditions" which you can read before you submit by clicking a link. Or can you? You will get a pop up window with this text: "By using the Social Pinpoint Mapping Tool you are taken to have accepted these Terms and Conditions set out below." Only one problem...there is nothing below. So does that mean there are NO T's and C's? Or are they just lying about their existence and hiding the details? At least the survey is operating as well as anything else in this city and definitely NOT at internet speed.

Mystery Solved

You know all those dump trucks barreling through the Village and blasting past Austin? No? Really? What, are you on city council?

Turns out this isn't just the Dunwoody PD and City Manager's refusal to enforce our laws, it is quite a bit worse. These trucks were hauling away asphalt from road milling prior to repaving. That's right. City Hall not only refuses to enforce traffic laws they are actually paying to have them violated. 

Only in Dunwoody.

Any Day, Most Of The Day

Want to see what is rotten in the state of Dunwoody? It is really very, very easy to do. Just go to the intersection of Roberts and Chamblee-Dunwoody, stand right next to one of the "No Trucks" signs that clearly indicate that trucks are not allowed on either of these roads north of that intersection. And truck drivers don't even need to be literate because these signs include the comic book version.

And just what will you see while you're standing there? For years now you'd see all manner of illegal truck traffic making deliveries to daVille. But now? You'll see convoys of illegal dump truck traffic. There are many times you will have three or more of these trucks within view. And this starts before 7AM and continues pretty much all day. 

And they're not moving slowly. They barrel past Austin and blast through the village. In fact they're not going to the village proper they're actually going much closer to I-285 than to the Northridge GA-400 exit. That's right. They could exit from I-285, a closer exit and be legal. But they don't.

If you stand there long enough you might even notice a Dunwoody Patrol SUV. What you will not see, not ever, is that police officer  enforcing the law and ticketing these offenders. They've been told to stand down.

Not all that long ago Dunwoody's Top Cop sent a complaining resident an email (so it is discoverable) basically saying there were not enough violations to justify the cost of enforcement. So much to unpack, but let's revisit. Suppose a patrol officer has a W-2 salary of  $52K per year and the burdened cost is three times that. So the city is paying $3K per week for a patrol officer. That's $600 per day. Now if you stand at that intersectiton for just an hour you will see 15-20 violations and if only $100 per violation our Top Cop is making a hefty profit. Maybe enough to pay for another junket to the Holy Land. 

So this isn't about the money. This is about a city hall filled with bureaucrats who disrespect the residents and their own ordinances. They only care about one thing: the developers and business to whom they are beholden.

Takin' CARES Of Bidness

In yet another classic DeKalb County School District cock-up we find they spent CARES Act money...wait for it...on themselves! Specifically bonuses handed out to bureaucratic drones in Human Resources, a department that has been all to frequently noted for botching the vetting and hiring process of everyone from classroom teachers to superintendents. But the rationalization for these bonuses was not that "a job well done" but a job that required excessive hours. Not that they are incapable of delivering 40 hours of work in a 40 hour week. Nope, it is the pandemic, because, you know, you still gotta get yer HR on even with CoVid. 

Now you really gotta wonder: are these bureaucrats exempt employees? In the real world that puts you in a gitterdun category and if circumstances dictate this requires more than 40 hours or weekend work, well then that's what you do. And if bonuses get passed out it is because you or your team made a substantial, measurable contribution. Make dollars to get dollars. Obviously, that is not the way public schools work, if for no other reason than competition is their kryptonite. Equally obvious is that this is not the way a public service should operate either.

The Nerve

Dunwoody has THIS in an email:

Coming from a city that openly violates its very own sign ordinances this shows some nerve. But this treatment is reserved exclusively for the people who live here. For businesses they'll condone, nay sanction, anything they want to do--to hell with the community.

And where are the seven dwarfs? Probably wondering how they can INCREASE the visual pollution around this town.

