Howdy sweets! Effen yew have been sequestered in that apartment of yores for a while, you’d not have noticed that the snow of more than three weeks ago is still around. Whilst the temperatures around here have gone to more “normal” numbers, nobody is ready to say that winter is over, not by a long shot. With February what it is, the next polar vortex can make things very chilly around here before the equinox next month. Cobina is keeping her woolies near at hand until the first crocus decides to break ground.
Meanwhile, here at the Asylum by the Sea things seem to be moving along during the dark days of winter. As yew know, this time of year is not the busiest for those who determine what our fate will be in the next couple o’ years in the Actors Colony. Though Sammy Bluejay, who was visiting t’other afternoon, sez that the budget-making “cycle” is running along at the usual pace, with Herroner and the finance mavens doing what they can to craft a package for the thoid Thursday of March.
Whilst there is some talk that cutting might be in the works, Sammy wasn’t able to confirm that word went out to pare down the requests – though when one thinks about it, that should be the norm, not the exception.
Governmental budgets are a funny thing! They use what is called “baseline” budgeting. What that means is that what was requested the year before – the actual departmental bottom line – is a given. What the new budget will include is increases based on that “baseline.” Sooooo, contractual raises, or hikes in vendor prices or the like are what makes the increases for the next year. It’s not what you or I would do. We determine what money we have, how we are gonna allocate it, and then base our spending accordingly.
Governmental agencies do no setch thing. They jest add to the line below. In preliminary work they put in their wish lists and hopes for the new year, but most know that those wish lists will be ignored or pared down to a shadow of what was requested.
That begs the question, then. If a request to make a cut in budget requests was made this year – or any year for that matter – is the paring down of the request of the hike or of the department’s total bottom line. Effen it is the former, it’s just a decrease in the yearly hike. If it is the latter, some real cutting could take place. I know where I’d put my money.
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Jest before my last missive to yew, Herroner announced she would like to see the city go through a review of the city charter – the document that outlines the way the city operates. The last time it was opened was 2018-2020, and the revision proposals were shot down in the vote on the question. Remember, that was a massive rewrite of the charter, and would have changed the way the city was run. It is currently a mayor-council form of government, something it’s been since 1960s, when the town when from a selectmen form of governance to the current model, and that corresponded with the town becoming a city in 1965.
The 2020 revisions would have made the city under a town manager-council form of government with much of the power in the council, and a mayor that would do some work, but not have the executive authority it now has.
We’re sure that type of document is not gonna see the light of day anytime soon, and that some changes would be made that need to be made. We have our own preferences.
Right now, the charter mandates that only one member of the council be a minority member, and that be the largest minority party vote getter in the municipal election. Meli Garthwait (got the spelling right again) is that person this time. She is the only minority party member, and can’t do a danged thing: can’t get a second, can’t confer with others of her party. This has happened more often than not over the last 40 years, and it needs to be addressed. We hope something is done with it.
The next thing would be the way alterations are made in the budget. The charter mandates a super-majority of nine of the 13 members to make adjustments in the mayor’s proposed budget. This has not been addressed in the last several revision attempts, even though everyone sees it as a big hurdle. Granted the most recent budgets have been adjusted somewhat, that’s cuz the last few councils haven’t been as….confrontational….as some of the past councils. But, this is West Haven, politics is hardball, and the current Pax Dorindica won’t last forever. Something has to be done about this.
We shall see what happens in the next few months as the commission is appointed – and who is on it – always a big tell. It should be an interesting show if nothing else.
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The Wag was in t’other afternoon, and I happened to mention I took the gassamobuggy out for some errands and traversed Beach Street, which I hadn’t in a couple o’ weeks. The former Debonair Motel is still rubble, but one could understand it considering the weather has not been conducive to doing demolition work over the last several weeks. But, it did seem that more of the rubble had been piled, and is on the verge of being scooped up and taken away.
Meanwhile, jest a block down, the former building that was the last memory of the old amusement park is still being overhauled for a new café at the corner of East Avenue and Beach. Then there is the staging area across the way. It seems some other work is being done, more in line with the surrounding area. The pernt is things are really happening over there after years of delay.
Nice to see it happening. That is supposed to be a gateway to the shore – our “crown jewel” and over the years it has been more like the servant’s entrance, not a welcoming environment. Sooo, we shall see how things work out.
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Nelly Nuthatch was in for tea and said that she noted an interesting thing when fluttering about during the morning rush. We know that recently there has been spate of complaints from school bus drivers that some members of the motoring public like to pass stopped buses picking up the youngsters.
Anybody who has traveled early in the morning has seen this type of behavior, and the first thing we look for is a member of the constabulary’s vehicle in the vicinity. Usually, none are about. Well, it seems Winkle has equipped at least some of its big yellow birds with cameras to keep an eye on things.
In this age of cameras everywhere, we ain’t surprised, but we have to admit, this is a necessary evil given the attitude of some drivers. Maybe a visual piece of evidence sent to the local constabulary and a subsequent fine would stop the behavior before someone gits hurt. We hope so.
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When last we writ, the topic of downtown renewal was a topic of discussion, once again, and one wonders what will come out of the most recent attempts to perk up the area. We know some people think a wholesale demolition of things should happen, others want cosmetic and other changes to attract people to town.
Herroner has come up with the idea of adding some meeting spaces in the area to put people in the center. Cobina offers her own little idea: do something about the lights in the center of town so that traffic flows a bit more smoothly.
One of the reasons people avoid Campbell Avenue during parts of the day is the traffic flow – or lack of it. In the two main lights at Main and Center streets, the two lights are not synched it bottlenecks. Sometimes traffic is backed up for more than a block, which means at least two light changes. Little things can make a difference. And we know this ain’t the foist time this has been proposed.
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Meanwhile, it being a week with days that end in Y, we thought we’d mention it’s yet another two-week period when nobody in Heaven or the other place knows what in tarnation is going on with the former Haven property. I know this seems to be an old saw that Cobina can’t get off of, but we are nearing half a decade since the final deal was made, and about four twelvemonths since the place was cordoned off and the demolitions began, and about three since they were completed.
Yet, nobody knows for sure what is going on over there, certainly not the administration, though it has tried to find out. And jest a reminder, the developers did have a surveyor out there half a year or so ago, but nary a thing has happened since. We are nearing 29 years since the Water Street Project was announced by another Borer, and we lost some longtime industries because of it, but nothing as to what is happening. ‘Tizzint right!
With that bit o’ chatter, I’ll close this time till next, mitt luff und kizzez,