City council recap, by Grace Schneider in the Courier-Journal:
… At its first reading, the panel voted 5-4 against an ordinance to back an additional appropriation of EDIT funds, or economic-development income tax money, for the hiring. The money is normally used to supplement the general fund ...
… Council member Bob Caesar, who'd voted on a resolution to support the hiring plan on June 18, said he decided to vote no this time over concerns about the city's tight budgets.
"I've just got to see some numbers before I vote on it," Caesar said.
With this comment, CM Caesar leaps feet first out of the closet and declares to the city that he’s a swinger -- specifically, the swing vote on this particular issue. With two readings remaining, proponents of the EDIT-for-police ordinance may freely target the 2nd district councilman with advice, persuasion and ardor.
How might those wishing to lobby this self-identified swing voter proceed?
Since Caesar wants to see numbers, show him numbers. Lots and lots of numbers: Phone books, spread sheets, personal bank statements, a prospectus or three, and the stack of Tommy Lancaster cocktail napkins dating to 1956 with the real, unadulterated sewer utility receipts scrawled in pencil.
But why all those messy napkins?
If any one secure point emerged from last evening’s grandstanding-laden scrum, it’s that every politician involved, whether executive or legislative in origin, agrees that the sewer utility is the proverbial cash cow that needs to be appropriated from EMC at the earliest legal maneuver.
Trouble is, not a one of them trusts any of the others to fondle the trophy first, for fear that some of the money will rub off. It's "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" -- make that "Treasure of the Sewage Treatment Plant" -- in living, New Albanian Techno-Color.
That said, pro-police lobbyists also need to ensure that they provide the final five phone calls to Caesar’s cellular just prior to the beginning of the next meeting … wait, sorry – that’s the chosen methodology of the 4th district’s Pat McLaughlin, not Caesar, but what the hell – it might work with Bob, too. Dressing up like Sheriff Taylor might help neutralize CM Steve "Mayberry Reverie" Price, but I doubt it. He's pickin' ... and no one's grinnin'.
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It couldn’t have helped city council attorney Stan Robison sleep last night to hear both Price and Caesar publicly concede that it’s the council’s responsibility for sewage and storm water invasions in the ‘burbs.
In the sense that numerous decisions at different times over long periods of years contribute to the way things are now, yes, then we’re all responsible for the present. In New Albany, it all adds up to a living heritage of penny-wise, pound-foolish, and sadly, this is the philosophy that returns politicians to office to make decisions in the same futile vein that come back to haunt future voters – who, in the main, don’t so much as blink before repeating the process.
Doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different outcome? That’s the popular definition of insanity. In New Albany, it's politics as usual.
Who’ll change his or her vote next time?
To learn this and other tales of the Open Air Museum, you'll have to heed the wisdom of Emerson, Lake and Palmer: "Come and see the show."
The next council meeting is on Thursday, July 16. By then, I hope to have secured the Coney dog and beer concession – if a sewer tap-in is still available.
Can someone just tell me who to pay?
7 comments:
If Jack Messer would refrain from voting on this like he has other police issues, Caesar's swinging would be a nonstarter.
We can all blame the politicians, past and present, but WE THE PEOPLE are the ones who put them there.
Zoning variation or PUD request. Neighbors show up and leave as soon as THEIR subject is done. Police/firemen raises or requests for additional personnel/equipment. Up and leave as soon as THEIR subject is done. etc, etc.
I'll give some of the people there last night credit--maybe. Many seemed to stay until the end of the meeting. The maybe is, it was a relatively short meeting with only 3 ordinances to vote on and many of the people there had no idea how the meetings are run. We'll see if any of them ever return.
While I'm bitching, I'm also sick and tired of politicians telling me that they can't vote for this or that because it will cost them votes. And if it costs them votes, they won't be there to take care of the interests of New Albany. That's not even fuzzy logic. If you really care about the interests of New Albany--do it now. The Mayor hit the nail on the head last night.
You don't see me say that very often.
When the 5th district representative makes more sense than the rest, you definitely need a drink, to paraphrase the mayor.
What the newbies in attendance last night probably didn't catch was the way that their issue was soon transformed into NA's only issue: Who gets the bucks from the sewers.
I don't believe that #5 made any more sense.
She kept going on about annexation, like it is a foregone conclusion. Well, the attempt to annex may be but we have all seen annexations held up for years for a variety of reasons.
Anyone know exactly, or pretty much, what we are planning to annex? I know out Charlestown road but how much residential, if any?
Agreed, Mark. Sarcasm (and drinks) merited, but I'm too annoyed to be sarcastic today.
I don't know the exact geographic answer to that, Mark, but you've brought up an important point.
It's been claimed that the revenue generated from annexation will pay for the additional officers after the initial million runs out. No one can really say if it will or not, owing to the inconsistent and highly ideological way our general fund budget is calculated by the state.
The assertion that it will should be challenged and isn't solid evidence on which to make a decision, even though it's been proffered as such.
"We can all blame the politicians, past and present, but WE THE PEOPLE are the ones who put them there."
AMEN AMEN and AMEN...
George Carlin did a bit on this, and I wish I could find it now.
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