Auditing Rodney Dangerfield's Tax Return

Stan da Man is on his way out the door and if you cruise on over to his blog and read the comments you may guess he's leaving relieved. It is amazing that the man gets such insults hurled his direction on his own blog. He don't get no respect. And there is no end to the irony of the insult hurlers claiming they get no respect, but of course that is almost always wrapped around the issue of pay. In these times it comes down to "they don't pay me enough for this," whatever "this" happens to be in the moment. Pandemic comes to mind.

But it begs the question, raised by one commentator who felt a spreadsheet might help, of "what are they paid?" Because these are government employees in a public school much of the compensation information is publicly available making modeling relatively straightforward. There remain some uncertainties in the overall compensation package, especially healthcare selection (with employer contribution) or employee selection of pre-tax (subsidized) 403b contributions. Pay and planned increases are readily available. The Teachers' Retirement System is equally well understood. There is also the Public School Employees Retirement System and contributions to a 403b can be modeled, though with less accuracy. 

So let's get started. 

Let's propose a straw-person teacher with a bachelor degree and freshly minted teaching certificate, starting out at age 25 who will then work for 40 years retiring at age 65. Ignoring likely inflation adjustments to the pay scale, this enthusiastic youngster will start at $49,400.84 and will end at $71,614.47 amassing a total pay of $2,605,146.58 over that career. Now that is total, top-line pay, not net and far from total lifetime compensation. Total lifetime compensation must include retirement plans. But how best to do that? Let's assume that this teacher retires at 65 and lives another 20 years to age 85. You gotta pick something and this is important because TRS is a defined benefit plan and is non-optional. Let's dig into that first. 

TRS is required and costs the employee 6% from their pre-tax earnings. DCSD does not match this dollar for dollar; they add 21.9% or $3.65 for every dollar from the employee. Even still... This mythical teacher will receive $57,291.58 per year until they die but we'll assume they live but 20 years limiting the total payout to $1,145,831.52, a nice return on employee contributions of $91,993.35. An alternative view is that a recent retiree went from almost $72K per year to just over $57K which seems a lot ($15K is nothing to sneeze at) until one realizes that the TRS contribution is not deducted from retirement checks reducing the hit by about $3500 leaving a $12K deficit (rounding up). That is where PSERS comes in.

PSERS costs our teacher $90 per year. Not a typo, it costs under one hundred dollars of pre-tax earnings. But what does this teacher actually get? That would be $7,440.00 per year taking a healthy bite out of the $12K deficit and more than covering the total $90 per year employee cost in the first six months.

So now our teacher/retiree is pulling down only 7% less than the best income of their working life. For the rest of their life. Which we'll limit to 20 years, but life may turn out longer and better. And more costly to the taxpayer.

Most folks outside of the government workforce and perhaps some in it would probably think this is a pretty sweet deal. Wishin' they had it so good. Still, some commenting on da Man's blog are pissed about the whole Social Security kerfuffle as if they'd like to pony up another 6.2% pre-tax. Now the teachers themselves voted themselves out of Social Security leading to the establishment of two 403b vehicles known as the Board TSA and the Optional TSA. What they're really pissed about was the expectation that county taxpayers would put 6% into the "Board TSA" (a 403b plan without employee contributions) which they did until they didn't. A court case ensued, not so much about stopping the contributions, but that it was done without proper notice. So now they have notice. But all they really wanted was the Employer's SS contribution amounts diverted to their retirement booty. But the Optional TSA allows them to sock away pre-tax earnings funding a tax-deferred investment. Since they now seem to long for the good ole days of Social Security participation what if they just put the 6.2% they'd be putting into Social Security into the Optional TSA?

Let's look at that.

