I like winter. I always have. I like the Christmas season, snow, sledding, and even (to an extent) shoveling snow. I think that you can't truly appreciate a warm spring or summer day unless you've been through a bitterly cold February day. My dad hates winter, and has always told me that someday I would too.Its not true yet, but this is probably the first year where I've been ready for spring this early. Too many under-10 degree nights for my taste. At least the first baseball spring training game is only 13 days away.
No VanFossen related talk on this thread, keep it where it belongs.
26 comments:
I saw three robins near the bird food shop in the East Village on Tuesday afternoon. Either they never made it out of town or are a harbinger of warmer weather to come. Take heart, QCI.
QCI, I'm older and I still like winter,and I don't mind shoveling snow either. It won't be long and people will be complaining about the heat.
QCI - are you able to open bill lynn's website?
Nope, it seems to be down. Maybe to improve his web hosting service he disbanded their IT department and gave their duties to the janitors.
Poor guys probly didn't see it coming. What is his web site address?
The QCTimes made a bad choice when they decided to put Jonathan Owens picture on the front page flipping a gang sign. You can bet he's bragging to all his little banger buddies about it today.
Alderman Meyer: concerning the discussion at the COW meeting, and the non payment by the landlords of $31,000 in rental fees, the solution is easy. Those fees can be turned over to the SC Treasurer and collected as a lien against the property. Currently the city is doing that for delinquent sewer bills, trash cleanups, and yard mowing. If the rental fees were added, the collection agency wouldn't get a cut, and the city would collect the full amount of the debt.
Each cycle this NEO fiasco gets more complicated. Last cycle Dee got up and said she needs two more people, and now this cycle chief Freese tells alderman that he needs 4 more at $50,000 per year. This whole thing was done to cut expenses, and it appears we maybe paying out more than under the origional NEO for less effective procedures.
Keith:
I understand your request and tried to accommodate it at best we could by televising the two prior meetings. Those meetings, which were essentially presentation and question based, were able to be recorded and televised. The meetings sitting around the table do not lend themselves to televising given video and sound difficulties. Also, every other Council member who has expressed an opinion (that I am aware of) prefers the conference table, worksession format at this stage of budget review.
If I hear from six Council members that they want tomorrow’s meeting changed to have the Council at the dais and staff at the podium, we could tape and televise the meeting.
Otherwise, staff will be preparing for a meeting sitting around the conference table.
Craig
The Fire Chief also thinks he needs a person to check for weeds in the summer, and in the winter check for preditory lending contracts. Seems like that job should be done by the legal department, and not by the fire department.
Agreed.
We are proposing holding the rental license hostage until all delinquent bills were paid. Any bills of any sort. The rental license is due yearly so it would be a short time frame and we would reach out and touch all properties.
Any input is welcomed and look forward to Tuesday’s meeting.
Mike
Michael Ryan
District Chief, DFD
Interim Program Manager
Thanks for sharing the memo from Malin Alderman Meyer. He says that 2 meetings were televised. I only saw one. There is absolutely no reason that this meeting needs to be at the table so it can't be televised. It's just an excuse to keep the public out of the loop. Thanks for trying Alderman Meyer.
I saw the finance meeting and have to say that I have confidence in what the fire department is presenting and that the city should support them 110%. It took some balls for the cheif to say that he and the NEO were struggling, and rightly so. Trying to opperate with less than half the original staff base would make you believe that they were chasing their tails with complaints.
And once again Hamerlinck proved to me, with no dought, that he is a bought man with the comment that
"the old NEO hasn't been working for the last eight or so years". Now where were you eight years ago Ald. Hamerlinck? Where are you getting that kind of information, from the QCRPA? Please tell me what wasn't working! I'll give you a hint, it was the fact that the old NEO didn't get the support from the other city departments like sanitation, police, and the director of C&ED. Now that the fire department has the ball, I haven't seen the likes of those who pushed the gutting of the NEO. Stay the course Mike Ryan, lets get control of the slumlords and chock them to death with fees!
Alderman Meyer, you now have the chance to right the wrong with the NEO dismantling. We know that you were duped. Now help to fix it before it gets worse!
Alderman Meyer, I saw the CD committee. Something the attorney for the bank said seemed strange to me on that prairie heights deal. I thought I heard him say something like if they decided to. On monday can you ask the attorney for the bank if the BANK has to follow through with the agreement if it takes over.
Joe American:
I find your comments interesting in view of the fact that when it was first suggested that NEO be abolished and their function turned over to the Fire Department, it was Chief Frese who said that the Fire Department would do it better and more efficiently (cost and otherwise). He didn't know what he was talking about, but it didn't keep him from opening his mouth and inserting both feet. My guess is they don't teach students at Kennedy Western to think before they speak. That said, Mike Ryan is doing a great job (under the circumstances) and is being greatly assisted in his efforts by many of those same NEO employees that Frese was going to do it better than.
All I can say to that is I have to stand behind the fire department because thats all we have. I will not stick up for the chief and what he said then, I will stand up for the department that admits to "struggling" and wants to learn to do better. It wasn't the fire department that wanted the NEO, it was forced on them. I can only blame the six aldermen for that.
Well said Joe! But will those aldermen that voted the NEO gone cahnge their minds and support the additions? These folks will be eating alot of crow and likely become a pampaign issue.
Those that are forced to eat crow will be baking cookies with Jamie after the next election.
Sorry this 8:00 a.m, meeting wasn't televised. It would have been nice for our citizens to see the Mayor and both Alderman at Large pushing for another property tax increase to go along with the increase in sewer fees.
Keith
Thanks alderman Meyer for attempting to get that meeting on TV. It just proves that most of them, including Malin, don't want the public to know, or do they want to bother with citizen imput.
If the city is going to look at charging the bars for excessive police calls, then they should hold rentals to the same standard and charge them a fee for each time police have to respond to their property.
I agree, if a person is a good landlord they will not object. These bad properties such us all dry in every way and the LL gets the cash. It is unfair.
how many citizens showed up for the budget meeting? I believe it was an open meeting and everyone from the public was invited to attend. I can only guess it was a low turnout because it was not telivised. But I'am sure by the next telivised meeting all the monday morning quaterbacks will have all the answers.
The majority of Davenporter's have to work on Saturday mornings to pay for the High taxes and Outragous fees that we are forced to pay to keep this city afloat. Malin has these meetings at odd times to lessen public involvement.
It is interesting to see Skovronski pandering in the paper today to the QCRPA's interest. He is saying that reducing fees for good landlords (while hammering the bad ones) is a good idea. Sounds like the other landlord's group to me. He is even complimenting the DAI. What a wimp.
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