A worried resident asks about our future...
I've been following this blog for years, and while I enjoy reading about specific issues, (DRMC, Leland school District) I do not see much discussion about the future of Greenville. What disturbs me the most is no direction at all from our Mayor or City Council.
I assume that the Mayor and City Council take care of the day to day business of running Greenville, but I hear nothing about the flight of citizens from our city, the declining sales tax revenues, the number of houses for sale in our city.
Wouldn't an important part of being Mayor be the setting of specific goals? For instance maybe Ms. Hudson could set a goal of attracting 2 Industries a year to Greenville. Or maybe a goal would be to bring another airline to Greenville in the next year. I hear nothing about the future of Greenville from our leaders. It is strictly about maintaining on a day today basis. This used to be a wonderful town to live in, but in the last several years the quality of living has gotten worse.
"Worried and disgusted in Greenville"
Anonymous writer predicts change in the air...
It is a distinct possibility that the reign of the Washington County Board President Al (the playboy) Rankin, and (Winkey), the Board Attorney, Willy Griffin could be over. With their quest to control the county governments, they left a bitter taste in many candidates mouth.
The candidates that they hoped would win, lost, further alienating the new candidates, so I am predicting a lesser roll for the Playboy President, and perhaps a good bye for Winkey. Both would be a breath of fresh air for the County.
As for "Worried's" concerns about Greenville's future, you are right. "A ship that has no course, will forever be lost at sea." Greenville will have to look beyond "race" in determining who will steer our future; let alone where it is headed.
As for the second writer's very interesting prediction, we shall see. Incumbents die hard in the Delta and these two are well known...for a variety of reasons. As I have often noted, we do not elect the best and brightest leaders in the Delta; we elect "politicians" who are selling the particular brand of "snake-oil" that we want to buy.
Forthright
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7 comments:
Don't you read the paper. We are getting a new industry now. I think they are going to make fish, no wait a minute, they are going to make housing components, no wait again they are going to make entire panelized buildings (last time I looked housing seems to be tanking across US).
Maybe they should just open a huge (500,00 square feet) fish house buffet!
To Worried Resident:
Are you fretting for economic changes that cannot be reversed?
There comes a tipping point when the best you can hope for is about half as good as other places expect. With industry, you cannot expect successful people to voluntarily move to an area where they'd be expected to pay VERY HIGH property tax rates, car tag rates AND private school tuition (if you wanna play the "game").
Sales tax revenues are a reflection of G'ville's push to a service-oriented economy. Local leaders touted this as a way to create jobs, but service-sector retail jobs don't pay well at all. Maybe more people are working than if G'ville relied solely on manufacturing, but they don't have disposable income. Having casinos sitting in your downtown and county only further the problem of disposable income because businesses aren't receiving cash that is gambled away. The local gov't. gets its cut of casino revenue, but local entrepreneurs are shut out and the money cannot "turn over" as they say - where customer spends with merchant, merchant spends with other merchant OR pays a local workers salary. It used to not believe the philosophy. Greenville made me a believer that gambling robs the local economy of capital while being easy money for local government. Think of the "after tax" income that could otherwise circulate in poor local neighborhoods instead going into a casino's bank account.
To me, the mayor and council may be wise in operating the city in a "day by day" mode where every comfortable day is a good day politically and civicly. I know it sounds harsh, but as taxpayers leave, the temptation is to raise taxes on the remaining taxpayers - driving more away. A saving grace with housing market is that many folks can't sell their homes. It is enough to trap them for a little while longer? Sometimes.
I think discussions of DRMC and Leland Schools, when they don't lapse into gossipy dissension (sorry, Forthright), are reflective of "on the ground" issues that are small pieces of a large local puzzle. They are but a fraction of the bigger outlook. With current growth patterns, I cannot logically see how Greenville can support MORE commercial air flights. Sure it's nice for citizens, but more subsidized air travel isn't helpful to the economy or customer wallets. Fares will remain high.
Attracting two industries a year - I believe the mayor and other top political leaders are trying their best given the statistics they must pitch. I have NO DOUBT.
Greenville's residents are so low-income by and large, that a majority of voters (at least enough to control political positions) aren't really paying taxes OR they rent their homes. When you have no stake in the tax base or in private property, your view of issues can be different. If quality of life drops too much, you'll move across town, into another rental. See my point? There's no rental home you can really feel like is "home." If you're not paying taxes, you're not feeling the stings, either.
