24thState

I Jumped The Gun

The letter to the editor that I mentioned the other day appeared in today's Springfield News-Leader.

I note that the comments left by readers pretty much track with the respectful, intelligent tone you would expect from people who would call you a fascist.  24th State readers tend to be a more thoughtful lot.  Thank you.

Thinking Like A Government Official

The background:

An analysis of 2010 Census Bureau numbers shows a jump in the number of vacant homes and apartments in the Ozarks in the past 10 years.  The majority of counties saw a double-digit increase in empty housing.

Taney County saw the largest jump at nearly 141 percent. Christian County's rate increased by 78 percent and Greene County climbed 67 percent.

"The biggest factors behind the increased vacancy rates are the continued weak economy and the large oversupply of housing that was produced during the housing bubble," said David Mitchell, director of the  Bureau of Economic Research at Missouri State University.  "The real estate market is going to continue to be a buyer's market for the foreseeable future."

Now, to think like a government official: Hey, we ought to provide incentives and tax credits to build loft living space downtown!

But He Didn't Use The Phrase "Vonnegut-Sniffing Dogs"

In his column today in the Springfield News-Leader, John Lilly reiterates the difference between a school district deciding not to provide access to material is not the same thing as banning or censoring the material:

Following the decision of the board, there were several letters to the editor in this newspaper which decried the "banning of books" and "censorship." Words have meaning and it is important to use words correctly. Even though the two books were removed from the Republic school district reading list and library, they were not banned. Banning implies that the item cannot be obtained anywhere. I'll bet you could obtain a copy of either book at a local library or go to a bookstore and purchase either book. If you can do either of those, the book has not been banned and there is no censorship. Students still have an opportunity to read the books.

The only way he could have better echoed our sentiments is if he'd actually used the phrase "Vonnegut-sniffing dogs."

de Tocquevillain of the Day

An evil capitalist assists former warmongers:

The American Legion Post 69 should soon have a newly painted cannon out front.

The 4,875-pound cannon sat in front of the office for about five years with rust showing and paint chipping, until Bob Hopkins decided to do something about it.

Hopkins, who owns Missouri Sandblasting, plans to sandblast away the chipping paint and re-paint the cannon the same color.

"We thought it really needed to be done," said Hopkins.

Hopkins and several other local business owners have agreed to donate the supplies and time necessary to make the restoration happen.

Wrap your mind around that: A free man decides to donate his time and effort on behalf of free men of like mind associating for their shared values and contributing to the public good.

No government assembly required.

Another Small Town Shouldn't Fall Prey To Special Tax Transfers

Yesterday, someone with the Show-Me Institute took to the pages of the Springfield News-Leader to warn the city of Nixa about the folly of collecting-taxes-and-giving-them-to-developer districts:

Over the past decade, Missouri has seen an explosion of alphabet soup-like taxing districts that use increased tax rates to channel public dollars toward private purposes. These districts include the use of tax increment financing (TIF), transportation development districts (TDD), community improvement districts (CID) and more. Nixa is considering imposing one of these districts, a CID, for a new street that will primarily access the stores in McCroskey Plaza. Nixa city officials should think twice before they embark on this course of action.

He highlights two major practical and moral flaws with these districts much as I like to think I do here.  Read the whole thing.

 

Springfield Voters Elect Competitive Advantage for Neighboring Towns' Businesses

Now that Springfield voters have determined that they, not property owners, have the "right" to dictate what legal but socially tut-tutted behavor people can engage in on private property that they might want to visit, restaurants in neighboring towns see that as a competitive advantage:

That line "Where you still have a choice."?  That means you can still smoke or choose not to smoke but to dine where smoking is allowed.

If it's a competitive advantage, it will be a brief one, as the professional nonsmoking advocate juggernaut rolls down Campbell Avenue into Nixa and down Highway M to Republic.  Because having the choice of restaurants in Springfield won't be enough.  It never is.

Springfield Spends $2.5 Million To Make City Look Like Construction Zone

Soon after putting out its longterm future plan, the city of Springfield spends $2.5 million from city, state, federal, and (not so much anymore) Chinese monies for electronic signs along some of its roadways:

Electronic signs on the side of the road are popping up around Springfield as part of an effort to decrease congestion and help drivers.

The 16 electronic roadway signs will eventually display information about traffic ahead, so people know when to avoid a particularly congested street. The city of Springfield and the Missouri Department of Transportation are also installing cameras -- not connected to red light cameras -- and sensors to detect congestion levels.

...

The city, state and federal government are sharing the $2.5 million price tag for the current construction.

The city's portion, about $650,000, is funded through the 1/8 cent transportation sales tax, Haynes said.

The city is spending this money to alleviate the fact that its transportation infrastructure has not kept up with the needs of citizens and other travellers.  Couple this with the $700,000 wayfinder signs, and you've got $3.2 million not spent on widening roads and building alternate routes.

Also, how helpful will these things really be?  More importantly, with the rise of GPS systems and the rate at which they get embedded into new automobiles, how useful will these things be in five years when everyone turns left to avoid congestion according to Google's instructions anyway?

 

Springfield, Too, Needs To Spend Money To Compete For Dying Business

Apparently, a consultant thinks Springfield needs to spend tax dollars to chase convention business:

An attached, full-service hotel could make the Springfield Expo Center more competitive, but it won't do the job alone, a consultant's report said.

Upgrades at the center and the University Plaza Hotel across the street, new restaurants and retail stores are needed as well, if Springfield hopes to compete effectively with Branson and other cities for convention business.

Those improvements altogether could require more than $53 million in private investment, as well as public subsidies and incentives estimated at $24 million to $55 million, according to the report from Chicago consulting firm Hunden Strategic Partners.

