In 3rd district councilman Steve Price's recent "interview" with Freedom to Screech, he had this to say about the operation of the city.
The city should be run like a business.
Hmm.
Unlike Price, who generally maintains that his rental properties are not businesses (those pesky LLCs aside), I readily concede to owning a business, and because unique opportunities exist in times like these, we're in the process of borrowing money to open a new location.
It is a risk, but a calculated and planned risk. We've also examined the outlays to spot what's suitable for trimming, and tightened scheduling. When the day is done, as a company, we have no choice except growth, or else the slices of the pie become smaller and smaller as costs rise and conditions change.
Therefore, my business is borrowing to grow.
Therefore, to run the city "like a business" would mean that of the options available, this strategy is one.
Somehow I doubt this is what Price meant.
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I don’t think Price meant anything by the statement. It lacked specifics, like saying the city “should be run well,” and thus was dismissed as another platitude. But, if I had to argue the point, I would say:
NEW ALBANY HAS BEEN RUN LIKE A BUSINESS: GENERAL MOTORS.
Other cities have invested in attracting new development, have invested in cultural amenities, and have invested in livability issues. These investments have attracted new development, attracted new, high skill workers, and kept young people from leaving immediately after graduation.
Like GM, New Albany has been unwilling to change its 1950s way of thinking. We haven’t kept up. While everyone else was changing, adapting, evolving, we laughed and plotted ahead with the tried and true. Unlike Toyota, we refused to become a 21st century organization.
Well, you can get by with that for a while. There are still people who think GM doesn't need to change. Sounds familiar.
The "business" of a business is to make a profit for it's owners/investors.
The "business" of government is to provide services for it's owners/constiuents that they are ill equipped or unable to provide for themselves-ie; public health & safety, public utilities, highways, ect.
Each of those concepts require a different philosophical approach or "business plan" if you will.
Attempting to mix & match the two results in neither working efffectivly.
The result is New Albany!
I heard that while Mr. Price was on the Urban Enterprise Zone board, he missed most meetings. When he did attend meetings, he read the newspaper instead of listening, learning, and participating in enterprise zone matters.
Here we have a powerful redevelopment tool, a tool given by the state that costs the city little if anything. Yet Price didn’t even try to use the tool. Price looked to others for leadership, just as he does on the council. Since the Urban Enterprise Zone doesn’t cost the city money, he can’t even pretend to use a budgetary, fig leaf argument. It’s clear that “the city is broke” was not the reason for his failure to lead in zone redevelopment. It's not “the city is broke.” It's "I don't care."
He sounds as much in touch with our city’s needs as an open palmed GM executive going to Washington in a private jet.
Dot connection alert! GM = NA
I have to give you a point Satirist, which negates the -point I gave you earlier over the Mayor's speech comment...
The larger world has sped past GM and NA so fast and far, we are a good 50 years behind here. And just like GM, hiz honor - the mayor, wants a Fed bail-out or he'll just have to fire police officers.
good analogy.
Acutally, G, what the mayor wants is to replace the revenue that the state keeps taking away from us and for the council to free up EDIT money for actual development. I don't think he's wrong about that.
I saw some sobering figures posted on a C-J forum recently by someone using the handle 47150. The numbers aren't exact but close enough to increase understanding.
NA's general fund is about $16 million to provide services to approximately 37,000 residents. That's $432 a person. If police and fire consume 80% of that, that leaves $86 per person for everything else.
According to the state, that's way too much. According to me, we need to get the state out of the local budget business.
$86 per person for everything else?
So, about $7 extra per month from each citizen would DOUBLE the amount the city has for sidewalks, parks, redevelopment, code enforcement, etc.?
I spend a lot more than $7/month in gas going to Louisville to visit their parks, seeing their attractions. If nothing else, for me it would be a gas money saver. Not to mention the appreciation my house would see if someone paved the street, put in a decent sidewalk, insert a few park benches and trash cans and forced the slumlords to clean up neighborings homes.
General Motors is not in trouble because they didn't pinch enough pennies. They're in trouble because they didn't invest in their future. I'd like New Albany to invest in its future. I want this town to be the kind of place where my grandchildren want to grow up instead of moving away to a place that has higher livability.
Concerning how the city appropriates money from the general fund, would it not be feasible to get the actual numbers under an open records request?
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