Idiots

[HeinekenMan]

I just need to vent today.

There are almost 90,000 people living in my city, and I just learned that the city doesn't have its own police department. Perhaps that is why crime is rampant in the community. Apparently, the city pays the county more than $7 million a year to patrol the streets and lock up the bad guys. I say that's a poor way of handling things, and I have to question how many resources the county actually provides for that $7 million. After all, there's probably very little oversight coming from the city, which can't seem to do anything without botching it horribly.

It's been this way since the city incorporated a decade ago. They had a policy that anyone who wanted a sidewalk could have one. So they poured the concrete. Now we have blocks where half of the houses have sidewalks and half do not. They had the sense to change that policy recently, but they haven't bothered to finish any of the silly-looking partial sidewalks that are found all around the city.

The idiots also designed the city with no central business district. As a result, lots of businesses opted to locate to the west of the city in another community. Of course, that's lost tax dollars. It also means that I can't get anything without driving out of town. There's no mall here, and it's pretty much par for the course as you think of all the places you'd like to go.

They also designed the city's roads to cut directly through neighborhoods. As a result, cars race 50mph down streets that look like they should be part of a subdivision.

To top all of this off, the county school board now is announcing that, oops, it has to cut tons of jobs because they're apparently going to be $13 over budget for the next school year. They claim that the housing market is dying. But the truth is that probably 20 percent of these houses didn't exist three years ago. I'm sure a look at their budget would show that it increased 50 percent for every 10 percent of population growth. The people are idiots. They have all of their money wrapped up in lawsuits and ridiculous construction projects. They actually declined to accept a bid on a new school only to accept a much higher bid from the same contractor three months later, when construction costs soared. They pay teachers less than most districts in the area, so it's not as if they have all of their money wrapped up in salaries. And there was a story just a week ago talking about how the superintendent has done such a great job that she's likely to get a big raise this year.

They're idiots. All of them. Nothing bothers me more than incompetence. But I can accept it when I'm shopping at Walmart. This, I'm afraid, I cannot accept.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

My brother and his partner just built a house in that community, BeerMan.

My question to them: "Why?"

 

[Platyrhynchos]

I have found that government and public schools, while necessary, have more than their share of incompetency.

And while we're ranting, what pisses me off happened to me the yesterday. Here I am, a little one-man show from a weekly, interviewing with pen and paper a hometown boy who made good at the state track meet. In comes Mr. Daily sports editor from a paper 35 miles away, thrusts tape recorder into athlete's face, and takes over. He gave me a "Who the **** are you" look when he did it. Gawd, I hope you folks aren't like that.
Lord, give me strength. I was a red hunt cair away from turning the ****er's lights out.

 

[slappy4428]

should have... for sport if nothing else.

 

[HeinekenMan]

My brother and his partner just built a house in that community, BeerMan.

My question to them: "Why?"

Well, I hate to speculate. But homes are a tad cheaper than when you move closer to the big city. I believe I saw figures recently that showed most people in the area can't actually afford their homes. That is to say that they're spending more than the recommended high of 30 percent of their income on housing.

If you make $40,000 per year, you're not supposed to spend more than $1,000 per month on a mortgage. The problem is that you can't get much for $1,000, as is probably the case in a lot of communities. So lots of people are going up to about $1,200 per month, and that allows them to purchase a decent home as long as they purchase in a ****burg like mine and not in the areas where people would actually enjoy living.

 

[Just_An_SID]

One suggestion: Move

If you can't stand where you live then get out. If there are more positives about the place than negatives and you want to stay, then stop complaining.

Complaining only makes things worse.

 

[HeinekenMan]

One suggestion: Move

If you can't stand where you live then get out. If there are more positives about the place than negatives and you want to stay, then stop complaining.

Complaining only makes things worse.

What do you know? You're just an SID. ;-)

Actually, my wife was just released from her job, so now's the perfect time. She had hoped to work for the school district in which we live, but they announced today that they'll be cutting $10,000 from the budget by way of firing more than 200 employees, including some teachers and assistant principals. So, she has to pay $100 next week to go to a job fair while knowing that the district has a hiring freeze in place.

 

[MacDaddy]

But I thought the school district was only $13 over budget for next year...

 

[HeinekenMan]

But I thought the school district was only $13 over budget for next year...

Well, it won't be when they're done making cuts. Of course, that was supposed to be $13 million. This year, I felt like I was baby-sitting an entire school during my Big Brother visits at a local elementary school. The aides are content to let the kids swarm to me, which they do because I'm just that darned cool. In the fall, apparently, there won't be any aides.