Frankly, the convention business chasing is something I just don't understand, either.  Cities want to build grand convention centers and hotels to draw out of town visitors to town so that cities can fleece them via exorbitant hotel and entertainment taxes which the cities then spend on building convention centers, hiring consultants who say the cities need to spend money to get convention business, and advertising the cities as tourist and convention destinations.  That is, of course, if the city gets enough convention business from its tax expenditures.  If not, the hotel rooms sit empty, and the city hires new consultants or something.

The purpose of city government is to provide city services.  Not to try to jump on a convention-business-seeking treadmill and runrunrun to keep in the same place.

Apparently, these Chicago-based consultants saw fit to insult the residents of Springfield as part of their assessment:

For anyone writing a personal ad or online dating profile, the word "dowdy" is an adjective best avoided.

For a city trying to drum up tourism and convention business, it's no better.

But the word has been applied to Springfield in a consultant's evaluation of the city Expo Center, along with "overly traditional ... perhaps even out-of-date/out-of-touch."

The report, by Chicago-based Strategic Partners, identifies a number of facility and infrastructure upgrades needed if Springfield wants to effectively compete with the likes of St. Louis, Branson and cities even farther afield.

You know, maybe Springfield residents like Springfield for those very reasons, and maybe the city leaders should not consider changing the "image" of the city from what the residents like to what consultants and diminishing numbers of convention planners like.

Parks Board Works To Convince Critics

Faced with opposition from the local YMCA over a reduplicative project, the Greene County park board marshalled its silver-tongued rhetoric to convince critics:

"We've always taken the high road in issues like this. This has gone too far," said board chair Jerry Clark. She said she wanted to address the disagreement because the YMCA had spread misinformation.

Our critics lie.

"My first question was why is this just now becoming an issue," said John Price, a member of the park board who met with the YMCA.

Our critics are suspect.

"We were much too far along to pull the plug on that project," she said.

If the government has invested any money in a project, it must complete it and keep its operation and maintenance as an annual budget line item forever.  Does it come as any surprise when some of us oppose any $20,000 study to determine the feasibility of something?  It's the first piton in the mountain of too far along to pull the plug!

"The options they presented to us became ultimatums," she said.

Our critics are extremists.

Granted, these are only quotes in the newspaper, so it could represent something less than the whole conversation.  However, this does track awfully close to the sort of "argument" I've heard from people on the Internet or in person when they defend government largesse.

Wait, there is an actual response to a critical point:

Toft argues that 2006 ballot material, circulated before that year's vote, lists $1 million for land acquisition and development of what was then known as Family Center East.

Since that time, the park board has gotten approval to issue $7 million in bonds to construct the facility on Blackman Road east of U.S. 65. That cost doesn't include future plans for another gym on the center's land and an aquatics center.

Toft said the 2006 description doesn't equate to a promise for this specific facility. That's why, he said, the YMCA didn't come out against the project before the 2006 vote.

But Clark and Parks Director Jodie Adams point to the 2006 ballot language itself, which asks for voter approval for "funding for parks acquisition and development in Springfield, Greene County and area municipalities for trails, area-wide parks, recreation facilities, school-parks, lakes, waterways and watersheds, historic and natural resource preservation and development of the Dickerson Park Zoo. . ."

Uh, yeah, QED.  I'm not sure which letters I have to block out in that language to get this particular project.  If you want to claim it falls under "recreation facilities," well, yeah, so would a motor speedway.

I'd like to see someone from the Parks Board explain why they need to build this particular center since it is duplicating YMCA services.  I would like to see them maybe make the case that the YMCA costs money (as will the pool in the park, eventually, and the YMCA does offer financial assistance).

Basically, I want to trot out this post from last year again about the lengths the city of St. Louis has to go to to get its attendance numbers up at its city swimming pools to justify their continued existence:

So the city [St. Louis] is spending an additional $500,000 to drop the fees for students and seniors. This is in addition to the $2,000,000 annual budget for the PRF Recreations division ($2,099,046 to be exact).

You want swimming pools and rec centers? The YMCA is lousy with them.

For $907,000, you could buy 900 household memberships, which would allow two parents and all their dependents to go to any YMCA in the country. That’s a net increase in served users over the 900 individuals this article seems to talk about.

But I'm a critic, I'm a bad man, and I have an ulterior motive: I want to convince people this is a bad idea.  Or, at the very least, that the Park Board does not present any argument to the contrary as presented in this article.

The Parks Board Needs More Money For Duplicate Services

Greene County is considering putting a tax increase on the ballot for county and municipal parks, but the County government is dillydallying on putting it on the ballot:

The Greene County Commission again put off approving the parks tax for the August ballot, citing a desire to give the public more time to weigh in on the proposal.

Approving the ballot language was left off of the commission session agenda for Monday by accident. But the commissioners said they had previously agreed to wait another two weeks before voting on the ballot measure.

Fortunately, this has given us enough time to realize the Springfield-Greene County Park Board desperately needs that money to fund parks that duplicate services provided by local nonprofits nearby:

The Ozarks Regional YMCA is publicly voicing opposition to a Springfield-Greene County Park Board project that Y officials describe as unnecessary spending of tax dollars.

The parks director defends the project as long-planned and the will of voters who passed the 2006 parks tax.

Brad Toft, CEO for the Ozarks Regional YMCA, says the park-board project is just six minutes from the Pat Jones YMCA.

Dan Kinney Park is open now, and parks officials plan to break ground soon on a new family center there -- on Blackman Road east of U.S. 65 -- similar to two other park board-owned centers: the Doling Family Center and Chesterfield Family and Aquatics Center.

In uncertain economic times, we have one certainty: all governmental units will on one hand explain they are in dire financial straits and, with the other hand, continue cutting ribbons on ongoing and increasing expenditures.