Its a Police State

The City is really scrapping these days. Police Chief Gastia has issued quotas to his officers to write at least 5 parking tickets a month, and this does not include the Downtown area that utilizes "meter maids" for that function. He says it came down from his original proposal of 10 so we should be happy. WTF? Well, I'm not happy Ron. I own a business that utilizes on-street parking. This is on a fairly narrow side street and most folks pull slightly on to the esplanade to get out of the road. Its a safety thing, for them and other traffic. And now your going to ticket them? What a dipshit. And dont say it wont happen as my neighbor has already been nailed twice. Once for this minor infraction, and the next day for having the left tire to the curb ( another safety thing) in front of his own house I might add. Ron says its about safety and not increased revenues for the City. Another crock of shit. The City Council has stated that they have not asked for this, but as Gerry Palmer put it, we're not in the business of micromanaging the Police Dept. or dictating Police policy. Why the hell not? Its the money people! Gerry's more concerned that the memo was leaked to the press by an anonymous source. Why in the world would the officer who leaked the memo tell his boss it was him/her? Obviously, there would be repercussions on the whistleblower. The real bottom line is, we have to many cops with nothing to do except ride around. So instead of trimming the force, we'll give them this to do. Lets try saving money or cutting the force to balance the budget, instead of stepping up parking enforcement. Surely there must be some real criminals out there, other than these parking scofflaws. Hows about shutting down a few Oxy and crack houses around town, or better yet, lets try to keep the homeless from killing each other. That should keep you busy for a while Ron.

Speaking of the police. I was driving down Hammond St. the other day and a few oversize sections of a wind turbine shaft were being driven through town. The whole convoy was being escorted by a private escort firm (as required) and 7 State police vehicles. SEVEN! I really hope the developer is paying for this. I've seen these things come through town on numerous occasions with only the required private escort firm. So why all the Staties? Looks like another waste of State resources and probably our tax dollars.

Solid waste disposal has come back on the Councils radar thanks to Proffessor Gratwick. This guy is a first class moron. Havent we beat this to death? Jim Ring was just rolling his eyes at the Council meeting. Lets get this straight, due to the economy, the market for recyclables has dropped to almost nothing and the City is loosing money. A State subsidy (our tax dollars) is the only thing keeping this alfoat. Why in the world would anyone suggest we need to increase our recycling efforts? Do we need to loose more money? Hows about killing the curbside pick-up program and make folks go the the center over by the airport. Ol Geoffry even went down to Brunswick and discussed thier program (what did that cost us?). Well proffessor, hows about just calling a few citizens of Brunswick and see how they feel about it. They've had mandatory recycling since the mid 1980's and they know first hand about it. Certain things like, the trash patrol that will sort thru your garbage and fine you if you have recyclables in there. And the fact that all labels must be removed from cans and glass containers, or you'll get fined, etc. etc. Have you ever tried to remove the label from a ketchup bottle? Its a huge hassle, trust me. So it looks like pay as you throw is coming to Bangor and coming soon. They seem to think we've got all sorts of time (and money) to go to the Public Works once a week to buy special colored trash bags. Another city employee will be needed to dispense these things to consumers. Where does the spending end? Any chance you might sell stickers, like most towns? It looks like Geoff is trying to actually do something now the that his re-election is coming up. Dont even get me started on Pat Blanchette's comments about throwing plastic bags into the landfill. Didnt we close the Kitteridge Landfill about 10 years ago? Either wake up, or shut up Pat. Your up for re-election as well my dear. The only sensible thing said on the subject was Dave Neally's comment that we pay our taxes and we assume they pay for certain services, and trash collection is one of them. If this keeps up, I may have to get a 50 gallon drum and start a little fire each week.

Well, I'm all out of breath. Six weeks before the election, stay tuned for my take on the candidates. Till next time.......