10/26/2010

New Hampshire Dreamin'

Is obama really as stupid as he appears to be?

Back in 08 he said he'd been to all 57 states! Hell, I haven't even been to a lot of them, and I can't even find the other seven that he has been too! I think he was talking about those ones out west near la la land. Let's see, The State of Confusion?, The State of Disorganization?, The State of Disorientation?, The State of Stupidity? The State of Unreality ?!!

Well last night he was in at least two of them and thought he was in a third! He was in RI, thought he was in NH and was really in the state Confusion! Oh Yeah, he was probably tired from all his flying around exhorting the faithful to keep the crooks in DC.

What an ass we have for a President. Shirhan Shihran, Lee harvey, where are you and your cohorts? TIFN

10/21/2010

Another letter in the mail

Do we have another Arlen Specter in the wings? I haven't quite figured out what is going on with some of the candidates running for office this year.

Is not/did not Mr. Torrey run as a Democrat in the last go round? He is apparently running again under the same banner but with some different twists.

When you run for Second Warden as a Dem. and the guy running for First Warden is also endorsed and put forward by the Dems., why on earth would you attack him in a box holder mailing? What's up with that? Is there no verbal intercourse between members of the same party as to philosophy and agenda? Sounds to me like things are a little fragmented over there.

A new roof and a fresh coat of paint is NOT a solution of any sort! I don't think that coat of paint is going to keep the new roof up there for very long. In my experience if you are going to rehab a building you start with the foundation or what ever underpinnings are there. This is no more than a tourniquet, band aid, approach to a body that needs major surgery. What are the future plans NOW being drawn up to ameliorate this predicament? Any? Just WHAT is under consideration? Time frame? And just where do you propose to get the money?

Oh Yeah, the Old Harbor Dock. Last year it was deemed necessary to hire a Clerk of the Works for the princely sum of $100,000.00 to "oversee" the construction of said edifice. This year there IS NO daily, on the job person there to watch the "works". Whatever made that need disappear? I have noticed the Town Manager appears at the site now and then. Is this the oversight we previously needed? Has she the necessary "degrees" to do this job? I'm sure that "no money " will be the answer, but do we not employ a building inspector with all the necessary qualifications to do that job at no additional cost to the taxpayers? The building business has kind of slowed down so he might have a few minutes a day to devote to this endeavor, if his boss would tell him to so bestir himself. WUWT?

As far as Ms Gaffets attending a lot of the board and committee meetings. WHY? don't you trust your appointees to do the job without your attendance in the audience to intimidate and/or "steer" them too the conclusion you would like? Leave them the hell alone till they bring a recommendation too you. Is that not why you have these, boards, committees, and commissions, so that YOU don't have to attend to all those matters personally?

Well we'll see how it all shakes out in12-14 days. Then we'll see what happens after that. In this economy as bad as it is, I don't see much hope for any money for much of anything except the bare day to day expenses like wages, and bill paying.

Hey guys, you want to save a pocketful of money? Turn off the friggin' street lights!
Nobody needs them except the BIPCO! TIFN

10/06/2010

Is There a Capital Budget in our future? Or the Present?

I don't the answer to this and being to lazy to go down and find out, I pose the question here.

If we do, and I had assumed we always had one, why have not the infrastructure issues been addressed thru the putting aside of adequate monies every year until there is enough to do these jobs! We should have been focusing on doing this for the past two decades and NOT ROBBING the money to do some "feel good" enterprises.

The Harbors dept. has for a long time been the only revenue producing entity among the town departments, yet all the income produced has done very little to enhance their "charges" i.e attending to mooring fields, pump out boat maintenance and acquisition, keeping the harbors in good order. And this is because they just can't "keep" the money to do the things that needed being done. They had to go begging for funds for virtually anything.

This little burg is in dire need of some entity who will go around, and with a microscope, search out internally and externally, every building in the town's inventory and write down ALL the discrepancies and what needs to be done to rectify them in a timely manner.

At one time there was a Town wide person who attended to problems as they were brought to his attention in a hap hazard manner. A lot of the little picayune, niggling things got done but by and large the things that cost thousands and needed more than one person to do them were swept under the rug or tossed on the heap of "things to get done just before they fall apart"! That is no way to run a town or a ship. While I was in the USN, every building,vehicle, ship, airplane, and boat was on a plan called the PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE PLAN! The key word there being "preventative"!

I did this job for the BI School Dept. for one year. It took about 6 weeks of intense scrutiny to find all the hidden problems, and then another month or so to draw up a preventative maint. plan for every bathroom, classroom, all heating equipment, A/C equipment, every electric motor, valve, knob and switch in the building. We streamlined the supply ordering process so that all consumables were ordered between two and three times a year instead of every other day all year long!

SO what is the answer? Hire a Public Works director to coordinate all this stuff and pay him
$50-80K a year? Then hire the person to do it all? At another $30-50k? My solution would be to look around at the locals and find someone that is a carpenter,plumber, electrician, etc. you know, the Jack-of-all-trades guy, pay him a good salary and then keep the building inspector off his ass and let him do the job. Get it inspected if need be. The friggin bureaucrats are what is dragging us into the quagmire in this country! TIFN

350th celebration

Hello All,

I saw in the paper of 10/02/10 an article about the 350th celebration products arriving. So I took the time to read it and even thought about being one of the 26 people to join the “club”. Or at least making a donation of some amount.
Last night I was attending a small get together of about 20-25 folks and this subject came up in conversation. Different feelings about upcoming use of the collected money was a hot topic. Some saw the use of the money for strictly frivolous entertainment purposes as just that, frivolous.
In this economy that we are now enduring, it was bandied about as to wether it would be a much better use of the funds if they were directed toward some lasting, and really needed use. How about if we make the whole idea of the 350th semiseptcentennial celebration an opportunity to do something that really needs doing within the Towns infrastructure?
Like what you may ask? How about getting a new roof on the Fire Barn before all that very expensive and needed equipment inside is subjected to the vagaries of the weather?
How about rebuilding the old Mill Pond Bridge before someone drops out of sight through it? We could even name it the 350th Memorial Bridge or some such.
Even the total rehabilitation of the Fred Benson Beach House might fall in this pervue. I understand it is in pretty rough shape as only temporary and rudimentary fixes have been the norm for the last few years.
If the committee thinks they can raise $25-50K for musical entertainment which is at best, a fleeting memory in a few days, why not go all out and go for the big bucks it would take to get the job, whichever venue is selected, DONE?
I have a feeling that contributions to a lasting, visible, and much needed repairs of infrastructure, will come in larger denominations than for a little instant gratification. Something we all need to be weened off of!