2011 is winding down quickly. It's been a pretty good ride this past year. Tons of stuff went down last year, so here's a few from the VOB's list of top news stories. My oldest graduating from college has to be tops on my list. The construction of the new arena started, that's a biggie for these parts. Paul LePage is chopping his way thru the States budget concerns, that's got a few folks riled up. Table games and fireworks will be legal as of midnight, that's left many uneasy. Not the black jack, just the big boomers. And of course, the infamous bath salts epidemic sweeping the Region. Its been a roller coaster ride with highs and lows. The Bangor girls soccer team winning the State Class A title was a big high. The revelations concerning Rev Bob Carlson was probably the lowest of lows. But, in the words of Pumba, you need to put your past behind you. Lets look forward to 2012 as a breath of fresh air, filling our lungs and hearts. Big things are coming for Bangor and I have my eyes wide open with anticipation. Steve Smith is probably taping the Christmas lights on that ol' beach ball and getting the celebration ready. Throw out the old and bring in the new.
The newly elected City Council has been feeling its way around. Mayor Weston has expanded the role into more of a leadership position, rather than an administrative one. Not sure how that will go with the others. It's pretty obvious the Councilor Longo is not a big fan of Weston. Charlie says alot, but doesn't say alot, if you catch my drift. The same goes for newcomer James Gallant. Lots of talk, no real solutions. We'll have to wait and see how this falls into place. I'm sure councilor Gallant realizes that the discussions concerning campaign signs were directed squarely at him. I've got to say, his 4x8 sheets of plywood were waaaay to big to be planted in the median at the intersection of Norway and Hammond St. But, he's a rookie, and rookies are allowed a few mistakes. councilor Joe Baldacci has hit the ground running. He's quick to remind everyone that he was a Councilor and former Mayor in the past. I wouldn't be bragging about that a whole bunch if I was you Joe. Didn't you guys buy a cruise boat? How did that work out? OK, OK, I promised to look forward, so lets do that.
The City Council has determined that Bangor needs to take the lead in the discussion concerning the closure of Dorthea Dix State Hospital. Good luck with that. Just watching the meeting where the "committee" was being kicked around was pretty painful. Sounds like a lot of energy to be spent for nothing. The State will close the facility, mark my words. My real concern is that the Council should focus on the City's role, not the Regions. We have elected leaders to represent us in Augusta, so why the need for a committee? I think Pat Blanchette and Nichi Farnham already have that job. Not to mention the bare facts, but the facility is costing the State a small fortune to operate. There are only a few "patient beds" and the math just doesn't work. Acadia Hospital has already stated that they could absorb these patients. I really don't think that's the place for violent offenders, but its an option for most of the population that resides there. I'm not to sure if the violent folks belong at Dorthea Dix either. They are not really set up for that as we witnessed a few times last year. In the end, this seams to be the biggest sticking point. Are there that many violent offenders sent to the phychiatric ward in Bangor? Short of the bath salts abusers, who are these people? It's a tough one for sure, but the Govenor will have the last word here, and I believe the place will be shuttered.
Glad to see that the PATY idea has been shelved for the time being. Hats off the Charlie Longo for stating the obvious. To bad the Professor Gratwick cant see the forest thru the trees. The Council needs to look at keeping this service as part of the property tax, and not an added burden to the citizens.
I got a kick out of the Council workshop that addressed the working of EMDC and the arena. Mike Aube is a nice guy, a former Mayor, and well liked in City circles. That being said, EMDC was hired by the City to look into possible funding sources for the new arena. They did just that, spent $25k, and told the City that there wasn't any sources. I'm fine with that. The question put to the Council was should the City continue the relationship with EMDC and extend the contract. I offer an emphatic NO! Why would we? Hell, give me $5k and I'll come back in a month and tell you the same thing. We are on our own with the arena, lets face it folks. Stop tossing cash at EMDC and save it for the arena, its a win-win situation.
