SPLOST

Ok, I'll admit, when I first started paying attention to all this SPLOST stuff I was against it mainly because people I respect (Maurice Atkinson, Kenny B and Charles E, etc) were against it. And then others I respect (Mike Ford, NewTown, the Chamber) were for it... so that made it more complicated.

And then I thought about it some more, and realized, "well Damn, I don't want to be taxed more, it doesn't make sense now". And I paid attention some more, mainly thanks to the Kenny B and Charles E show, and realized that we never did agree on the service delivery strategy- and the timing for this SPLOST is rather interesting- given that we never reached the previous mentioned agreement.

And then I read the SPLOST. And I Googled it. I found- on Wikipedia, which could be problematic- that legally a SPLOST can only last 5 years in the State of Georgia. Granted, given the sourcing, that could be wrong but I haven't found anything that states that is otherwise. But this SPLOST will be 6 years. Why?

And I read the SPLOST some more. The only thing specifically mentioned in it, spending and funding wise, is the courthouse. Not schools. Not Luther Williams field. The courthouse. And while I am all for the courthouse being rebuilt, something is just damn fishy here.

Why is all this money being spent advertising voting for it? It seems to be a collossal waste of money to me. All of those thousands of dollars could be spent on textbooks rather than on political spin.

It also seems to me that this is one of the greatest examples of political, racist pandering. Go after the School Boards to get the votes of concerned parents. Hire David Lucas to go after the black votes. Get NewTown Macon on board to go after downtown. Get the Chamber on board to go after the business votes. It's just one more way to divide the different entities in this town. Why not just sell it on what it is and let people decide for themselves? It's actually quite crafty. They are playing on the insecurities that each group in this town has and using it to their advantage, rather than trying to unite these different interest groups under one banner and one cause they try to find every different angle why each group would vote for this SPLOST.

The following is my letter to the editor that I submitted:

I’m confused. I read the proposed SPLOST. I didn’t see ANY specifications for where the money would go except for the courthouse. I did not see anything specifying that monies would go to the City Auditorium, Luther Williams, the Halls of Fame, or anything like that. I think it’s incredibly deceptive to try and purport this SPLOST as paying for those items unless it is specifically laid out in the language. Otherwise, there are no guarantees. It seems as if they are trying to tie as many special interest groups to it as possible to garner more support for something that is so unpopular.
What I don’t understand is why two entities outside the government I very much respect are supporting this SPLOST. It is being misrepresented as a chance to provide “stimulus” to the economy when in reality it is another way for the government to take our money to fund their pet projects.
In many ways, Macon is heading towards being a microcosm of what many in government are wanting the country at large to become: an over taxed, socialist economy, in which the government must bail out everyone just as they did with the banking industry. Anytime someone is in such a haste to spend my hard earned money I am suspicious. Why not just put the SPLOST on the ballot next year? Is my money not good enough, or deserve enough thought, to be pondered over carefully? Apparently not. This is being purported as “just” a one percent tax, when in reality it is another 1% on everything we do. Think about how much money you spend in a year, and tack on another 1 %. Frankly, I can’t afford it. And our economy cannot afford it either, not when it will take 3 years to provide these “jobs” some claim it will create. Something else that is wrong with our country as a whole is wanting something NOW- so we’ll buy it on credit (i.e.: bonds) and incur several millions of dollars of interest, as they are wanting to do with the bonds proposed.
Let me be clear- I’m all for progress. I love downtown- and will support just about anything that can help downtown. But this SPLOST is seriously flawed. And no one has made it clear to me why we cannot wait another year to get it passed- why it has to happen RIGHT NOW, especially when it is just in the past few months being marketed to the masses as so urgent. Not only that, but the fact that our local leaders are so heatedly divided on the points is just one more reason to not vote for THIS SPLOST.

This Weekend: Out and About

Anyone who says there is nothing to do in Macon is just plain stupid. Or ignorant. Or lazy and don't make the effort to try. Anyways...

Went to a co-workers wedding (Congrats Katie and Rob!) at the Blacksmith Shop. And as usual, it was beautiful. In fact, it's probably one of my favorite places in town to host an event. The only thing is it's usually quite pricey. but the photograph potential and easy layout- allowing for a great flow of traffic (people traffic, that is) should make it worth it.

Afterward, my husband and I went to Bonefish with friends Jessica and her husband, Wade. It was our first time there, as I prefer to go to independent restaurants. But I will say- it was amazing. After eating at the reception all we had were appetizers but it was tremendously filling and quite good. Since Jessica is pregnant, she and Wade went home while we may our way back downtown to the Tic Toc Room.

