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Hood River Cops might be on the chopping block
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moses1966



Joined: 17 Feb 2011
Posts: 2

PostPosted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 3:18 am    Post subject: Hood River Cops might be on the chopping block Reply with quote

Take a peek at hoodriverbizbuzz.com for the first week in February... Looks like the Mayor and the City Council are gonna save some money but throw us visitors and you locals to the wolves when it comes to watching out for our safety and security... Not cool. Contract with the County Sheriff? I'd like to hear what people in Hood River and the Gorge feel like if they had to rely on a deputy responding from 5 or 10 or 15, maybe even 30 minutes away to a call for service... you know, the one where your stuff just got stolen or you are getting the crap kicked out of ya... How about somebody tell the City Council and the Mayor, shame on you for even considering this idea at your goal setting session. How can you claim better, cheaper service with a thinner, more stretched coverage County wide?
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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 9:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's one direct comparison.

We saw a man beating his wife at the HR Marina. We stopped the direct assault and called the police, but couldn't get her clear of the threat because he got her back inside his car and we couldn't be sure he wasn't armed. 6 of us dared him to move a finger, and the city police were there within 3-4 minutes. They let him drive away with her, but at least they got there fast.

OTOH, a family in their motor home was under siege at Jones Beach while Dad had the County Sheriff in one hand and his 12-gauge pump in the other. Dad was telling the Sheriff that some rednecks were going to die if his door handle moved or the next rock came through a window, the Sheriff said he was going flat out but was half an hour away. Fortunately Dad finally managed to bull his way through the circling pickup trucks and get away before someone died.

Which scenario should we prefer?

This is the game governments play when their funds are threatened: they prioritize all their budget line items, ask themselves "Which cut will stir up the biggest outcry?", then say "See? We tried to cut the budget but you wouldn't let us. It's thus your fault we're broke, so you must pay more taxes."

Instead, how about publishing the line items and letting the public vote on which ones to cut, or better yet, why not force the government to do what they were elected and are paid to do: LEAD. i.e., chop the LOWEST priority items rather than play us like violins under the assumption we're that stupid?
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moses1966



Joined: 17 Feb 2011
Posts: 2

PostPosted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 4:14 pm    Post subject: Absolutely Reply with quote

That is very true, Isobar, we are always being played by the politicians... Maybe we should take a que from Egypt. Our Government has definitely found their goldmine in taxing us and not finding other sources of revenue. It's hard to tax someone who has lost it all, though, or maybe can't work because they were taken out by a drunken driver who enjoyed one of the over 100 liquor licensed establishments in HR after enjoying that .17 cents a day tax I pay for the free tourist Library internet access... just sayin'!
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mac



Joined: 07 Mar 1999
Posts: 17736
Location: Berkeley, California

PostPosted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 4:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This more Beckian/Fickian paranoia. Why don't one of you actually do a little research on the municipal budget, and find out what things cost? Oh, I get it, you don't want facts to disturb your hating. Local governments have lost about 20% of their employees and 30 or more percent of their revenues. In what? A housing and financial meltdown that was the direct result of deregulation of the financial securities market. Written by Phil Gramm of Texas. Guess what party he belonged to.

You are entitled to your own opinion--but not your own facts.
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MalibuGuru



Joined: 11 Nov 1993
Posts: 9287

PostPosted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 5:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac
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mac



Joined: 07 Mar 1999
Posts: 17736
Location: Berkeley, California

PostPosted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 5:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It’s really not hard to arm yourself with a few facts. National employment data is kept by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They show another reduction in all government employees from January 2010 to January 2011 of 140,000. Some segments of the economy are coming back—manufacturing added 49,000 jobs in January, and retail added 28,000. But construction continues to fall, losing 32,000 jobs in January 2011, Transportation and warehousing lost 38,000 jobs.

Numbers since the beginning of the recession are spun by orientation. The best numbers I could find were here: http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1214, which shows that “State and local governments have eliminated over 400,000 jobs since August 2008, federal data show.” A conservative commentator acknowledges a loss of nearly 260,000 employees in local government since January 2008, but claims that the Federal and State governments added 130,000.

Of course, government job losses are small compared to the overall loss of 8 million jobs in the recession. The problem is that the biggest local government employee categories are public safety—fire and police—and teachers, where most of the losses occur.

It takes about 3 clicks to get to the current budget for the City of Hood River. I’ll save you some time: http://ci.hood-river.or.us/pageview.aspx?id=34680 I would guess that none of the other commentors have made a government budget, or testified at a council hearing. Roam around in it for a while, compare it to last year’s, and then makes some intelligent comments. The total general fund is $5.6 million, fire is $1.9 million and police is $1.5 million. The budget in 2008-9 was $6.0 million and police was $1.6 million.

Of course all of this is too hard for our resident knuckle dragger stevenbard. He never wants to be troubled by facts.
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MalibuGuru



Joined: 11 Nov 1993
Posts: 9287

PostPosted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 11:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

THE COYOTE

California:

The Governor of California is jogging with his dog along a nature trail.

A coyote jumps out and attacks the Governor's dog, then bites the Governor.

1. The Governor starts to intervene, but reflects upon the movie
"Bambi" and then realizes he should stop because the coyote is only
doing what is natural.

2. He calls animal control . Animal Control captures the coyote
and bills the State $200 testing it for diseases and $500 for relocating it.

3. He calls a veterinarian. The vet collects the dead dog and
bills the State $200 testing it for diseases.

4. The Governor goes to hospital and spends $3,500 getting checked
for diseases from the coyote and on getting his bite wound bandaged.

5. The running trail gets shut down for 6 months while Fish & Game
conducts a $100,000 survey to make sure the area is now free of
dangerous animals.

6. The Governor spends $50,000 in state funds implementing a
"coyote awareness program" for residents of the area.

7. The State Legislature spends $2 million to study how to better
treat rabies and how to permanently eradicate the disease throughout the
world.

8. The Governor's security agent is fired for not stopping the
attack. The State spends $150,000 to hire and train a new agent with
additional special training re: the nature of coyotes.

9. PETA protests the coyote's relocation and files a $5 million suit
against the State.


TEXAS :

The Governor of Texas is jogging with his dog along a nature
trail. A Coyote jumps out and attacks his dog.

1. The Governor shoots the coyote with his State-issued pistol and
keeps jogging. The Governor has spent $0.50 on a .45 ACP hollow point
cartridge.

2. The Buzzards eat the dead coyote.

And that, my friends, is why California is broke and Texas is not.
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mrgybe



Joined: 01 Jul 2008
Posts: 5180

PostPosted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 11:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My daughter wants to know what happened to the Texas Governor's dog!
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swchandler



Joined: 08 Nov 1993
Posts: 10588

PostPosted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 11:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Come on Bard, the last post wasn't written by you. Why don't you give proper credit for the information that you post? A pretty lame game in my view, but you don't seem to care.
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coboardhead



Joined: 26 Oct 2009
Posts: 4303

PostPosted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 11:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Texas two year budget deficit approaches $27 Billion. I think the Texas Governor may have had to sell the dog!
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