That's all for now. Enjoy the downtown celebration tonight, I'll see you at Paddy Murphy's, around 11:55 or so. Happy New Year
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Friday, December 2, 2011
Say It Aint So
Boy you'd think it was a slow news week the way that the BDN reported the story on the Waterfront Concert Series contract negotiations. This rag is one step away from the National Enquirer in my book. They've always had a slanted spin, but this is a little much. With one headline they pretty much called Alex Grey a crybaby who should "take his ball and go home", and blasted the Council for being dysfunctional. Neither are even close to being accurate. It's no real news that the negotiations with WC have dragged on to long, but the relocation of the stage created an issue that was not really thought about (site grading and particularly the seeding of these disturbed areas). Mr Grey was very sincere in his discussions with the City concerning the need to have the grass established prior to the start of the 2012 season. He would not sign any contracts with performers without a guarantee was given that the "product" (venue) would be ready and acceptable to the booking agents. When promoters pay for a grass lined hill with portable seating and you get a muddy field, that's a breach of contract. The grass in question would need to be well established to handle the foot traffic and demands of several back-to-back bookings for April and May. Not rocket science here kids. The Council intended to have this agreement in place prior to the November vote, but that was not to be. Therefore, the 3 new Councilors were being asked to vote/approve the agreement without being part of the development process. (They could have watched it on TV like me, but that's another story). I see nothing wrong with waiting a week or so to give these new kids a chance to properly review the agreement. Alex has no problems with this, except being quoted totally out of context in the BDN. So before you go off singing "Bye Bye Mr Waterfront Guy...", take a deep breath, there's no story here. The Waterfront concert Series will continue well beyond 2012.
Holiday madness has started up again. It's been picking up steam these past few weeks and now its a runaway freight train. If you see me at the mall, please don't mace me, or hit me with a tazer. I don't need the new flat screen that bad. Honestly, why do folks go nuts for a good deal? My sister-in-law is a classic shopaholic. She headed out at 4am on Black Friday to save $50 on a snowblower. I'm not sure why, she could easily pay full price with the salary she makes. Its the thrill of the hunt I guess. I like the thrill of sleep on my day off.
Bangor PD has put out the word that they will be setting up DUI roadblocks all thru town for the month of December. All you morons driving with a "good buzz on" have been warned. If you must get hammered over the holidays, take a cab or stay the hell home. Nuff said.
The Bob Carlson mess has been pretty awful for a lot of folks. Ms Ordway's column in the BDN was very well done and brought up some good points. The good works vs the evil works debate is a tough one. The fact that this man was a complete psychopath has people looking deep inside at there own judgement. Many people were well aware of what was going on, but most were not. This is very similar to the whole Penn State debacle. The kids of today are watching this unfold. What are we to say to them? Don't trust the clergy? Don't trust your High School coaches? Don't trust anybody? WTF???? I hope parents have used this opportunity to talk frankly to the younger kids about these situations. As the OWS protesters have said over and over, we are the 99%. The creepy twisted sick bastards are the 1%.
Speaking of the OWS folks, the Bangor protest looks more like a homeless camp-out than any political rally or statement. This fire never really took up here in the Big Potato.
That is for now, keep the faith .
Holiday madness has started up again. It's been picking up steam these past few weeks and now its a runaway freight train. If you see me at the mall, please don't mace me, or hit me with a tazer. I don't need the new flat screen that bad. Honestly, why do folks go nuts for a good deal? My sister-in-law is a classic shopaholic. She headed out at 4am on Black Friday to save $50 on a snowblower. I'm not sure why, she could easily pay full price with the salary she makes. Its the thrill of the hunt I guess. I like the thrill of sleep on my day off.
Bangor PD has put out the word that they will be setting up DUI roadblocks all thru town for the month of December. All you morons driving with a "good buzz on" have been warned. If you must get hammered over the holidays, take a cab or stay the hell home. Nuff said.
The Bob Carlson mess has been pretty awful for a lot of folks. Ms Ordway's column in the BDN was very well done and brought up some good points. The good works vs the evil works debate is a tough one. The fact that this man was a complete psychopath has people looking deep inside at there own judgement. Many people were well aware of what was going on, but most were not. This is very similar to the whole Penn State debacle. The kids of today are watching this unfold. What are we to say to them? Don't trust the clergy? Don't trust your High School coaches? Don't trust anybody? WTF???? I hope parents have used this opportunity to talk frankly to the younger kids about these situations. As the OWS protesters have said over and over, we are the 99%. The creepy twisted sick bastards are the 1%.