 

[93Devil]

New homes are the blight of local governemnt. They automatically need police and fire services, and many times they will dump children into the school system. These new homes will not cover the costs of the extra services with their tax money for at least a decade.

Wal Marts and big box stores are what you want to see going up, or a large business going in (like the central offices of AOL or a Texas Motor Sppedway going in.

 

[HeinekenMan]

New homes are the blight of local governemnt. They automatically need police and fire services, and many times they will dump children into the school system. These new homes will not cover the costs of the extra services with their tax money for at least a decade.

Wal Marts and big box stores are what you want to see going up, or a large business going in (like the central offices of AOL or a Texas Motor Sppedway going in.

If they've received the tax dollars for 10 years without bolstering services, what are they doing with the money? And, actually, every child dumped into the school system adds to the money that a school receives. The get money based upon the student population.

 

[93Devil]

New homes are the blight of local government. They automatically need police and fire services, and many times they will dump children into the school system. These new homes will not cover the costs of the extra services with their tax money for at least a decade.

Wal Marts and big box stores are what you want to see going up, or a large business going in (like the central offices of AOL or a Texas Motor Speedway going in.

If they've received the tax dollars for 10 years without bolstering services, what are they doing with the money? And, actually, every child dumped into the school system adds to the money that a school receives. The get money based upon the student population.

It's about $7,000 in state revenue per kid. Considering that 1,000 new kids will fill an elementary school, you cannot even build a school for them with that state revenue. A new elementary school costs between 15-20 mil to build, so you are in the hole right away about 8 mil. You put 80 staff members in this school at 50k a pop (you have to count health benefits) so there goes 4 mil per year. The utilities for this school is about 100k a year and we have not even started talking about school supplies like books.

Schools and county government do waste money, but they do need to spend a lot as well.

 

[Chi City 81]

New homes are the blight of local governemnt. They automatically need police and fire services, and many times they will dump children into the school system. These new homes will not cover the costs of the extra services with their tax money for at least a decade.

Wal Marts and big box stores are what you want to see going up, or a large business going in (like the central offices of AOL or a Texas Motor Sppedway going in.

Jesus, you're a heartless prick.

 

[93Devil]

New homes are the blight of local government. They automatically need police and fire services, and many times they will dump children into the school system. These new homes will not cover the costs of the extra services with their tax money for at least a decade.

Wal Marts and big box stores are what you want to see going up, or a large business going in (like the central offices of AOL or a Texas Motor Speedway going in.

Jesus, you're a heartless prick.

Just telling it like it is.

I should say new homes for new residents. If you build a new home but stay a member of your county, you are not growth. You are just moving within the borders.

I could also say 15 mom and pop shops spring up, but Wal Mart is more likely. Lowe's, Home Depot and Best Buy do just as well.

 

[HeinekenMan]

New homes are the blight of local government. They automatically need police and fire services, and many times they will dump children into the school system. These new homes will not cover the costs of the extra services with their tax money for at least a decade.

Wal Marts and big box stores are what you want to see going up, or a large business going in (like the central offices of AOL or a Texas Motor Speedway going in.

Jesus, you're a heartless prick.

Just telling it like it is.

I should say new homes for new residents. If you build a new home but stay a member of your county, you are not growth. You are just moving within the borders.

I could also say 15 mom and pop shops spring up, but Wal Mart is more likely. Lowe's, Home Depot and Best Buy do just as well.

Well, we have our Super-Walmart. It opened in the fall, I believe.

But we don't have a police department. How can anyone justify that? I worked in a city of 2,700 people, and it had a police department. This is a city of 90,000.

As for the construction of new schools, districts in my native state generally receive state grants to pay a portion of the costs. I don't know how they do it here in Redneckville, but it appears the thing to do is to go as long as possible without spending money. That's why 80 percent of the students are holding class in oversized tool sheds that they refer to as portables. The land here is outrageously expensive, but I've yet to see a school with more than one story.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Here's the thing with our fair state: School districts aren't allowed to plan big enough facilities for anticipated future growth --- they can only build or expand a school to carry the number of students that exist at the time the plans are drawn up.

Our state capital: Full of idiots.

 

[HeinekenMan]

Here's the thing with our fair state: School districts aren't allowed to plan big enough facilities for anticipated future growth --- they can only build or expand a school to carry the number of students that exist at the time the plans are drawn up.

Our state capital: Full of idiots.

Thanks for the clarification. I don't mean to be casting stones at Southerners, but it sure seems like some of these truck-drivin' good ol' boys are a few eggs short of a full dozen. They nearly drive over my bumper to get past me, and they sit at the next red light for about 10 seconds. It boggles the mind.