At 6.2% contribution this teacher will pay in $161,519.09 and with a 4% investment yield this would result in a total investment value of $372,202.30. Holding the interest rate steady, over 20 years of retirement the retiree will pull out $26,975.75 per year, yielding a net pay in retirement well over 25% greater than the highest annual pay received while working. But they're not bitchin' about not being in Social Security and not making their contribution, they're bitchin' about not getting 6% added to their pay even though it would be put into a retirement account. That they would get at retirement. A seemingly limitless sense of entitlement causes them to expect the best of both worlds: a very generous defined benefit program AND a tax sheltered annuity funded by nothing but other people's money. 

Note: an annual percentage rate of 4% was chosen as a very conservative rate as the S&P 500 has returned a True CAGR of over 10% during the last 40 years. Also the lower rate is a reasonable, conservative "inflation adjusted" rate. A bump to 5% increases the annual payout during retirement to $37,108.81 drawing down from an account value of nearly $1M at time of retirement. 

Our Floundering Fathers

Our founding fathers were stung by a recent news article covering the racial underpinnings of newly formed cities, including Dunwoody, a previously unincorporated suburb created by decades-long White flight. 

Did 'em's get 'em's li'l feelin's hurt?

Apparently, because these White men, and they are all men and all White, are basically shouting "I'm not a racist." Perhaps, but they were, and remain, clueless as any White man knows that is exactly what NOT to say. Not at this moment; not with today's movement.

They kick this off by claiming that a historian (we're going to grant a history professor, emeritus, that designation) had no evidence. How could that possibly be? Could it be that the founding fathers did their work behind the cloak of private corporations, Dunwoody Yes! and Citizens for Dunwoody? Could it be that there are no published meeting agendas or minutes? Could it be that there are no interim or final drafts of "Task Force" reports? You know, the reports that informed, mayhap even "drove," the actions of the founding fathers? Could it be because there is no historical record? Could that be because of the actions of our founding fathers and their co-conspirators?

They go on to enumerate what "drove" them to form a city as if it were out of their control, not an ambition of theirs, not a projection of their own egos. These drivers include areas where the city has shown epic failure but end with the old bromide of local control: "the desire to improve our community and control our own destiny, thus enhancing the quality of life for all our citizens." [emphasis added] They actually just laid that stinker right out there. They, who have turned this city over to any and every business that wants to exploit "their" citizens. They, who rose to power on promises of stopping apartment development built a city promoting expansion of rental properties throughout Dunwoody. Their city is notorious for police malfeasance and incompetence ranging from bungled investigations to DWB enforcement to citizen shootings to enforcement neglect to civil rights violations to odious sexual hijinks. It is a city well known for ethics violations and being on the losing end of numerous court cases. It is a city that has deliberately acted against its own ordinances and now has passed an ordinance violating the rule of law. Is this where they were driving? Were they driving drunk? Not unheard of.

If these drivers were so obvious, were indeed an existential threat, were the truths they hold to be so self-evident why did they schedule the referendum vote for the middle of July? Was this not to ensure minimal voter turnout so their small, but fervent group of supporters could dominate the outcome? Could it be that a November vote, in a presidential election year with a Black candidate on the ballot would all but ensure failure? Do they have a credible way to spin those facts? Do they have a credible way...

Not content with those insults they drag out the whole racial smoke screen saying that "Dunwoody had long since ceased to be a Whites-only enclave." True dat. The Whites-only enclave is called "city government." All White, predominantly male council. Only white mayors. Exclusively White male city managers. White male chief of police. Do they really expect anyone to believe that reflects the demographics of this city? That it ever did? That they ever cared that it would? Or perhaps they wanted to ensure that it didn't? Which is more plausible?

And one of the first efforts of this White Enclave was the plan to destroy the homes of people, people of color, in order to build expensive housing and ball parks effectively using housing economics to engineer, to their liking, the racial makeup of their new city. They started a promotional campaign and when that gained insufficient traction began a PR campaign based on crime in that area and the cost to "the rest of the community" in addressing that crime. This only came to a crashing halt when one otherwise loyal minion blurted out the critical role of this redevelopment in keeping those people out of our schools.