Speaking of the OWS folks, the Bangor protest looks more like a homeless camp-out than any political rally or statement. This fire never really took up here in the Big Potato.
That is for now, keep the faith .
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
The People Have Spoken!
This may have been an "off" election cycle, but we had some shockers here folks. The referendum questions went pretty much as I had figured. The two gambling questions were bad for Bangor, so no surprise on that, and nobody really cared about the other two questions. I was totally shocked to see that the Bangor dispatchers won the battle and wont loose the center. This makes no sense fiscally. Do people have any idea what they are voting on? For god's sake people, smaaaaahtin up!!
On the Council side I was blind-sided. Never saw that coming, no way in hell. I will say that Rick Bronson looked like a total ass in the Candidate Forum that was held at the library. He was smug and condesending to say the least. To bad for him as he was a good candidate. I will say that all of the candidates were first rate and anyone of them would make a fine Councilor. It's no secret that I like Dave Neally, and I believe the voters screwed up on this one. It should be interesting seeing ol' Professor Gratwick and Pat the Battle Axe duke it out with the newbies.
Looks like PAYT is out the door for now. Praise the lord on that one. Another blow to the Professor. Looks like he's not the smaaaaahtest guy in the City after all. Sorry Geoff, Bangorian's-1, City Council Douche's-0.
Till next time kid's, keep on keepin on!
On the Council side I was blind-sided. Never saw that coming, no way in hell. I will say that Rick Bronson looked like a total ass in the Candidate Forum that was held at the library. He was smug and condesending to say the least. To bad for him as he was a good candidate. I will say that all of the candidates were first rate and anyone of them would make a fine Councilor. It's no secret that I like Dave Neally, and I believe the voters screwed up on this one. It should be interesting seeing ol' Professor Gratwick and Pat the Battle Axe duke it out with the newbies.
Looks like PAYT is out the door for now. Praise the lord on that one. Another blow to the Professor. Looks like he's not the smaaaaahtest guy in the City after all. Sorry Geoff, Bangorian's-1, City Council Douche's-0.
Till next time kid's, keep on keepin on!
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Turning Leaves
Fall is on us again. I love this time of year, cool days, cooler nights. Of course this past weekend was the exception. Too hot for this time of year. Some folks even went to the beach! Winter will be on us quickly so button up your homes while you've got the chance. Oil is sky high again with no relief in sight. Hopefully the old pellet stove will keep on cranking. I've done some major insulating and upgrades this summer so I should be in pretty good shape.
Lots of grumbling around Town concerning Bangor Gas. Sounds like they wont come down the side streets for a while. Folks on Norway and Silver Roads were told to screw off, not enough houses to make it worth their efforts. From what I hear, Lower Norway had 6 homes ready to sign up and there are only 8 on that section. Still not enough for Bangor Gas. Why run the main down Webster Ave if that's the case? That doesn't sit well with me at all.
My hats off to the City for the new Public Access networks on cable. The video and audio are outstanding. HUGE improvement over the old system. I may be one of the only guys watching this thing, so I thank you. The "School Board" channel gets a little dry for sure, but the Council workshops are great. For anyone who says there isn't any transparency in Bangor, turn off Dr Phil and tune into Channel 7 for a change.
I was impressed by Chief Gastia and his team for the presentations on bath salts they gave a few weeks back. Well done, organized, and informative. This scourge needs to be dealt with quickly. Its one thing when these idiots hurt themselves, but when Joe Bangorian is being chased by a shirtless lunatic, that's another story. They story in Mondays paper concerning a 26 year old woman who had been arrested for bath salt possession a few days earlier was to funny to be true. This moron was told to report daily to BPD as a part of her bail conditions. She arrived at the PD office just before midnight, cutting it close for sure. When she was questioned and searched, it was found that she had more salts, syringes, and other drugs and paraphernalia in her purse. WTF? This shows just how stupid the bath salt addicts are. Oh, they revoked her bail and tossed the fool in the can. One less on the street, hundreds more to go. How big is the County jail anyway?
