Long Time No Speak

I apologize for not posting in a few days. There have been many home issues to deal with. I want to say a special thank you to Mary who has continued her support of seeing both sides of an issue. We sometimes tend to forget that living in the perfect society on earth is unattainable. We will always have issues to deal with in our everyday lives. It is how we choose to confront those challenges that sets us apart.
In the recent months I have listened to many people talking about how to save money. "Cut back on this and do without that", are common in this current economic climate. The one thing that I have not heard is, "How can we bring money in?".
Cutting spending will only bring us so far. We cannot rely on savings to bring this city into the future. Look at any city in the world and you will see their method of survival. You have to have revenue to make ends meet. Look around town...
There are no restaurants in this "city". There are no sustainable businesses (I am not talking about port businesses) such as retail or other. Luckily we have the Hot Springs Resort. I would love to see us thrive as a city. However, many people want our city to stay as a suburb. You cannot have it both ways. Suburbs are part of a large city. They have revenue derived from business.
We need to focus our efforts to the task at hand. That task is not to count every penny. I am a huge supporter of following government spending. We need to make sure that the books are in order. Yet, there seems to be a huge disparage between where citizens are looking. In researching labor in the last month I have seen interesting things.
Some residents have been focusing on the amount of money paid to the city maintenance staff. I find this odd considering that our city planner accrued close to 80 HOURS of overtime last month. That must have been a lot of planning. Although, in checking further I have heard (yes, the almighty hearsay) that most of this time was spent on a berm overlooking a dredging project. This project was not costing the city anything at the time. I understand that some oversight is necessary but I cannot believe that someone who is a part-time employee can accrue that many hours.
The worst part of this scenario is the fact that the city council approved the amount of $40,000 to be given to the individual who was in charge of the project. This is hard to swallow when no contract was made in advance. This person only wanted the debris that was removed as payment. How are we to move forward when the council is taking steps in the wrong direction?
I am trying very hard not to be negative but all I can say at this point is.....

Double Standard

It would appear that there are people in this city who like to live with a double standard. There are those that think they are doing good for this city. Unfortunately these same people do absolutely nothing for our town. I am tired of people coming to my door with fliers about blogs that are little more than a public "slamfest" against our community. These are not people sent by the "city" as I was told when they handed me the flier. I was told it was a "community blog" that the city had set up to promote togetherness.
How can we come together when all we do is show negativity? We need to serve as a portal to a new way of thinking. Do not trash your neighbors, do not down talk people who are doing good for their community. If you have an issue with this community perhaps you should try to better it by volunteering. This would do make a far better impact than standing up at every council meeting and wasting people's time.
When I look at some of the other blogs I see that, "the needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many". My site is aimed at the "many" that have no voice because they are drowned out by the "VOICES" of those that want everything for themselves. PLEASE!!!! The next time you want to post something make it constructive. Keep it neutral, keep it real and keep it community based.

Getting the Facts Straight

I thought we needed an area for people to post the truth about common misconceptions related to our city such as: Budget, Taxes, Disputes and so forth. We all need to become more aware of the operations of our city so that we may understand the issues from all sides. Many people in this city look at only one side of an issue and take it as fact. If we help each other to understand how the city functions then perhaps there will be less disagreements over non-issues.

Community Event Post

Use this space to post upcoming events in our community

Kudos to You!!!

This post section is aimed at acknowledging those within the community who go above and beyond to serve our city. Whether they are a city employee or a citizen who goes the extra mile, we need to show our support.

The time has come to take action!

Far too often we sit and talk about what should be done and who should make it happen. Unfortunately, this is as far as the action goes. We need to stand behind our words and help this community thrive. Public events, gatherings and volunteer time are all ways to make a difference. These things will have a far bigger impact than sitting in a living room complaining about lack of change.

Election Time Is Around The Corner

Speak out with your thoughts on the campaign trail. Give advice and ideas to further the cause.