Saturday, August 25, 2007

Tom Henry Critique

Tom Henry has released his stances on a grand total of four issues in the course of his Mayoral campaign.

It is no secret that I am a Matt Kelty supporter; however, I want to discuss the stances Tom Henry has taken to date in his campaign.

One of the things I have been most disappointed in with Tom Henry is the lack of positions he has taken in this race. Over the next few days I will analyze the positions he has taken to date. Currently he has taken a stance on a total of four issues.

The first issue was released on July 12th on his website.

Please read it for yourself:
<http://www.tomhenryformayor.com/Documents/2007712124645.pdf>

I will summarize it for you here:
1. Tom wants the Community to meet and discuss possible uses of the Light Lease fund
throughout 2008.
2. City Employees and consultants will be used as needed. (Lets hope we do not hire
consultants from outside of Fort Wayne, AGAIN)
3. A consensus will hopefully be reached.

After review Tom Henry's stance on the expected 40 million dollars that will be available is not as bad as I first thought. I would most likely grade his idea as a C+.

My fear is that the "Steering Committee" will come up with a project like Harrison Square because of the people selected to serve on it. I would like to see a steering committee of people from outside the usual pool of about 100 people that serve on Boards in this area. Please remember that our City Council approved Harrison Square when a recent Zogby polls shows that five citizens oppose the project for every two who support it.

In my mind there are only two possible uses for the 40 million dollars.

1. The most logical use is to spend the money to fix our CSO problem and discharge raw sewage
to the rivers less often. I think this is a no-brainer. By putting this 40 million dollars towards
this we will end up having to borrow (bond) less money.

2. Our public pension funds are currently almost 1/4 of a billion dollars underfunded. I would
also consider depositing the 40 million dollars into the public pension plans.

The Light Lease Fund was brought up at a recent NWAP meeting as well. The VAST majority of residents who attended the meeting felt that the Light Lease proceeds should be used to pay for unfunded liabilities... Tom Didier disagreed with us...

I have little doubt that our politicians will end up spending the Light Lease proceeds on some new project rather then pay for past "sins."

Mike Sylvester
By at

7 comments:

Aspergers.life said...

Mike,

Micah Clark of AFA had an interesting e-mail regarding Matt Kelty...

"Matt Kelty is innocent until proven guilty. He has been found innocent by the county's highest election authority. Kelty has merely been re-accused in this new twist. The Allen County Election Board looked into the matter and cleared Kelty of any wrongdoing. As important as that ruling was, for many conservative leaders, the fact that Matt was represented by Jim Bopp before the election board was just as important. Jim is without question, one of the best legal authorities in Indiana on election law and he has worked closely with groups like AFA of Indiana, the Indiana Family Institute, Indiana Right to Life and Focus on the Family on election, life and marriage issues. He has stated that Matt Kelty did not violate state election law."

BTW, Aaron Russo pasted away today, in case you hand't heard.

25 August, 2007 20:48
F6's Editor said...

Is it just me or has our democratic government become Task Force happy. Everything is committee this or consensus that.

Where is the leadership?

Asleep at the helm on the north bank of the Saint Mary's River.

While for the last several years private groups like Save Maumee have been using limited funds and personal time and running the risk of serious infection and illness to clean up, prevent erosion, provide educational opportunities to youth, and accountability to local government. The facts are there. The EPA forces the city to release that data annually. We barely pass. It is right time to take advantage of the resources we have available before the Lincoln Tower ends up in a sink hole much like the tow truck in New York City.

Instead of forming another dog burn committee or task force take the time to use the work that is already being done and implement it across the board with the full support and access to/of the City government and resources.

Wait, that would be a Libertarian ideal not a Democrat or Republican one. I guess the citizenry will just have to vote Libertarians for City Council if they want the job to get done and not sat on or watched over by a committee for a year and a half before a plan is written out and then voted on!

26 August, 2007 09:18
Anonymous said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6azohP8fJM

26 August, 2007 22:14
Anonymous said...

I would grade Matt Kelty's legal performance as an F

Cheers

27 August, 2007 10:33
Anonymous said...

I would grade the performance of the political hacks as an "F" and so thoroughly transparent that a child could see through their disguises. Its about the money, isn't it?

27 August, 2007 12:49
F6's Editor said...

Fr. Fozy: To validate what I wrote!

"Facing South"
by Abigail Frost

(http://savemaumee.org/images/rivermap.jpg)

The 3 Rivers in Fort Wayne, Indiana appear brown and muddy but the clay bottom makes the color less than appealing to the average American.
Little do you know that the color is the very least of this city's problems.
The St. Joe (starting at the bottom of this picture) is where over 200,000 people get their drinking water.
The St. Mary's (on the far right) is shallow and rarely discussed because it's shallow with high pollution and lack of use.
The Maumee River has high Mercury, PCB and E. Coli content, is filling up with sediment and garbage because of bad decisions and lack of action It also flows into the largest fresh water source in the world...The Great Lakes

Introducing...Save Maumee (http://savemaumee.org/)

Save Maumee Grassroots Organization was formed to create awareness about the Three Rivers in Fort Wayne, IN and to facilitate ecosystem projects for the purpose of repairing and improving the St. Joe, St. Mary, and Maumee Rivers with the heaviest focus on the Maumee. The historical importance and current polluted conditions. Ultimately our grassroots projects hope to revitalize the Maumee River Basin by protecting and restoring the environment and improve the economic, aesthetic and recreational value.

About the CSO issue:

Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO) happened every 2.4 days in 2006...this is where Sewer drains and storm drains are combined and spew sewage into the Maumee and St. Mary. The city is claiming they are fixing this problem, however CSO's discharge outlets have increased from 36 to 38 areas in the last few years and are still discharging pollution at an alarming rate.

The City of Fort Wayne last year would not sponsor a clean up on Earth Day 2006 so Save Maumee paid $50 for a permit to gather, clean up garbage and plant approved native riparian seed on the riverbanks of the Maumee.

Fr. Fozy:

All we would have to do is slow down the water by building strategic hydro power dams and our water would clear up because the particulates in the water would not be stirred so fast therefore sediment would be aloud to settle to the bottom and we would clean up our environmental foot print in the city at the same time because we then could clean up the water better before it went down stream.

This is a prime example of private entrepreneurial initiative making the city better. Now imagine what would happen if the city put its resources behind a private organization that is already doing what the City refuses to address or clean up. This is why we need to sweep the City Council out in November!

27 August, 2007 13:39
David C Roach said...

THATS "STIER-ing" committee- as in that loser jackass who ran the Democrat party into the ground, and had a worse win record than the cubs. giggle!
are we sure Chairman shine isnt a Democrat Mole? It seems the GOP has handed another win to the local fiscal Liberals. again..
and all these task forces, and committees are run by developers schills, and yes men, who are likely paid to attend these meetings. with all the meetings, wasting time, and all at night, who has the time, and resources, and numbers to attend all these boring time wasters, unless you were getting paid.
wear down the resistance. divide and conquer.
anybody want to buy some cheap land in the surounding counties? low property taxes. lots of jobs. greenfields galore. no FTW cops.

27 August, 2007 17:19

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