I'm not much for redneck Republicans who don't have a college education but seem to think that they know better than those edumacaded fools. I also don't care much for hearing more people speaking Spanish than English in the grocery store. I deal with it, but it's pretty annoying when most of the neighborhood boys who are my son's age can't communicate verbally with him. It also annoys me when my Little Brother's mom can't even understand it when I tell her that he needs to see a doctor.

It's not tough to see why I have such contempt for the people of this state. But my annual pass to Disney World doesn't end for another six months, so vacation can't be over just yet. And perhaps it never will be over. The thing is that I like this state enough to want to change it.

 

[93Devil]

Here's the thing with our fair state: School districts aren't allowed to plan big enough facilities for anticipated future growth --- they can only build or expand a school to carry the number of students that exist at the time the plans are drawn up.

Our state capital: Full of idiots.

Thanks for the clarification. I don't mean to be casting stones at Southerners, but it sure seems like some of these truck-drivin' good ol' boys are a few eggs short of a full dozen. They nearly drive over my bumper to get past me, and they sit at the next red light for about 10 seconds. It boggles the mind.

I'm not much for redneck Republicans who don't have a college education but seem to think that they know better than those edumacaded fools. I also don't care much for hearing more people speaking Spanish than English in the grocery store. I deal with it, but it's pretty annoying when most of the neighborhood boys who are my son's age can't communicate verbally with him. It also annoys me when my Little Brother's mom can't even understand it when I tell her that he needs to see a doctor.

It's not tough to see why I have such contempt for the people of this state. But my annual pass to Disney World doesn't end for another six months, so vacation can't be over just yet. And perhaps it never will be over. The thing is that I like this state enough to want to change it.

You forgot to mention that they still have not stopped fighting the Civil War.

Educated Mother ****ers is a term I have heard. That, and Yankee or Damn Yankee if you stayed.

Too many Jethros and not enough Shelby Footes down here.

 

[KJIM]

I can't find the stupid caller thread but didn't want to create a new one, and I felt I'd revived the Open Letters thread enough, so I'm sticking this here.

Was duty officer through the holiday, and scams are a big thing. We get a lot of those -- Americans calling from the States on behalf of an American citizen, or so they say, in Istanbul for X reason who's now being told by employer/police/doctor that they need $$. Usually, the callers are female, but not always, but almost 100 percent of the time, the in-distress person is described as a fiance. Questioning usually unearths an online relationship and the two have never met. Standard MO is that the in-distress person can only communicate by text but won't contact the consulate directly. People get fleeced for thousands.

So a call comes in; it's some woman saying her fiance is in Istanbul in distress. RED FLAG. Has been in Turkey since November working as a consultant. RED FLAG! RED FLAG! Now, said American citizen is in a hospital, close to death, and the doctor won't treat him without money up front. Has texted a photo of fiance to woman and sent an address to which caller is to send money. Fiance cannot speak for himself, as he has malaria. (CORPS OF RED FLAGS!)

I try to politely explain this is the MO for scams and warn the woman not to send money, but she assures me this is "a real relationship," though she hasn't seen fiance for almost a year. I asked when she last spoke to him and she says she texted him Friday. I said no, spoke, and she stammers and sticks by the Friday thing.

The texting doctor won't give her a hospital name, just demands for money. Since the last thing I need on my watch is a real dead American citizen, I ask for fiance's passport number and name of hospital, and I figure I can make calls.

Caller sends me a photo of the passport, name of hospital and of the "boarding pass." I immediately email back that the passport is fake, just look at the expiration date. She replies, what, passports aren't good for five years? I've never had one, I don't know. I said, well, as a matter of fact, no, they're good for 10, but the bigger issue is the abbreviation for January is "Jan," not "Jen."

Dear Lord, she had it the whole time and never bothered to look. She maintained the guy was real. Counting on a wedding.

As if there was any doubt then, I took a look at the boarding pass and replied to ask if if she put him on the flight herself, because she'd said he left from Houston, but the flight given was an American Airlines flight from Tuscon to Chicago and on to London, plus the airport listed was West Houston, not Houston Hobby, and it was allegedly a direct flight. Riiiight. A direct flight from a small private airport to a huge international one.

Oh, and there's no such hospital in Istanbul.

Her final reply was "I hope you find and prosecute him."

Didn't have the heart to tell her I'm not law enforcement.

 

[cjericho]

Do people that stupid sometimes deserve to be fleeced?