Here goes.
Tax increment financing
With the recent revelation that the cupboard at the Hope Valley CID has been stripped bare, isn't it about time we said no to the habit of the City of Joplin and other governing bodies to put the stamp of approval on every tax increment financing proposal or giving gigantic tax breaks to anyone who says they will bring 50 jobs or help the city grow?
Perhaps we should examine the city's pitiful record- Consider the bill of goods the city and the school district bought on Wallace Bajjali's disastrous TIF. Wallace should be in prison. Or how about the 1717 Marketplace TIF? The developer of that project is is prison. Tax increment financing is supposed to be for blighted areas. How in the world can either the 1717 Marketplace or Northpark Crossing TIFs be considered to be in blighted areas?
Part of the problem we have run into this country is that we have pitted cities and states against each other in a never-ending battle to throw money away to attract businesses that then have no loyalty when the next community is willing to offer even more.
And when you have a situation like the Hope Valley CID where then City Councilman Mike Woolston voted in favor of it despite being a business partner with the developer, it brings an even stronger odor to the entire process.
And Joplin has certainly had problem with odor recently.
Harvey Weinstein
One of the themes being pushed on right wing media is that women on the left are hypocritical because they marched and protested immediately after Donald Trump was inaugurated as president, but have not come out en masse to protest against Harvey Weinstein.
No one from the right wing media has passed along their talking points to me, so maybe I am missing something.
Since when can Harvey Weinstein make decisions that can send us to war, deprive millions of health care, talk about how warm and fuzzy those white nationalists are or send the message that America's word can no longer be trusted?
Harvey Weinstein is a pig and deserves personal and professional payback and probably prison time. Some protests against him would not be out of the question, but to compare protests against an entertainment figure with someone whose every decision affects all of us is nonsense.
Josh Hawley and Eric Greitens
I miss the good old days when people actually worked their way up the political ladder and showed they knew what they were doing before they began auditioning for national political office.
In the past few days, the Turner Report has had posts about Attorney General Josh Hawley cozying up to Steve Bannon and the Koch Brothers to boost his U. S. Senate candidacy and Greitens has made trips all over the U. S., going to Washington at least five times and visiting with the president in Florida.
These two men have only served slightly more than nine months in office.
It would be nice to see resumes being built through accomplishment.
Break up the Cubs
I also miss the days when I rooted for the National League every year in the World Series. I want to see the Houston Astros take it all this year. (At least, they spent most of their existence in the National League.)
I definitely do not want the Yankees back in the World Series and while I hate seeing the Dodgers playing in the Fall Classic either, I will hold my nose and root for them to beat the Cubs. Cub fans got their World Series last year. Let them wait another 108 years.
"And when you have a situation like the Hope Valley CID where then City Councilman Mike Woolston voted in favor of it despite being a business partner with the developer, it brings an even stronger odor to the entire process."
ReplyDeleteAny thoughts on why Woolston is recorded as an abstention on the first two Hope Valley CID votes but as having voted for passage on the third?
"AN ORDINANCE approving a Petition to Establish the Hope Valley Community Improvement District and creating the Hope Valley Community Improvement District; and containing an emergency clause.
Mr. Stanley introduced Council Bill No. 2015-505. Motion by Mr. Stanley, Second by Mr. Shaw, that Council Bill No. 2015-505 be approved on an emergency basis. Voting in favor were Council Members: Colbert-Kean, Glaze, Rosenberg, Scearce, Seibert, Shaw and Stanley 7, Nays: 0. Absent: 1, Lewis. Abstention: 1, Woolston.
The Council Bill was declared Adopted and entitled Ordinance No. 2015-053
AN ORDINANCE approving a Cooperative Agreement among the City of Joplin, Missouri, the Hope Valley Community Improvement District, and Hope Valley Development Group, Inc. and authorizing the City Manager to execute the Agreement; and containing an emergency clause.
Mr. Shaw introduced Council Bill No. 2015-506. Motion by Mr. Shaw, Second by Mr. Scearce, that Council Bill No. 2015-506 be approved on an emergency basis. Voting in favor were Council Members: Colbert-Kean, Glaze, Rosenberg, Scearce, Seibert, Shaw and Stanley 7, Nays: 0. Absent: 1, Lewis. Abstention: 1, Woolston.
The Council Bill was declared Adopted and entitled Ordinance No. 2015-054
AN ORDINANCE approving a Tax Increment Financing Contract for the Hope Valley Tax Increment Financing Redevelopment Plan and authorizing the City Manager to execute the Contract; and containing an emergency clause.
Mr. Stanley introduced Council Bill No. 2015-606. Motion by Mr. Stanley, Second by Mr. Shaw, that Council Bill No. 2015-606 be approved on an emergency basis. Voting in favor were Council Members: Colbert-Kean, Glaze, Rosenberg, Scearce, Seibert, Shaw, Stanley and Woolston 8. Nays: 0. Absent: 1, Lewis.