And they just cannot put down the shovel, continuing with "Racial and ethnic diversity was and is a driving force of Dunwoody’s success." Yet they would engineer a system that is exclusively White and mostly male at the topmost levels of its power structure, that is so paternalistic it is all but a modern re-creation of a plantation society. Yet we're supposed to believe there was nothing racial going on, by accident or by design.

So why has council and mayor been lily-White? Well that actually is by design. The city map was sliced up into voting regions and there were many ways to do this. The most obvious is just to divide the city into three parts, each region running east to west. This would all but guarantee a minority seat on council. Instead our founding fathers chose to slice and dice into regions running north to south. Why? As mentioned, no documents are available, but this layout all but ensures that the minority areas are divided allowing them to be conquered by White areas. Three at-large council seats ensures representation for the dominant, White voting pool. Would they have you believe this is merely coincidence? Can they still assert they actually designed this city if so much were left to chance? That anything, including diversity was a consideration?

It is worth noting these founders chose not to involve their necessary co-conspirators, Dan Weber and Fran Millar, in their retort. We have heard from Rusty Paul, mayor of the city we most want to emulate and former state Senator fighting alongside Dan and Fran, who has acknowledged "that there were issues on both sides that had racial overtones." Perhaps, no longer in the fray, Dan and Fran have had time to reflect, perhaps to regret. We will never know.

They may take umbrage at how history has judged their motivations and intentions, but we, the citizens OF Dunwoody continue to suffer from what they actually did.

Restorah Menorah

Remember the Sayonara Menorah? The one that led the city and the DPT to expel the Menorah and the Christmas Tree from the Farmhouse exiling them to the Dog House across the street. Justification at the time suggested a fear that someone might ask the courts to intercede on behalf of the U.S. Constitution and the people it protects. But this city has grown in plain old fashion political arrogance to the point they no longer fear that Constitution or its defenders.

In holding itself above all others this city has reversed the previous decision by installing a Christmas Tree and Menorah in City Hall. Perhaps they'll argue that the Christmas Tree is just a tree. And the Menorah just an electric candelabra, somewhat broken in that many of the lights don't work much of the time and it takes their electrician nearly a week to get it fixed. Yet all the lights on the tree always work suggesting some preference on the part of the city therefore these cannot be religious icons as such a preference would be just plain wrong.

Obviously, in this city's view, these are not religious symbols. Assume they're correct. What this reversal actually symbolizes is the recurring incompetence of the city itself. Never ending tax increases. Police shootings. Bungled crime investigations. Civil rights violations at every turn. Refusal to enforce ordinances. Seeking the losing end of court battles. Ethical breaches ending in dismissals and judicial face-slaps. Given all that, thumbing their collective nose at the Constitution of the United States seems oddly appropriate and at the very least is consistent.

Let's hope someone gets the bright idea to hook up the tree and the candelabra and this union brings forth a burning bush from which a voice of high moral authority will speak, saying unto the greedy and corrupt gathered there: "Shut This City DOWN!" Were that to come to pass this would be a blessed holiday season. 

How Appropriate[d]!

Let 'em eat cake!

So say the Lords and Ladies from Their Gilded Palace. Their self-congratulatory party was rained out so now they call upon the little people to come to the Palace to eat cake.  For fifteen minutes, then you're dismissed. Again.

The Borgias would serve better. At least then  you'd know what you're getting. 

Let The Backdoor Hit You In The Backside. Please!

Fulton governments...and consequently those politicians...are in a bind regarding property tax bills. Politicians are blaming market forces, almost the same as blaming the taxpayers themselves, and have worked to institute an assessment freeze as some form of "relief." Fulton isn't unique. Other local governments, including Dunwoody, have been reaping the ill-gotten back door tax increases for decades.

Pretty un-American for a bunch of dimwit politicians to hold themselves above an open and free market, but there is more at work here. First is the blame storm and to the extent that politicians control the dialogue it is anything but their fault. Then there is the bald-faced greed that permeates politics of our day. And this is where it really is on the politicians...they own this.