That brings me to the "license plate" controversy and scandal of a month or so ago. It's easy to call the tax collecting office corrupt in this case, but with so many people trying to work so hard at dodging taxes - sure the problem is office ethics, but doesn't that mean that car tag rates are so high, people are doing things to actively, but more importantly, enthusiastically avoid them. That's most bothersome. Let he who has cheerfully paid a four-figure car tag bill for a few years cast the first stone.
Mr. Forthright, Can we go back to the Leland School district? I think we are starting to shake things up a bit. Can the administration and school board deal with any more criticism? Let's hear it folks, are we going to keep up the noise until something is done? I know that Patricia Ware is respresenting the parents that want answers so let us all let her know we are behind her 100%. I think the next school board meeting is October 17 ....as parents and taxpayers, let's all show up and see just what is going to take place. If we don't, then we can't complain about how things turn out.
I think the teacher's husband that Mr. Richards is having the "fling" with husband came to the school last week. Listen folks, this is a dangerous game they are playing. How much can a huband take before he snaps? Hopefully this woman will wake up and find out that Mr. Richards is a dead end street and not worth her time.
Come on Leland, let's hear your comments. We can't let it die down now or we won't ever get this much attention again.
A concerned parent
I agree with he writer. Now why can't you get thru to the Board? They are just as bad as Dr. Richards. Some Board members have family members employed by the district, so no support there. Now lets hear it from you Leland.
I don't enjoy reading what I thought was a blog concerned with legitimate, serious issues being consumed by petty hanky-panky in Leland. This is not the place to vent that issue. Call your school board if you have proof of wrongdoing. Otherwise, it's gossip.
It seems that the Richards dynasty may be collapsing. The school districts that she provides services to have wised up. They are cancelling their contracts with her. They have apparently realised, unlike the ineffective Leland School Board, that her services are not worth the money they pay her. Their test scores did not improve. Only in Leland where coincidentally? there is access to the tests after they are taken, and an army of Dr. R suck ups to "clean them up" are the test scores improved. Of course there are some frightened Leland teachers to consider, the ones who are so afraid of her rantings and posturing that they might offer a little help during test taking? Anything to keep her off your back!
Then again there is her son. The one who wears baggy shirts and blue jeans (the kind his hometown of Greenville wants to ban and are against Leland's dress code) and a baseball cap worn sideways. Any student who dressed this way would be immediately sent home. Of course she dressed him up in a sweater vest the day the state department of education came to visit, but that is another whole story. When he thinks people are talking about him and his escapades, he threatens violence. His mama ( he refers to her as his "mammy') threatens lawsuits. But did either of them stop to think about where people get their information? From Chris. He runs around telling anybody who will listen about what he has done.
Just week before last he was telling about his escapades with his married teacher girl friend in her room while the teacher across the hall kept her class. This is not the first time they have farmed the children out to another teacher, who is of course another relative of Dr. R. How does this stuff go on in a school? Where is the principal? Does she have a brain? Or a backbone? Does anyone think this is a good environment for first graders? It is insane, unhealthy and dangerous and it has been going on for two years! Why on God's green earth do we allow our children to be subjected to this craziness?
The school board should be completely replaced for their negligence. They are obviously incompetent and Dr. Richards is an egomaniac who has bragged in public that she does things "the state department way" when they come to visit and HER WAY the rest of the time. (Did they notice they didn't get to talk to any teachers without her menacing presence while they were in Leland?)
She and all her COMPLETELY "non Leland resident" administration have dug in their heels and intend to stay and feed off the tax payers of Leland as long as they can hold on to the power. They retire and come back and raise the taxes a little more. They can't find one person who lives in Leland who can run a school? Isn't this like "taxation without representation'? Or like being held hostage by foreign troops? It does not matter that she is detested by the entire town, she is holding on to her Leland "dynasty" as long as she can. Others may fire her, but the Leland school board doesn't have the guts to do anything about her. We expected them to do a job and they have abdicated their duties to a tyrant they cannot control . Apparently they no longer even try. This is a disgrace and it just goes on and on and on.
I would like to address the idiot who said that we need to contact the Board to discuss problems. I wonder where has his/her head been. Who does he/she think that we have been talking to? How stupid can you be?
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