Tic Toc is a great place to go anytime for drinks, and to eat as well, but in this case it was for drinks. It reminds me of Cheers in that you can end up in a conversation with anyone and have a great time. Of course I am biased, having worked there in the past. Friends from the wedding met up with us: Josh,. Christine, Meghan, Josh. Danny, and Meghan. (Yes- all of those names are correct.) from the Tic Toc we went on to Asylum

I was SO glad to see old friends from Dea also at Asylum: Eric, Luke, Mary, and Jason. It felt like home seeing old friends. And of course, anyone who hasn't been to Asylum is seriously missing out. It looks nothing like the former Dirty Iguana. The front entrance is a long corridor, which is due to the fact that the building has been shaved to half of its size on the interior. And Cesare and Jason have installed some kind of- I don't want to say T.V. screen, but I don't know what else to call it- wrapping around the inside of the building. My only complaint was the incessant strobe lights. Perhaps I'm getting old, but it gave me a headache. And I was sober.

The only damper on the evening was running into Maneesh Patel, who avoided all my calls to collect the $2,000 he owes the magazine I work for until I threatened to out him on Facebook. That was when he told me he lost $400,000 and was bankrupt. Boo hoo, cry me a river. Obviously, you make poor financial decisions. And obviously you continue to do so, as I saw you out spending plenty of money. Oh wait- I forgot- you told me via text (as you didn't have the balls to call) that you only go where you are taken care of. Just do me a favor and don't bump into me twice next time without saying excuse me. Otherwise, next time I'll let my husband kick your tail like he wanted to.

Enough about that. It was a great night, and if you have yet to go to any of those places you need to get out. Don't wait for the next wedding to do it!

What We Need:The SEED School

Go to this website:

http://www.seedfoundation.com/seed_schools/dc.aspx

We need this in Macon. I'm watching 60 minutes right now. This school was started in D.C. to allow children from poor, uneducated neighborhoods a fighting chance. One of the founders said "Why do rich kids go to boarding schools?" Duh. Great education. So why not give this to poor kids?

We need this is Macon. The question is- can the community actually support something like this? Could we get enough business donors to help with start up costs?

Seriously, I'd like to know what yall think. Perhaps we could contact these people to help us start our own SEED School.

More Macon Issues: Service Delivery and more of what's wrong in Macon

I'm tremendously disappointed in Sam Hart. The man who I thought would champion greater reasoning within the chambers of the Bibb County Commission, the man would I expected to speed along this never ending debate about consolidation, the man who I thought surely recognized that those who live in the city are also represented by the county commissioners, this man has effectively decide to continue screwing the city taxpayers in the you know what. (And I am not referring to the usual orifice.)

Perhaps I am being unfair. After all, it's not as if he is on the County Commission by himself. I think, for me, I was hoping that Hart would really turn out to be the white knight he allowed himself to be portrayed during the elections.

Although, it is really interesting to see not just City Council standing together but standing together with the mayor?! Wow. It is the apocalypse? (Oh no, I forgot- C. Jack isn't in office anymore. My mistake.)

Why will the Commission not go ahead and settle the Service Delivery before the SPLOST? Why do they not seem to accept that those who live in the city also live in the county? And maybe those who live in the city DO NOT LIKE TO BE TAXED TWICE.

This is what I would really like to know: why do we keep screwing ourselves? It seems to me that what we need is very simple: less government. Less government, again, my opinion, would lead to more effective government. We have had several chances to lead to this. First would be to decrease the size of council. Yeah right, like any member of council would voluntarily give up their seat. (Again- unfair. I'm sure a couple of them would.) Perhaps if we made being on council an unpaid position, we would see this happen. After all, with as many budget cuts and furloughs and people losing their jobs you would think at least the members of council who HAVE a full time job would sacrifice their paycheck. And again, to be fair, some of them may have done so already. But I imagine such a thing would have been heavily covered by the paper. Correct me please if I am wrong.

Second: city and county consolidation. Yet AGAIN would we really see this happen? That would mean some people losing power. What I, and others, really think it comes down to is race. Yes I said it. For whatever reason we cannot seem to get over the race issue in this town. When is it going to happen? I can kind of understand how it started out that way... after all, the Civil Rights Movement was not really that long ago. People still remember it. So of course, when you have a group of people who have fought hard to gain rights- and power- then of course anything that may threaten that power being taken away would be seen by some as a threat. And they would fight hard to keep it from happening. Do I know for sure that is why Senator Brown wouldn't allow consolidation? No of course not, only he can say that. But from what I can recall, many things that he asked for were going to be given to him in exchange for this vote.