Why?

Because market forces are outside their control. While they hate that, it is a simple, undeniable fact. Market prices are driven by what someone is willing to offer and what someone else is willing to accept. Not what some pol or his bureaucratic henchmen dictate. But pols do have control over something other than their rhetoric. They have direct control over our tax bills. They approve budgets and they set millage rates. They. Own. This.

Respect those who vote--set a revenue neutral millage rate. Respect the market--set a revenue neutral millage rate. And if they don't have the integrity, the character, to set a revenue neutral millage rate they shouldn't let the door hit them in the ass on their way out...of office.

They Call It A Sign Walk...

...we call it the Walk Of Shame.

Cannot Be A Sidewalk, Can It?

So, how much do we have to pay to get a city that provides their committed services? Keeping in mind that this sign has been in this location, blocking this sidewalk on the beloved Village Parkway for several days. What pay scale does it take to get ordinances enforced?

Perhaps we're already paying too much and higher salaries are not the solution. Perhaps we have more than one problem. Maybe the salaries are low but equally matched by low capabilities and even lower work ethic. Maybe money would be better spent on fewer, better employees at higher compensation.

One thing is certain. We aren't getting what we are paying for but we are sure as hell paying for what we are getting.

Illuminati

What happened to the concept of "light pollution"? You remember--one of the key elements of the Village Overlay when this city was foisted and hoisted. Village lighting had to prevent overspray. Of course these ordinances have been "updated" as in "better suited to the business community" but they are very specific and actually quite stringent. And it isn't just the overlay--if your front porch light illuminates your neighbors' yards then you, sir, are a criminal. Motion light stay on for more than 10 minutes? Then it damn well better be pointed down--not that you really wanted to see what tripped it, right? Check out Sec. 27-250 of the ordinances, and for real fun notice that neon lighting is verboten by way of Sec. 27-248. Of course signs aren't lights are they?

And what IS it with the Dunwoody High School and outdoor lights? Why is this a mission ranking up there with Save Darfur or #BringBackOurGirls? And why the Trumpian propaganda that would make Goebbels blush? From the Go Fund Me blather:

"Neighborhood friendly LED lights could extend our practice time without bothering the neighbors..."

Seriously, did you guys actually graduate from a High School? A real one? So you expect smart folk in the smart city to believe you can install field lighting and magically the laws of physics will not apply and nary a single photon will escape the confines of your Blessed Child's event?

Fine, it isn't Wrigley in the Good Ole Days. You know, before they won. But they weren't playing in the dark they just weren't trying to not suck. Anyway, there are only a few ways that field lighting is "neighborhood friendly." It can either not be there at all (best); be turned off (second best); or be used only during the day (suboptimal). Somehow it seems Boosterus Maximus on City Council would not approve of any of these options.

Some might suggest it is "free lighting for a backyard 'cue" but they've not seen the number and size of bugs these lights attract. And it isn't just the bugs--that's not mustard on your dog, that's bat guano. And so what if it keeps YOUR child up late at night? Watch Close Encounters with them and they'll be so scared they'll pull covers over their heads and the light won't bother them. And you KNEW there were lights there when you bought your house didn't you? Oops--there weren't. So what. We've got someone on City Council who just loves all things Dunwoody High, so screw you.

Without Character...

...there is no shame. And frankly this is shameless.

Too Bad It Is Not A "Going Out Of Business" Sale

Shameless, arrogant disregard for this community. Supported by a member of Council known to flaunt a "don't ask-don't tell" approach to any quality of life ordinance if it is the least bit inconvenient for "friends and family" in the business community. To top it off, this business has touted their ownership as residing in Dunwoody. Apparently it is the part of Dunwoody that votes poorly and cares not a bit for anyone else who lives here.

Could it be any worse? Well...actually...

