For those who question my, as a New Albany City Councilman, interest in this national issue, it is this: Even the rats aboard a sinking ship drown.
Our city and small cities across the land are handcuffed by fiscal restraints put in place by well-meaning citizens and by those who are of the decidedly not well-meaning Norquistian variety.
The quest for this basic civil right holds the prospect of unlocking the vital potential of millions of citizens who are held in dead-end jobs because they "need the benefits".
These people can begin to pursue entrepreneurial gigs that would revive our economy and provide them with more meaningful work lives. These efforts are the kinds of businesses which can be nurtured through one generation into the next. This builds wealth and it builds stable communities with potential for sustainable growth. It could happen in New Albany. It could happen in any of the countless cities across the land.
And yet, New Albany is divided against itself. The nation is divided against itself. Too often, those who step forward to offer their voices in the civic conversation are wittingly or unwittingly speaking someone else's words. The health care debate is a prime example of people's reluctance to accept change, and their fractured attention reinforces this reluctance by preventing a solid understanding of the facts of the debate, thus opening them up to being used as pawns by industry against their own best interests. Thomas Frank's book, "What's The Matter With Kansas" examined that phenomenon.
We can see this at work right here in River City as people howl and object to any spending. This howling is oblivious to the forces at play around us. Inflation is likely to heat up as the economy continues to recover. We demand more services, directly, or indirectly through growth and strain on existing infrastructure.
All the while health care costs grow dramatically. The City currently pays about $1,400,000 annually for health insurance costs. These are for current employees and retirees. The system rides a wave of inflation caused by many factors, but the City budget gets swamped by the costs. The services we demand are cut in its wake, and the City deteriorates. The best solution to these spiralling health care costs is a single-payer plan as put forth in H.R. 676. The New Albany City Council passed a resolution in January supporting H.R. 676.
Health reform is fiscally responsible, yes, but it is simply the right thing to do.
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Below is today's installment of Which Side...? It contains a video from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont.
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5 comments:
That explains why a city council member would advocate for reform. Thanks.
John: Why the differences in the paving material used on upper Sprng Street between the entrance to the City and Vincennes Street and the paving material being used between Vincennes Street and State Street(almost)?
Why don't you speak out more at City Council Meeting? It might help raise the level of the debate(?).
I have been following the healthcare reform debate and have been very saddened about the way it is going. Obama needs to set the level of the debate by telling the American people as clearly as possible the amount of money they (as insureds) are paying out each year to cover the health care espenses of the uninsured and just how the reforms being proposed will help and how we can expect to pay for the reforms. I know he is leavng this up to Congress but they are doing a woeful job of educating the public on this. Until the public is better educated with some real facts and figures, I think healthcare reform will really get nowhere.
While I am at it, I have another City question or two you may be able to answer: Why can't the city restore Bank Street and Pearl Street to two way traffic as a way of telling whether this would help or hurt downtown traffic? It appears that the only expense might be for some additional traffic light work. But it would be great to try this as a prelude to other changes just to see how THAT would work.
Secondly, I am seeing what appears to be sewer work at places where the work was done in the recent past i.e. State and Oak Streets and Ayer Street between Spring and Elm Streets. Is there no supervision of this work by a trained engineer to insure that the work is done correctly the first time?
dburke:
a) I'll have to find out about that. Perhaps it is the rough base such as the current surface of Daisy Lane and it will yet receive a smoother top coat, but that's just a guess.
b) That sounds like a compliment which I am reluctant to accept.
All the members need to be ready to deal with the issues before us in a way that furthers understanding of the problems without resorting to grandstanding or veering into counterproductive discussion.
I'll take your admonishment to heart.
c) I believe the president set his health care reform movement back when he failed to push the objective of a single payer alternative as laid out in H.R. 676.
That plan may, in fact, have not become law, but from a practical perspective it would have set an ideal standard from which compromises could have been made. It is difficult to offer a house for sale at $100,000 and then bargain up to the price you want; I'm afraid that is what Mr. Obama did.
If nothing else, H.R. 676 could have taken all the bile put forth by the unruly crowds at the Town Howls, and then the final legislation could have settled down to a "robust public option" which would actually and effectively cover the uninsured and those who lose insurance through job loss. I believe that decoupling health care from employer based plans would be a boon to entrepreneurial efforts of those who feel shackled to dead-end or unsatisfying careers because they "need the benefits".
I'm all for two way streets. They aid in commerce. They add to a human scale neighborhood as streets become streets as opposed to thoroughfares. A teacher at U of L, John Gilderbloom, has pointed out that two way traffic even cuts down on crime because the marginally slower pace of two way traffic puts more eyes on motorists' surroundings rather than simply speeding down the street.
The cost of the conversion has always been a puzzle to me. I'm afraid that this factor caused the mayor to walk away from a full pursuit of a bond issue to make great strides on the paving, and the two way change was caught up in that. It therefore was lost or abandoned.
I'll check into how the sewer work is scheduled and how priorities for it are determined.
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