Monday, April 27, 2009

River Walk artwork, is now the right time?

At the council meeting on April 20th, I was impressed, at first, with council member Malpezzi. At the beginning of the meeting he had come up with a creative way to keep city staff from having to take a 10% pay cut. For this I applaud him.
Later in the meeting the topic of the art work for the River Walk came up. At this point council member Malpezzi wanted to spend money even though there had been a discussion on the financial state of the city. During the artwork discussion, council member Ingram suggested that they wait a couple of months to see where the city is financially before committing to the art work. To me this was a great suggestions but council member Malpezzi was not interested.
Could it be that council member Malpezzi’s motives at the beginning of the meeting were only motivated by his support of the art work for the River Walk? It seems to me that art work should be the last thing that the council should spend monies on. I know it has been budgeted but still, is it the right thing to do? Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

April 15th thought

As today is the last day to file our income taxes, I thought it would be a good time to think about how government effects our lives. It can be sumed up in this simple thought:

When you turn and look to the government for answers and help it makes you dependant on that government and because of that dependancy you can never become prosperous.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Ferndale Councill makes wrong desicion on staff

Why is it when a government entity gets into financial trouble they take one of the following courses of action: 1. Raise taxes or 2. Let staff go? I was sad to read in the Ferndale Record Journal that our city council has recently taken option two. There is a third option and that option is to cut or postpone projects.

At last weeks council meeting our elected officials chose to eliminate city staff positions. I think this is wrong especially when there are several projects in the works that could be postponed thereby allowing the staff to remain. A good example of this is the Main Street project. This is a great example of a project that could be put on hold until the economy improves. Another example is the reconfiguring of the parking along 1st Street by the school.

Elected official like to do projects over people because they can point to a project with pride and say "See I got that done, aren't I great and don't I deserve to be re-elected?" The reality is they are only serving their own egos. Yes, underground utilities make a street look nice, but in this economy, it is the best use of our monies? Additional parking along 1st Street would be nice, but does it have to be done this year? Why aren't our council members asking these questions? Instead they hid behind closed doors, not letting the public listen to the their discussion or comment.

Our city staff does an excellent job and does not deserve to be treated in this manner. I would urge our council to reconsider their decision and look at all the projects going on and if after cutting or postponing there is still a shortfall, then implement the staff cuts.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Happy Easter

Have you ever wondered why there is no tomb or shire in Jerusalem dedicated to Jesus? There are other tombs and shrines for other religious leaders through out the world so why not for Jesus? The answer is quite simple, Jesus is alive, risen from the dead and sitting at the right hand of God in heaven.

Jesus was executed by professional Roman soldiers and placed in a grave guarded by highly trained Roman guards. On the 3rd day Mary went to finish the burial ritual that could not be done because of the Sabbath. When she arrived the grave was empty. This news came as a big surprise to her and to the disciples when they heard the news.

It is because of Jesus’ death and resurrection that we today can have salvation and forgiveness of our sins, not by any of our works or good deeds, but because of the grace of God. As it is written, “God so loved the world that he gave his only son that who so ever believed in him would have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Therefore, there is no need to have a special tomb or shrine for Jesus. So on this Easter Sunday join me in celebrating the resurrection of Jesus and the love of God.

Jesus is alive!

Friday, April 10, 2009

Welcome to my blog

Thanks for stopping by. Over the next couple of days I will be getting this up and running. My postings will have to do with local Ferndale, Washington issues as well as national, hence the beyond part of the name. I look forward to your comments as well.