Code Enforcement CONSISTENTLY Absent

It isn't just the illegal sign. That truck was barreling down Chamblee-Dunwoody having come right thru the official No Truck zone. But what the hell, if you don't ask, they won't tell. And think about it--they're actually busy lip syncing, something they CAN do, so those words are not actually coming out of their mouths anyway.

Now, one might write this off as just another bee in TOD's bonnet. It certainly has become a meme around these parts, but that can be attributed to consistent failure of the City to perform one of its most basic duties: code enforcement. And, it isn't just TOD. This was provided by another disgruntled resident (in an envelope outside the front door beside a flaming bag of poo).

Could We Add An Hour To Discuss ENFORCEMENT?

Is there anyone left who sincerely believes we're better off now than before this city was voted in? REALLY? OK. FINE! Anyone other than the business owners putting out illegal signs?

Yankee Go Home

And take your faux Williamsburg "style" with you.

Or so say the powers that be in Dunwoody. And in case you have any doubts those powers are called "developers" and the developers at hand are Crim and Associates. And the Brothers Crim have no qualms about making an open threat suggesting that if they don't get what they want, the way they want it then they'll gather tenants that would be "not what you want." The property has been a problem child in the Village Overlay with the DHA getting really pissy when it went from a gas station to a car wash with the kind of backlash that later resurfaced around the Parkway. Now the property is leveled awaiting SLUPs, Waivers and Overlay changes so the Brothers can build what they want which is definitely NOT Williamsburg style.

And guess what is going to happen? It should come as no surprise that City Staff are preparing proposals to gut the Village Overlay and the Council is chomping at the bit to do the Brothers' bidding. Why no surprise? Because outside of one property owner who fell for the "you remodel you must widen the sidewalk" requirement in the Overlay District the City has shown no diligence in enforcing any of the Overlay requirements. Hell, they've not even shown much in the way of interest regarding their own rules but if any Friends and Family business owner, City resident or not, needs custom, just-for-me ordinances, well then "drinks are on the house!"

Beggars ARE Choosers

It is rumored that yellow corn is unpopular in Africa because it is associated with foreign food aid and indicates poverty. Yet no one is discarding yellow corn whilst demanding white corn or brown rice.

Puerto Rico is a completely different disaster. Chronic financial mismanagement has driven the territory to insolvency with this man-made disaster fostering a culture of dependency. That's why we've heard the increasing demands for financial relief. That is until recent natural disasters brought poignant hardship to each and every resident. No power. Limited communication. Water and food in short often non-existent supply.

And yet.

They turn their noses up at freely offered food, brought to them by Uncle Sam's foreign aid version of Uber Eats. Why? Because it is not acceptable to the delicate, refined palettes of the Puerto Rican gourmet.

What was this odious fare? Potted meat.

Many a nanny-stater agrees with the not-so-famished in Puerto Rico turning their noses up at a meat spread requiring no refrigeration. Or so we hear from their tweets, bandwidth limited not by character restrictions but the time demands of debating which is the better pinot, noir or gris, between sampling canapés. But here in the Southland, where these food packages originated, many a callous handed redneck has made a working lunch of potted meat on saltines. Many dismiss this as folklore or nostalgia gone the way of peanuts-in-the-Coke and certainly those hardworking rednecks have been displaced by hardworking slave-wagers from much further south. Nonetheless...

In today's world our handouts are supposed to be culturally appropriate, by which the nanny means "sensitive to the culture of the recipient, not the giver" and should be quickly withdrawn and replaced with something more desired if any recipient finds the gift "demeaning." Maybe so, but it sounds like there are a lot of folks in Puerto Rico who aren't very hungry and have plenty of time to complain and demand entitlements. Or maybe they are nostalgic too.

"Ev'rything's free in America!"

