time flies!

Time does fly! Where does it go? Where will it go? This spring is shaping up as the best ever. We're getting some pretty consistent non-rainy weather. Days with multiple hours of sunshine, or near-sunshine, and many consecutive hours when the sky isn't leaking. The temperatures are very gradually rising, tho we did have a soft frost yesterday. Our last frost date is May 11, so we're still a month from being safe.

Safe? Did I say that? How can anyone be safe when John Boner is still running loose? A cute comment about him yesterday: The chief Republican negotiator, John Boner, is looking more orange than usual today. He is orange. Why?

Anyway, the federal government won't shut down... not that anyone would have noticed. Are we relieved? No. The whole mess is still hugely disfunctional, and the usual suspects still run the show. I think we've all lowered our expectations to the point where the bar is lying on the ground. Better not to have hope. Yes We Can!?

Portugal has joined Ireland and Greece on the welfare list in Europe. Bummer. I have to wonder how much of the trouble is the result of the activities of our favorite investment bank, Goldman Sachs? Lots, I think.

Corvallis continues to wrestle with budget issues. The problem, in a nutshell, is that our city management is in bed with the unions. This is no surprise, and it would be surprising, in fact, if it were any other way. After all, our city manager is a very nice guy who hates controversy. And he has to work with the unions every day, year after year. Why not be friends? Why not avoid issues whenever possible? But in terms of the city's fiscal status, this attitude has gotten us in some very hot water. Based on some very generous assumptions about the outcome of our current labor negotiations, we're in the red about $3.1 million. If the city had hit hard on the negotiations, if they'd come to the table with a (very reasonable) demand that all city employees take a 4% pay/benefits cut, then the budget would have balanced... no need to close the library on Sunday, no need to remove the portable toilets from busy city parks, no need to blackmail the citizenry with threats (very specific threats) that, unless voters approve a 'levy' that will increase our already heavy burden of property taxes, draconian cuts in city services are assured.

And blackmail is the right word. "An act of attempting to obtain money by intimidation and/or threats; an attempt to influence actions of a person by pressure or threats". So when a city official tells us we have a choice: pass the 'levy', which will reduce the city deficit to something around $1.2 million, or defeat the levy and watch as the library, the city pool, and the senior center suffer big cuts to their hours, with full closing possible for the pool and senior center. That is blackmail by any definition.

Why isn't this recognized by the city council, and the mayor? Why aren't they screaming? Why have they bought this horrendous situation? They, too, like smooth labor relations. They want to trust the city manager (who, I believe, has proved to be untrustworthy). Why hasn't the city demanded a better, more realistic outcome from current labor negotiations? I don't know. I'm not sure we'll ever know. But, since one of the results of the current blackmail scheme will likely be higher pay for non-union city employees (that includes the city manager, retiring in a few months but still eligible for a higher pension, and the chief negotiator for the city, the assistant city manager, who presumable will be staying on the city payroll)...well, the entire proceedure sure stinks of corruption and malfeasance. Bad, bad way to run a city. Makes you think of Bell, CA.

And the crazy thing is that people (non-city employees) don't seem to recognize that they're being blackmailed. They did see thru the last scheme this team cooked up... the so-called Downtown Corvallis Urban Renewal fiasco, which was soundly defeated by these same voters. The problem this time is that so many of the voters stand to gain by the blackmail... so many are city employees, or relatives of employees, or friends of employees... they will gain economically, which I think is what makes this ballot issue different from the failed Urban Renewal attempt.

So my only hope is that enough people can see through this nasty scheme that we'll manage to defeat it. We'll see...because time flies, and the election will soon be upon us. Cross your fingers! Say no to official blackmail! Send Jon Nelson packing with another defeat!

Namaste.