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Josh Freeman
F L I N T O I D
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I was just going over the check register at the City of Flint's website. It looks like our great Mayor has forked over, to various groups, nearly $6,000.00 this week of our tax dollars.
Was your group one of them? |
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Sat Sep 29, 2007 11:29 am |
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Josh Freeman
F L I N T O I D
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I was just thinking, if the Mayor would just take his salary instead of the $1.oo per year, it would certainly be cheaper than what we are getting now.
His base salary is around $120,000 per year. That works out to about $4600.00 per pay period. Compared to the $6000.00 per pay period that he is costing us now, his normal salary seems to be a bargain.
http://www.cityofflint.com/CheckLookup/Checks.asp
Here is the link to check for your block club. |
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Sat Sep 29, 2007 11:35 am |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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The mayor and the council people each have an amount of money they can disburse as they see fit, right? I'm not sure what it's called. Why is it so wrong for the Mayor to use those funds to help people in the neighborhoods maintain their neighborhoods? Oh, sorry. I forgot that everything Don does is evil. |
_________________ I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Sat Sep 29, 2007 12:21 pm |
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Josh Freeman
F L I N T O I D
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No actually, he is really good at paving streets.
The City Council, in the last two years, replaced a line item in their budget for Ward Accounts, something like $2,000.00 each. ($20,000.00 per year for them to spend on whatever) The also have a fund for community relations, the exact name of which I am not sure. If I remember correctly, that fund had something like $10,000 in it. (Someone correct me if I am wrong). So just in these 2 accounts we have $30,000.00 for discretionary spending. Could you think of any activity in the City of Flint Government that would be a better use of those dollars?
The Mayor, who, as we all know out of the kindness of his heart, only accepts $1.00 a year, has a budget for his office that reaches almost $1,000,000.00 per year. He has, in recent months, been handing out money from his descretionary account at the rate of a few grand a week. Is $6,000.00 every two weeks an acceptable amount to spend "to help people in the neighborhoods maintain their neighborhoods?"
Who is going to pick the neighborhoods that are worthy to receive these funds? Why do some neighborhoods get repeated checks while others get nothing? How much money do you believe should be allocated to these accounts? A few thousand? Over a million? Who determines what these funds can be used for? If these groups get a check for a few hundred dollars and want to spend it on their Christmas party, was that an appropiate use of City Funds?
Remember, the Mayor doesn't get to decide all by himself how to spend the PEOPLE'S money. |
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Sat Sep 29, 2007 12:48 pm |
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last time here
Guest
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has anyone read "tammany hall"..a book about polititions in
early boston i believe....don's doing no more than they did to
take care of their constituants!! |
_________________ Guest post |
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Sat Sep 29, 2007 1:25 pm |
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rapunzel11
F L I N T O I D
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We just had 3 clean ups in the 4th ward. How many volunteers? Did any one know about these clean ups? Clean ups don't work if they aren't flyered door to door by Nbhd groups.
The road by my home hasn't been paved since 1960.
peace,
Rap |
_________________ The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.
John F. Kennedy, speech at Vanderbilt University, May 18, 1963 |
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Sat Sep 29, 2007 10:59 pm |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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We had one this past summer. The City sent 2 garbage trucks, and we covered a lot bigger area than we planned on - Dayton to Welch Blvd., and Dupont to Forest Hill. Among the volunteers were Dale Weighill & Carolyn Sims. Dale rode on the back of one of the trucks with my son & I, and Carolyn followed the other in her car with 3 other volunteers. We didn't cover the whole area with fliers, but picked up a lot of stuff the regular pickup doesn't get. We've all gained a lot of respect for the guys that ride those trucks every day.