The Council Bill was declared Adopted and entitled Ordinance No. 2015-055
http://mo-joplin.civicplus.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/420?fileID=1201
There's 3 minutes of my life I will never get back. I guess, as most on the left, your bias blinds you. Forget about who he is for a moment....a man of enormous power has RAPED and sexually assaulted over 30 women so far. The incredible hypocrisy in liberal Hollywood is that these same people blasting Trump totally sold out and refused to discredit him all in order to protect their own careers. This was an open secret for years but libs decided to cover it up causing many other women to fall victim to this scumbag. You minimizing this reveals even more about your character. Really Turner "PROBABLY prison time"????? Are you kidding me???? Incredible.
ReplyDeleteThe probably prison time was a reference to our judicial system, not to whether he belongs in prison or not. He does. But as I pointed out in my post, he is not the president of the United States. The decisions he made did not affect an entire nation and trying to make them sound equivalent is ridiculous. I did not "minimize" anything and if it is bias to think that the decisions made by the president affect more people than the decisions made by Harvey Weinstein, then everyone with any common sense should be biased.
ReplyDeleteYou've shown comment sense isn't your forte with your past "reporting".
DeleteSo, your ignorance equates someone talking about grabbing a pussy and someone who sexually assaults and rapes scores of women has the same thing? Unbelievable.
DeleteAgain with the comments comparing Trump and Weinstein and what they have done with women. You obviously either did not read my post or you choose to deliberately ignore that the protests nearly all have to do with decisions and policies of the president of the United States. To insist that millions of people should be prepared to march against Harvey Weinstein is ridiculous. The Weinstein story is a big one and could and should end up having a major effect on the way things are done in Hollywood and perhaps in business itself. But it is still not equivalent to the impact that even one day of decisions by the most powerful leader in the free world. Please try logic in your arguments.
ReplyDeleteI find it funny that anytime you get frustrated and do not have an intelligent response you have to attack the poster. You always say things like please try to include some intelligence in your response or some logic in your response. This is the calling card of a coward, a guy who simply cannot formulate an intelligent response and becomes exasperated. You need to work at that a little bit, maybe you will improve.
DeleteBetter yet, you need to try to attach some sort of element of logic to yours because nothing you say makes any sort of sense to anyone with a little bit of intelligence. Trump's comments had very little effect on people when it comes right down to it. It was Despicable and completely and totally out of line but it was just locker room talk. What Weinstein did will have a far-reaching impact and a much greater impact on all of society than anything Trump has done with women. You really need to get a clue.
ReplyDeleteI am beginning to think that these comments are just an attempt to irritate me, because nobody can be this dense. I will point out one last time, I am not talking about anything President Trump has said or done about women. I am talking about the decisions he makes and the policies he has as president. I have said that clearly at least twice and I made my point perfectly clear. There is no equivalence between Trump and Harvey Weinstein. One makes decisions that affect all of us and those are the things that are being protested. The revelations about Harvey Weinstein could well end up having a large impact when it comes to the way sexual harassment in the workplace is treated, but he never had the power to send soldiers to war, cut off health care to millions or back out of commitments America has made to its allies.
ReplyDelete"No one can be this dense"....ahh good to see Turner back attacking commenters by name-calling when he doesn't agree. You never disappoint. I can assure you however you are the least intelligent in this conversation.
DeleteOkay, let's simplify this for you so that you can better understand the situation. First, in your delusional world, you're indicating that the right is somehow calling out people who protested against Trump for various reasons right after the election. The only thing I hear on the ride is that you have a man who is soon to be proven as a serial rapist and sexual predator that was involved in three large amounts of money to the Democratic party. He epitomizes high-profile liberal Hollywood. The only point that people in the right arm aching is that Trump was called out for everything he did and said regarding women as he should be but this idiot Weinstein was given a pass and even shielded by those who knew on the left. It became political because of his involvement with the Democratic Party and comments he made against Trump. You're trying to create some sort of false equivalency but then again that is typical of you.
1) Hope Valley CID. That and the Blasters sound like another book, Randy. "Son of Silver Linings."
ReplyDelete2) How could this Harvey Weinstein thing have been suppressed so thoroughly before it blew up? I guess it was an open secret in Hollywood. Who knew beforehand? Why didn't anyone go to the papers or the cops? Yes, I get that he was a powerful man who could make and break careers, but someone could have anonymously slipped a tip to investigators.
3) I have little to live for this baseball post-season. My three least-favorite NL teams are the last ones standing in that league. The Yankees might go to the World Series. I'd love to see the Astros win it all, partly because I saw Correa and McCullers come up through the minors in Iowa.
The other MO sports teams are not compelling. The Chiefs are off to a great start, which simply tells the long-suffering fan the coming collapse will be spectacular. I still haven't gotten over the Christmas Day 1971 double-overtime loss. The STL Blues similarly tease. Wake me when they make the Stanley Cup finals. I expect to get a long, long rest.