Third- The biggest problem,which seems to be at the core of everything, is the race issue here. I am so sick of this being a problem. It's going to take a few courageous people to reach across racial lines and attempt to understand someone different from themselves before change will happen. Actually, let me amend what I said: the biggest problem isn't just race but poverty.

I am calling upon each of us who is more privileged to actually help out those who are impoverished. The poor in our town affect each of us. We should not look to our government to help them but to ourselves.

Wow- I got going on a tangent. Was not my intent. But as everything else- one thing leads to another and another and so on.

What's Wrong With Macon/And the World in General

I'm so sick of going to Target and other big box retailers and finding that people a) don't know how to park between the white lines (seriously- how hard is it?), b) can't put the carts up (lazy. just plain lazy), and c) tend to have Lemming-like suicidal tendencies when they step out in front of oncoming traffic.

How hard is it to park in between two white lines and put up your cart and wait for oncoming traffic to pass by? It seriously makes me sick going to any of these large retailers just because of it.

To me, it shows what is wrong with our city as a whole when someone can't do something as simple as park between two lines. It's evident that this is part of what is wrong with our city. For instance, when Target first opened people seemed to take pride in it and take care to put the carts up. Now we just leave them wherever in the parking lot. And don't let putting your kids in a hot car be an excuse- I make sure to park next to one of the cart holder things when I have my kids with me so that I can put the cart up and not leave the kids in the car alone getting hot.

How in the world can we expect people to take pride in their city and take care to not do something as simple as litter if they can't even park correctly. I think it can even go so far as to explain why Macon is a good microcosm for the United States as a whole. Of course we have a growing obesity rate, how can we expect people to take care of their bodies if they can't park?

I almost think Michelle Obama's idea of restricting what we can eat is a good idea. Obviously, many of us depend on the government for our paychecks so it makes sense that we need the government to tell us how to eat properly. Sure it restricts our freedom to be fat if we want to but hell, obviously we don't know how to respect ourselves unless the federal government is holding out hands through it.

I could go on forever... and I'll probably continue this later but I need to take care of something at the moment.

More Massage Parlor Issues

Why are people so upset about this whole thing between the police officer and the massage parlor worker?

Seriously! This is what we are so outraged about? Not the fact that these women could be traffiked as sex slaves. not the fact that prostitution is illegal, not the fact that our city is a joke for allowing this to happen thus far- but the fact that an officer may have ejaculated into a condom.

From what I understand, according to the Kenny B and Charles E show (my main source for news in Macon) the officer was trying to get the money to pay the woman for the sex act- so that he could then make the arrest- and the woman took charge. If this officer was instructed that he must pay her first and then she took control of course he probably didn't act as he should have. I mean what man do you know who was in that situation who may have acted differently.

Am I saying what he did was ok? No of course not. But the woman still performed an act of prostitution and should still be prosecuted for it. I'm a little lost as to why the charges would be dropped.

I think this goes back to a bigger problem, that of people thinking the police are their enemies and not to be trusted.

Rutland

Here's my thoughts on the situtation at Rutland High School:

1- it would be real shame for every child to be punished for the actions of a few, as well as the lack of judgment on the part of the adults. Many kids only chance to see a world outside of their own is on school trips.
2- I also think this is a generational thing on the part of the kids and parents of the kids. It seems more and more children are growing up and learning to be disrespectful of those put in charge of them. And not only that but they are engaging in increasingly risky behavior. I wonder if these kids today are the children of those who were teenagers in the 80's- a period of time in which teens were extremely indulged.
3- We need to allow stricter teachers in schools. The kids today realize that their parents will not back up the punishments the teachers and administrators put out.
4- Therefore, cutting out school trips altogether does not address the real problem, in my opinion. If you cut out these overnight trips you will also have to cut out things such as debate and cheerleading competitions, things which allow the good kids to see a better world and also grow their self esteem through competition and working towards a goal. This problem is much bigger than school trips, the problem is kids today have not just a lack of respect but a lack of fear. I was always scared to do something out of line. If kids were afraid of retribution, and knew that their parents would back up school officials then I think we would not be experiencing these issues today.