There's a bunch of folks running for the 3 Council seats up for grabs. I've read a little about them, but not enough to start forming an opinion. I do like Dave Neally and Rick Bronson for re-election. They both do a fine job, are tight with a buck, and don't believe everything they hear. So they'll get the nod from the VOB. The third slot is the toss-up for now. I'll be doing my leg work and giving my rankings sometime towards the end of the month.
That's all for now kids, keep the faith.
Lots of grumbling around Town concerning Bangor Gas. Sounds like they wont come down the side streets for a while. Folks on Norway and Silver Roads were told to screw off, not enough houses to make it worth their efforts. From what I hear, Lower Norway had 6 homes ready to sign up and there are only 8 on that section. Still not enough for Bangor Gas. Why run the main down Webster Ave if that's the case? That doesn't sit well with me at all.
My hats off to the City for the new Public Access networks on cable. The video and audio are outstanding. HUGE improvement over the old system. I may be one of the only guys watching this thing, so I thank you. The "School Board" channel gets a little dry for sure, but the Council workshops are great. For anyone who says there isn't any transparency in Bangor, turn off Dr Phil and tune into Channel 7 for a change.
I was impressed by Chief Gastia and his team for the presentations on bath salts they gave a few weeks back. Well done, organized, and informative. This scourge needs to be dealt with quickly. Its one thing when these idiots hurt themselves, but when Joe Bangorian is being chased by a shirtless lunatic, that's another story. They story in Mondays paper concerning a 26 year old woman who had been arrested for bath salt possession a few days earlier was to funny to be true. This moron was told to report daily to BPD as a part of her bail conditions. She arrived at the PD office just before midnight, cutting it close for sure. When she was questioned and searched, it was found that she had more salts, syringes, and other drugs and paraphernalia in her purse. WTF? This shows just how stupid the bath salt addicts are. Oh, they revoked her bail and tossed the fool in the can. One less on the street, hundreds more to go. How big is the County jail anyway?
There's a bunch of folks running for the 3 Council seats up for grabs. I've read a little about them, but not enough to start forming an opinion. I do like Dave Neally and Rick Bronson for re-election. They both do a fine job, are tight with a buck, and don't believe everything they hear. So they'll get the nod from the VOB. The third slot is the toss-up for now. I'll be doing my leg work and giving my rankings sometime towards the end of the month.
That's all for now kids, keep the faith.
Monday, August 15, 2011
I Stand Corrected
Whoa! I got a few emails last week concerning my latest post. Looks like I got a few things wrong and I have no problem setting it straight.
My rant about the cost of the new BPD video was slightly off the mark. The video was shot with the help of NESCOM students and actually only cost a few hundred bucks. Still, not money well spent, but not a huge waste. The Dept's new Public Relations position has been working on this for a while. Now there's the waste of money, the PR guy. Does the City really need a Police Department PR guy? Another example of the Chief pissing away our tax dollars. Thanks Ronnie, your the best.
On to the fire boat debacle. Now Chief Cammack is calling this a fire-rescue boat. That makes more sense. We have had a few bridge jumpers, and the waterfront is extremely busy these days, so a rescue boat is probably needed. But fire boat, no way. In gambling terms, this ones a push.
Hollywood Slots is pushing for table games at the downtown casino. I'm sure the Chief will scream about crime and the need for MORE police. Same old rhetoric from the midget. I'm all for the table games. The casino has been a very responsible neighbor so far, so why not go with them? I don't see allot of negatives on this one.
Gerry Palmer has announced he wont seek another Council term. Really? Really? He'll be back at it in a few years for sure. This blow hard loves to talk to much to retire. I will say that Gerry truly loves the City and has worked hard on its behalf. I think he is mis-guided on several issues, but his heart in in the right place. If he'd stop wearing those pink crocs, he might have a little more credibility.
Summer is in full swing so get outside and enjoy the City. The American Folk Festival is in a few weeks and the Senior Little League World Series kicked off the other day. The Kah Bang festival was a big hit with the 20-30 somethings and I have heard only good reviews of the event and the management team. Hopefully this this survives and can come back next year.
That's all for now, keep the faith people...........
