If you missed it, that's OK, there's always next time. For those that called and emailed the commissioners, thank you! It definitely made a difference.
On the property tax rate and doing away with the unequal tax rate that all non-Memphis residents of Shelby County were paying(0.04 cents higher than everyone else). WE WON! Thanks to a non-partisan group of Commissioners voting for fairness and equality in taxation for all of Shelby County!
On the funding for pre-k, well, you can thank Republican Mayor Luttrell for miraculously finding an extra 3 million dollars in the general fund that he pledged to put towards pre-k funding. There was a creative attempt by Mike Ritz who would take that 3 million and raise it to almost 6 million as if he were playing a 13-man game of Black Jack, after all, it's not reaaaaal money right? But alas, it was not to be and once again Mikey Ritz found out he was playing his favorite game....Solitaire. Boy I am going to miss him when he's is gone. No seriously, he does provide fodder for entertainment and one needs that when sitting through these sometimes tedious meetings.
For now, we will overlook the fact that Mayor Luttrell was giving into the conventional line of thinking that we have to expand the pre-k program which as we know will cost a lot more money than the county has funding for. The Department of Health and Human Services own study shows there is no value in headstart so why are we now going to expand more programs along those lines. So much re-education needed...so little time. And speaking of surplus funds, my friend who went with me yesterday pointed out, there are NO surplus fund when you have debt obligations of more than 1.3 billion dollars!
On to the Residency requirements for me but not for thee Henri Brooks....She had a room full of supporters with t-shirts that said We Heart Henri Brooks. I would just like to say, we heart Henri Brooks too, because that's what my Christian religion requires me to do of my neighbor but we are also required to play by the rules. As most of us have learned the last few years, rules are for the little people. Why Henri Brooks couldn't just whip out the good ole drivers license and prove her residency or bring a MLGW bill, or a cable bill , or a credit card bill, or a paycheck stub, or something, anything that would put this baby to rest. But, we know this story is serving a greater purpose, which is to divide and conquer, which is the only way some politicians can get elected. On the back of the Brooks supporters t-shirts it said something about divide and conquer which was alluding to what the other commissioners are doing to her and something about the lesson from Willie Lynch ( google him but he apparently taught people how to stay in control over their slaves with the divide and conquer technique), which is interesting since she is basically accusing her fellow commissioners of wearing white sheets or something(I'm so bored with the race card technique, you know the whole divide and conquer thing that she so detests?) and so she is participating in the very thing she is calling out.
To make a 2 hour story short....
The commission scheduled a meeting to take place by July 28 for a question and answer format with Brooks and her lawyers so the commission can determine from that whether or not Brooks lives in her district and if they determine she does not, then they can move on to voting to fill her vacancy. We sympathized with Steve Basar who couldn't understand why she couldn't just produce proof of her residency yesterday, silly rabbit, that proof is only easy to produce if you have it. And, politics is political theater, it just wouldn't be the same if everything was so simple, if it was, Brooks wouldn't be a commissioner and Mike Ritz would be at home....playing Solitaire.
As always, stay tuned....
On the property tax rate and doing away with the unequal tax rate that all non-Memphis residents of Shelby County were paying(0.04 cents higher than everyone else). WE WON! Thanks to a non-partisan group of Commissioners voting for fairness and equality in taxation for all of Shelby County!
On the funding for pre-k, well, you can thank Republican Mayor Luttrell for miraculously finding an extra 3 million dollars in the general fund that he pledged to put towards pre-k funding. There was a creative attempt by Mike Ritz who would take that 3 million and raise it to almost 6 million as if he were playing a 13-man game of Black Jack, after all, it's not reaaaaal money right? But alas, it was not to be and once again Mikey Ritz found out he was playing his favorite game....Solitaire. Boy I am going to miss him when he's is gone. No seriously, he does provide fodder for entertainment and one needs that when sitting through these sometimes tedious meetings.
For now, we will overlook the fact that Mayor Luttrell was giving into the conventional line of thinking that we have to expand the pre-k program which as we know will cost a lot more money than the county has funding for. The Department of Health and Human Services own study shows there is no value in headstart so why are we now going to expand more programs along those lines. So much re-education needed...so little time. And speaking of surplus funds, my friend who went with me yesterday pointed out, there are NO surplus fund when you have debt obligations of more than 1.3 billion dollars!
On to the Residency requirements for me but not for thee Henri Brooks....She had a room full of supporters with t-shirts that said We Heart Henri Brooks. I would just like to say, we heart Henri Brooks too, because that's what my Christian religion requires me to do of my neighbor but we are also required to play by the rules. As most of us have learned the last few years, rules are for the little people. Why Henri Brooks couldn't just whip out the good ole drivers license and prove her residency or bring a MLGW bill, or a cable bill , or a credit card bill, or a paycheck stub, or something, anything that would put this baby to rest. But, we know this story is serving a greater purpose, which is to divide and conquer, which is the only way some politicians can get elected. On the back of the Brooks supporters t-shirts it said something about divide and conquer which was alluding to what the other commissioners are doing to her and something about the lesson from Willie Lynch ( google him but he apparently taught people how to stay in control over their slaves with the divide and conquer technique), which is interesting since she is basically accusing her fellow commissioners of wearing white sheets or something(I'm so bored with the race card technique, you know the whole divide and conquer thing that she so detests?) and so she is participating in the very thing she is calling out.
To make a 2 hour story short....
The commission scheduled a meeting to take place by July 28 for a question and answer format with Brooks and her lawyers so the commission can determine from that whether or not Brooks lives in her district and if they determine she does not, then they can move on to voting to fill her vacancy. We sympathized with Steve Basar who couldn't understand why she couldn't just produce proof of her residency yesterday, silly rabbit, that proof is only easy to produce if you have it. And, politics is political theater, it just wouldn't be the same if everything was so simple, if it was, Brooks wouldn't be a commissioner and Mike Ritz would be at home....playing Solitaire.
As always, stay tuned....
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