Trail Of Tears

The Georgia GOP, who otherwise advocate free-market economic policies, have come out against legalized gambling offering this nugget as justification:

legalizing gambling could open the door "for any Indian tribe to venue shop for property to open casinos" around the state

Really, Kemo Sabe? You mean like your forefathers venue-shopped the Cherokee to a distant state or a nearby grave? Do you really find it that offensive that descendants of the original inhabitants might return, buy back their land and operate a business offering a much-wanted service paying taxes, to you, all along the way? Or are you just protecting your gambling business from legitimate competition?

Unenforced Ordinances

Someone with the City was noted for openly pondering why anyone would pass an ordinance that would go unenforced. Perhaps this was rhetorical. Perhaps it was just a thought, meant to remain unspoken, that escaped. Perhaps it was a sincere though naive question from someone new to government in the U.S. and this burg in particular. These ordinances are being used by politicians and bureaucrats to create a totalitarian government destroying what our country's founders intended as a free society.

In his book, The Permission Society: How the Ruling Class Turns Our Freedoms into Privileges and What We Can Do About It, author Timothy Sandefur identifies the radical innovation our country was founded upon: personal liberty derived from inalienable rights and bolstered by self-evident truths.  He then spends the rest of the book chronicling how politicians and state bureaucrats have whittled away at these liberties creating an authoritarian state King George III would envy. One of the most powerful weapons in the statists' arsenal is the at-will enforcement of laws, regulations and ordinances. The ruling class attacks their foes, including you, cutting with both edges of this sword.

At-will enforcement pushed the power of judge and jury to the edges of the ruling class allowing officers and bureaucrats to punish or persecute those who meet with their disapproval. Look no further than Dunwoody's Police Department with a Driving While Black policy so egregious it put the City on the losing end of court cases. Or the City lawyer who took it upon himself to berate and threaten a taxpayer who hired goats to clear his property of weeds and brush because by the lawyer's assessment the property owner infringed on government dictated right-of-way. The other edge is the "don't ask-don't tell" approach to ordinances espoused by at least one member of Council. This allows members of the ruling class, Staff, Mayor and Council, to curry favor with Friends and Family in private and business sectors. The potential for filling campaign coffers or securing personal wealth is no disincentive to this practice.

If you believe the deflective ruse that at-will enforcement is really on-complaint then put it to the test.  Report speeding in school zones expecting serious, effective enforcement and you will be disappointed. Try that with trucks in a no-truck zone and you'll get a dismissive email about insufficient infractions to justify police attention. If you get anything. Try as you might you will find nothing but a City devoted to destroying what our fathers brought forth on this continent.

What If?

If Only Ted had...

If Only Hillary had...

If Hillary used ProtonMail, she'd be President today.

And If Only Sheriff Mann had...

If Mann let the dog out at Brook Run he'd not be in trouble.

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.

Two Big To Fail

The shakers and movers trying to shake and move their way to the cities of Briarcliff and Lakeside have decided to form a conga line and dance down to the Gold Dome to jointly promote their merged effort to form the city of Cliffside.

Arrogant? Yes. These two groups have been sparring over prime business tax revenues as if they are the only two that can lay claim when in fact several key pieces really belong to Tucker. Or so would say an objective outside observer. As would almost anyone who has lived around these parts for a couple of decades.

Greedy? Absolutely. By joining forces they hope to (and will) force Tucker (against THEIR community will) to cede prime revenue generating properties because all these crusaders for local control simply cannot afford local control. At least not on their own. They need tax revenue from non-voting businesses to pay for what they will then call "Their City." These folks are part of Romney's forty seven percent--takers, not makers.

Bullying? Without a doubt. And they will bring in their back pocket muscle--State Reps and Senators--to ensure that resistance is minimal and easily steamrolled. Tucker will be eviscerated and left with little choice but to sink into decline or be annexed and lose its identity.

And that will be a great loss since of the three communities it is Tucker which has the most cohesive, longstanding sense of community. It is so strong that newcomers are often surprised to learn that Tucker isn't already a city. Now the forces of greed and arrogance will conspire to ensure it never is.