My rant about the cost of the new BPD video was slightly off the mark. The video was shot with the help of NESCOM students and actually only cost a few hundred bucks. Still, not money well spent, but not a huge waste. The Dept's new Public Relations position has been working on this for a while. Now there's the waste of money, the PR guy. Does the City really need a Police Department PR guy? Another example of the Chief pissing away our tax dollars. Thanks Ronnie, your the best.
On to the fire boat debacle. Now Chief Cammack is calling this a fire-rescue boat. That makes more sense. We have had a few bridge jumpers, and the waterfront is extremely busy these days, so a rescue boat is probably needed. But fire boat, no way. In gambling terms, this ones a push.
Hollywood Slots is pushing for table games at the downtown casino. I'm sure the Chief will scream about crime and the need for MORE police. Same old rhetoric from the midget. I'm all for the table games. The casino has been a very responsible neighbor so far, so why not go with them? I don't see allot of negatives on this one.
Gerry Palmer has announced he wont seek another Council term. Really? Really? He'll be back at it in a few years for sure. This blow hard loves to talk to much to retire. I will say that Gerry truly loves the City and has worked hard on its behalf. I think he is mis-guided on several issues, but his heart in in the right place. If he'd stop wearing those pink crocs, he might have a little more credibility.
Summer is in full swing so get outside and enjoy the City. The American Folk Festival is in a few weeks and the Senior Little League World Series kicked off the other day. The Kah Bang festival was a big hit with the 20-30 somethings and I have heard only good reviews of the event and the management team. Hopefully this this survives and can come back next year.
That's all for now, keep the faith people...........
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
The Heat Is On!
Its been a scorcher these past few weeks. I heard that July was the hottest on record for Maine. Its been brutal for sure. I've been working the fans and AC to death. Even the garden is taking it on the chin. My water bill will be HUGE next quarter, and everything is still basically dead. So much for my green thumb.
I've been down to camp sitting around the campfire quite a bit this summer. Lots of good conversation on the shape of the City, State, and the Nation. This whole "debt ceiling" bullshit pretty much killed any thought I had of re-electing ANY of the morons currently in DC. Get out the broom my friends. These lazy douchebags are even going on vacation for a month, leaving critical FAA funding legislation on the back burner. Meanwhile, thousands of employees, contractors, and suppliers are out of work, waiting for these asshats to wrap up their Labor Day weekend bar-b-ques. As my good friend Gordon Ramsey says, "Its disgusting!!" My faith in the Federal Govt. has been shaken to its core.
Hats off to Charlie Longo for taking the City Council to task on the 'pay-as-you-throw" system being pushed onto the poor folks of Bangor. The City currently makes over $300,000 per year on the current system. That system also employs 4 folks that work the Center over by the airport. In the proposed PAYT set-up, those guys are out of work and some outside entity gets the $300k (and then some). WTF?? This is all for a conceived rise in costs in year 2018? I've been railing against this from day one when Professor Gratwick brought up the idea. He's been on this environmental crusade for 10 years now, and this will be the crown jewel. Well done Geoff. My Nana appreciates the extra trash pick-up fee's being imposed. She's got tons of extra cash for your crown. I'm sure the guys at the Center are equally as happy as Nana. They hate working there anyway, right Geoff?
Glad to see Art Morgan get promoted to City Engineer. I've known and worked with Art for over 20 years. He's a good man and the City should be happy to have him at the helm.
I was scanning the public access network last night and happened upon the City's new Police Dept propaganda movie. What is the purpose behind this? Are we actively recruiting new police? Is this a Officer Friendly feel good piece? What the hell is it? Why would we spend a dime on this stupid thing. Must be all the extra revenue from parking rule enforcement. Way to go Chief, your the best. Maybe if you weren't out mugging for the camera, you could get a better handle on the bath salt situation here in town. One of the patrol officers stated that he comes in at 5am and goes home past 10pm, and sometime later. That is just plain untrue. Maybe on some rare occasion, but that's clearly not the norm. The Chief has been spouting the staffing statistics for the last year in his push to hire more cops, so I know a little about the daily patrolman's hours. Again I ask, why was a dime, or hell, even a penny, spent on this film? Someone?? Anyone?? Chief???