Josh - we got our check. After Tuesdays storm, we cleaned up the street; swept the whole thing and filled 40 paper yard waste bags with small sticks & stuff. Also, a Parks & Rec. crew cut up a couple huge tree limbs that were blocking the street & moved them off to the side. We moved them all to one pile for easier pickup. We'll use some of the check to buy a couple more cases of yard waste bags. We haven't decided about the rest of the check; we'll do that at our next meeting. We've been talking about getting a lawn mower & gas weed whacker from a pawn shop, so maybe we'll do that. That'll make it easier to keep the empty houses looking decent. |
_________________ I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Sun Sep 30, 2007 8:15 am |
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Josh Freeman
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Dave Starr schreef:
Josh - we got our check. After Tuesdays storm, we cleaned up the street; swept the whole thing and filled 40 paper yard waste bags with small sticks & stuff. Also, a Parks & Rec. crew cut up a couple huge tree limbs that were blocking the street & moved them off to the side. We moved them all to one pile for easier pickup. We'll use some of the check to buy a couple more cases of yard waste bags. We haven't decided about the rest of the check; we'll do that at our next meeting. We've been talking about getting a lawn mower & gas weed whacker from a pawn shop, so maybe we'll do that. That'll make it easier to keep the empty houses looking decent.
Responsible use of the money.
My only thing is is that these tax dollars seem to be doled out as a means of gaining political support. I think that is wrong. |
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Sun Sep 30, 2007 10:17 am |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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There's a weekly meeting of block clubs, the Police, various city officials, and sometimes the mayor that we attend. ALL block clubs are welcome. This is where the Mayor got the names of various block clubs to give checks to. Whether this happens in all areas of the city, I don't know. We found out about the meetings about 6 months ago, and have attended all but one of them in that time. Politics end elections have never been mentioned. At one meeting, I asked if the Council members had been invited to the meetings and was told that they were. On our block, the boundary between the 2nd and 5th wards is the middle of the street, so we invite both Carolyn Sims & Jackie Poplar to our block club meetings. Both have been asked if they knew about the weekly meetings, and both have answered yes. In the time Ive been going to the weekly meetings, only Councilman Buchanan has attended one, where he told the group about he presentation Bill Cosby made in Flint. |
_________________ I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Sun Sep 30, 2007 12:01 pm |
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lunchlady
F L I N T O I D
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Dave, where and when are those meetings? Thanks! |
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Sun Sep 30, 2007 6:30 pm |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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Tuesdays at 10am, at the North Side Ministation on the corner of ML King & Bishop. |
_________________ I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Mon Oct 01, 2007 9:52 am |
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Rushmoore
F L I N T O I D
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Wow, I am impressed, the concept of the "big lie" as applied to propaganda really works.
Don Williamson is not fixing roads and bridges, the majority of the well done and visible work in the city has been the result of state projects, examples are the bridges over 69/475/75, Pierson, Court, Saginaw etc. None of this is as a result of the efforts of Prisoner Williamson. A large amount of the work actually done by the city was scheduled and planned while Stanley or Kurtz were in charge. The few areas that the inmate has directed the city crews to handle have been done partially and in a manner to ensure that they were a waste of money. A quarter inch layer of asphalt is not a fix but The Don does not care about long term issues, he cannot handle addressing anything that is not in front of him.
But, I see someone here using a name that indicates they should know better about these issues. I have to wonder if after having been trumped by Donnies money, they have decided to work their way into his good graces.
Can we stop letting Don try to white wash the fact that his money was based on theft and that his millionaires club failed when he was not able to tell anyone else how to get startup capital?
Can we stop repeating propaganda based on lies?
Can we start demanding an accountable administration with competent direction?
PLEASE? |
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Wed Oct 03, 2007 1:38 pm |
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last time here
Guest
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gee sorry dude but everyone does not see through your glasses!
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_________________ Guest post |
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Wed Oct 03, 2007 3:09 pm |
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Ryan Eashoo
F L I N T O I D
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Which groups? Do you know he gave it to groups?
quote:
Josh Freeman schreef:
I was just going over the check register at the City of Flint's website. It looks like our great Mayor has forked over, to various groups, nearly $6,000.00 this week of our tax dollars.
Was your group one of them?
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_________________ Flint Michigan Resident, Tax Payer, Flint Nutt - Local REALTOR - Activist. www.FlintTown.com |
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Tue Oct 09, 2007 5:36 pm |
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