Howdy-do, honey bunch. It’s been quite the week here in the Asylum by the Sea, and things don’t promise to git any less zany as far as the political classes in this berg are concerned. Luckily, some storms that have pelted us haven’t been of the white, shoveling variety, and that has been a good thing for ole gals like m’self.
As far as the political classes, effen yew thought the contentious relationship betwixt the former hizzoner and the current herroner were gonna git any nicer. Fuhggetaboutit, as they say in Brooklyn. The missive writ by Ed O’Brien concerning the city’s finances and possibility of an $8 million gap was something less than conciliatory. In fack, much like the backs-and-forths that those two had during the primary and general election campaigns, it was downright nasty.
Let’s jest face facks, they don’t like each other. O’Brien thinks that Rossi is a bit of a know-it-all with no experience in making real decisions, and Rossi thinks O’Brien is a non-comp, not capable of making any real decisions. When you have people who think that of each other, there’s gonna be little common ground.
His missive, however, did create somewhat of a stir amongst the supporters of the current occupant of the thoid floor. One local yokel who shall remain nameless had a bunch of things to say, but he thought the word “delusional” kind of summed it up concerning the former mayor’s rationales on the city’s finances.
Cobina had to admit, she had a difficult time figgering out the logic of the O’Brien rebuttal as a couple of very important questions were left out. The biggest one was did he or did he not know the review board was a possibility when he determined to bond to fund the deficit? That’s a big question cuz the empaneling of the board seemed to take more than a few people by surprise, not the least of which was the new mayor.
This is probably gonna continue over the next little while. The woid on the street is O’Brien has told more than one or two people (Remember: a secret is something you tell one person at a time) that he’s hoping to run again in 2019. Some of his supporters are relating the same info. Sooooo, I expeck that rebuttals are gonna be a staple should his administration or moniker come up.
It seems to me, about 27 years ago a certain faction of Demmies (yeah, they had ‘em back then, too) thought that H. Richard Borer, Jr. had doomed any chance he had for re-election when he asked for state help. The thought was the state was gonna raise taxes and cut workers, and Borer would be blamed. Didn’t happen.
Effen some Demmies think that might happen this time, they might be in need of some new thoughts. Taxes might be raised, and people might lose their jobs, but Mrs. Rossi has some political cover…just like Borer did.
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Whilst that is going on, Cobina happened to be traversing by the high school recently, and looked over and saw that the former G-wing of the building – that metaphor for all the problems with the high school plan since it was announced – was down to a roof and girders. It looked like a big bus stop or train ramp. The only thing it was good for now is keeping the rain off teachers and students. Well, I went by there again, and the girders were being dismantled with a backhoe or some gadget like it. And the noise! I bet the members of the teaching staff down that end of the campus are really happy about now.
Of course, now that it has been dismantled brick by brick, the rest of it has to be removed. One thinks it’s going to happen in short order. But it does bring into question the building of the new school.
With the focus on fiscal problems, one sees the Catch-22 the city finds itself. The review board now has the ability to say yay or nay on the bond issue for the school, which is around $123 million, methinks. But now I hear that more changes have been made to the plans insofar as the number of classrooms. They’ve been increased. Remember the kerfuffle that happened when 14 classrooms were removed. Word is about half are back.
The Catch-22, of course, is the longer the city waits to get the bond, the higher the costs go. Building costs never go down from year to year, that’s for sure. But, will the review board be in favor of the bonding – and can the city afford the bond with the other problems it has on the budget.
Methinks we’re not gonna know that one until the new budget comes out with all the decisions and cuts and goodness knows what else might be in it. The city might hafta wait longer before it goes along that route…if at all. We shall see.
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Taking the discussion a bit further, Sammy Bluejay tells me that some members of the City Council are a bit miffed about the review board simply because it makes their job somewhat useless. Let’s face it hon, the council is supposed to be the legislative body of the city, but now any and all decisions made by it will be under the scrutiny of non-elected officials imposed by the city.
Twenty-odd years ago everyone knew the dire straits the city was in and went along, but his time it hit like a shot in the dark and no one signed up to be a puppet of outsiders. To understand it, you hafta understand one thing: the council has all the responsibility, but it has none of the authority.
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As I told yew last week, the boys and girls of the Democratic Party are at it again with the primary schtick. I thought the fourth districk was gonna be the only one in play a couple weeks back, but I’ve since been told that petitions were taken out in all but the fifth. Honey bunch, these people really like to mix it up with the voting.
Soooooo, that means some advertising for the primary to determine who will be the chairman of the Democratic Town Committee. That is really what this entire exercise is all about. Like I said above, the former and current mayor really don’t like each other. Well, the supporters on either side don’t like each other either. You’d think that being in the town committee was something really important. But that’s politics in this burg. Has been since anyone can remember.
Sammy Bluejay came by t’other afternoon and said that by the time yew git this week’s missive the petitions should be in and the verification process – always a fun time – will have begun. We might even know who’s in and who didn’t make the cut. Tennyrate, we got another trek to the polls in the future.
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Meanwhile, city’s GOP is letting everyone know that they’re still here at least Michelle Gregorio the head honchess of the Republican Town Committee wanted people to know that. The RTC had its caucuses recently as well, and it empaneled its 60-member crew.
Michelle sez there is new interest in the party, and it has to do with national politics. We hope the interest is there and we don’t care where it’s coming from. The problem in this burg has been the lack of a two-party – or multiple party – system. The only game in town has been in the Demmie sandbox, and they can’t get along.
Let’s hope that Gregorio can move things along. Demmies have a terrible record in cities when they are the only game in town. Just look next door.
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With that bit o’ chatter, I’ll close this time till next, mitt luff und kizzez,