The City is kicking around the idea of purchasing a fire boat for the waterfront. Where do I begin on this stupid idea. Who comes up with this shit? Don't people understand how poor the economy is these days? Why on earth would we spend money on something we don't really have a need for. Has there been a rash of fires on the river that I'm not aware of? I understand that a good chunk of the funds for this boat are from the ARRA (aka stimulus money) so why should we care? Well, we've got to maintain this thing, we need to store this thing, we need to train fire fighters on the use of this thing. We'll need some Coast Guard approvals and other stuff as well. Has anyone thought about the long term costs of this foolish boat? Maybe they'll use it to spray water on the crowds of unruly concert goers at the Waterfront Pavilion, or better yet, the transient scumbags living under the Veteran's Bridge. That makes sense, but fire fighting? That's a crock of shit.
That's all I got for now. Hammond St will be paved soon, so some help is on the way!
Keep the faith people.
I've been down to camp sitting around the campfire quite a bit this summer. Lots of good conversation on the shape of the City, State, and the Nation. This whole "debt ceiling" bullshit pretty much killed any thought I had of re-electing ANY of the morons currently in DC. Get out the broom my friends. These lazy douchebags are even going on vacation for a month, leaving critical FAA funding legislation on the back burner. Meanwhile, thousands of employees, contractors, and suppliers are out of work, waiting for these asshats to wrap up their Labor Day weekend bar-b-ques. As my good friend Gordon Ramsey says, "Its disgusting!!" My faith in the Federal Govt. has been shaken to its core.
Hats off to Charlie Longo for taking the City Council to task on the 'pay-as-you-throw" system being pushed onto the poor folks of Bangor. The City currently makes over $300,000 per year on the current system. That system also employs 4 folks that work the Center over by the airport. In the proposed PAYT set-up, those guys are out of work and some outside entity gets the $300k (and then some). WTF?? This is all for a conceived rise in costs in year 2018? I've been railing against this from day one when Professor Gratwick brought up the idea. He's been on this environmental crusade for 10 years now, and this will be the crown jewel. Well done Geoff. My Nana appreciates the extra trash pick-up fee's being imposed. She's got tons of extra cash for your crown. I'm sure the guys at the Center are equally as happy as Nana. They hate working there anyway, right Geoff?
Glad to see Art Morgan get promoted to City Engineer. I've known and worked with Art for over 20 years. He's a good man and the City should be happy to have him at the helm.
I was scanning the public access network last night and happened upon the City's new Police Dept propaganda movie. What is the purpose behind this? Are we actively recruiting new police? Is this a Officer Friendly feel good piece? What the hell is it? Why would we spend a dime on this stupid thing. Must be all the extra revenue from parking rule enforcement. Way to go Chief, your the best. Maybe if you weren't out mugging for the camera, you could get a better handle on the bath salt situation here in town. One of the patrol officers stated that he comes in at 5am and goes home past 10pm, and sometime later. That is just plain untrue. Maybe on some rare occasion, but that's clearly not the norm. The Chief has been spouting the staffing statistics for the last year in his push to hire more cops, so I know a little about the daily patrolman's hours. Again I ask, why was a dime, or hell, even a penny, spent on this film? Someone?? Anyone?? Chief???
The City is kicking around the idea of purchasing a fire boat for the waterfront. Where do I begin on this stupid idea. Who comes up with this shit? Don't people understand how poor the economy is these days? Why on earth would we spend money on something we don't really have a need for. Has there been a rash of fires on the river that I'm not aware of? I understand that a good chunk of the funds for this boat are from the ARRA (aka stimulus money) so why should we care? Well, we've got to maintain this thing, we need to store this thing, we need to train fire fighters on the use of this thing. We'll need some Coast Guard approvals and other stuff as well. Has anyone thought about the long term costs of this foolish boat? Maybe they'll use it to spray water on the crowds of unruly concert goers at the Waterfront Pavilion, or better yet, the transient scumbags living under the Veteran's Bridge. That makes sense, but fire fighting? That's a crock of shit.
That's all I got for now. Hammond St will be paved soon, so some help is on the way!
Keep the faith people.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Road Rage
I've been winding around the streets of Bangor lately and I gotta say, look the hell out. The roads are in the worst shape I've ever seen. The City is planning on rebuilding Hammond Street soon, thank the lord for that. The road is in terrible shape. The amount of money being spent on auto repairs due to the lack of maintenance on the Bangor roads would scare the life out of you. Just stop into Hammond St. Citgo and ask Bob about it. No cash for road repairs, but we cant throw enough down the drain on stupid shit.....Oh I don't know, plenty for a study of the Fire Dept. to mention one. No savings outlined in that $25k report. Maybe another arena marketing study...sure, why the hell not, we're flush with dough, or you'd think that was the case. I'm glad Dave Neally spoke up concerning the School budget. What part of NO INCREASE don't you assholes understand? We're cutting MDEA agents, but adding OT for Bangor PD to set up seat belt traffic stops? You gotta be freaking kidding me. Do we need to get the crackhead off the street or the traffic violators? WTF? Our priorities are wacked. Another $25k report is due this week on how the Police Dept. can be more efficient. I could have saved the City the money and took that soft pitch. Fire Chief Gastia, plain and simple. He's an idiot that's turning Bangor into a police state. Maybe if he could keep an eye on the oxy-freaks and transient low life's around town, and stop the bullshit daily speed trap on Union Street, we'd all be safer. But low life's don't pay taxes, and your ticket dollars boost his revenue stream. So Joe Douchebag gets a free pass, and Johnny Property-Owner-Taxpayer pays double. Thanks Chief, your the best.
Glad the arena went thru. I find it humorous that there were Arena Yes signs all over Brewer. Didn't we ask them to toss in a few bucks and they laughed? Or the endorsement of the project by the Penobscot County Sheriffs Dept. , just a slight conflict of interest, not to mention incredibly hypocritical seeing as you folks turned Bangor down as well. I'd like to see non-residents pay a surcharge to enter the new facility, similar to how the Municipal golf course operates. Risk and reward baby...
Till next time....stay off my lawn.....
Glad the arena went thru. I find it humorous that there were Arena Yes signs all over Brewer. Didn't we ask them to toss in a few bucks and they laughed? Or the endorsement of the project by the Penobscot County Sheriffs Dept. , just a slight conflict of interest, not to mention incredibly hypocritical seeing as you folks turned Bangor down as well. I'd like to see non-residents pay a surcharge to enter the new facility, similar to how the Municipal golf course operates. Risk and reward baby...
Till next time....stay off my lawn.....
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Arena Yay or Nay?
Both it is as tough as it gets. Who do you believe in this fight? With the economy sputtering along, I can see why folks are nervous about spending $65 million. Most dont believe a word out of City Hall concerning the funding streams. Basically, the City has determined that 2 major funding streams exist. Profits from Hollywood Slots Revenue Sharing, and the infamous Downtown TIF Account. It doesnt take a lot of research to find that the Downtown TIF Fund is just another money arm of Hollywood Slots, and they infact provide at least 90% of that fund. So really now, there's only 1 source of cash to float this project, our good friends at Penn National.
I listened carefully at the Chamber Breakfast the other day, and Councilor Bronson seems to have his ducks in a row. He's a fairly conservative fellow, and pretty tight with the purse strings, so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. As for Deb Cyr, well, she's the best around at what she does, so you gotta go with her numbers on this.
My final thought is, lets build this thing and see what happens. If the $$$$ dries up and the funding disappears, I can easily move to Brewer, Veazie, or god forbid, Hampden. Nobody is forcing me to live in Bangor, or to pay for this arena. That being said. ARENA YES!
Dont forget to cast your vote on 5/4. Till next time, keep the faith and stay thirsty.
I listened carefully at the Chamber Breakfast the other day, and Councilor Bronson seems to have his ducks in a row. He's a fairly conservative fellow, and pretty tight with the purse strings, so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. As for Deb Cyr, well, she's the best around at what she does, so you gotta go with her numbers on this.
My final thought is, lets build this thing and see what happens. If the $$$$ dries up and the funding disappears, I can easily move to Brewer, Veazie, or god forbid, Hampden. Nobody is forcing me to live in Bangor, or to pay for this arena. That being said. ARENA YES!
Dont forget to cast your vote on 5/4. Till next time, keep the faith and stay thirsty.
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