Baron Hill will be at IUS this evening to hold a discussion on current issues. Look for health care reform to be at the top of the list, if not the only thing on it. If you have followed these postings with any regularity and read the links provided here, my view on this matter should be clear: health care reform is vital to the overall success of the Obama administration; it constitutes his compact with the electorate, failure, or what can reasonably be defined as failure, puts his second term out of reach. The majority of sources cited here have not been sanguine about a positive outcome.
For a more hopeful view, read this. Such an outcome would be correctly called a success.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Dry Out Time Out
The City Council will meet this Thursday, out of sync because of the Labor Day weekend.
One of the ordinances on the agenda is a moratorium on building permits. This is not intended as a punitive measure against builders or developers. It is, rather, an attempt to let the City catch up with the issues it faces as a result of damages caused by storm water and sewer problems.
During several recent Council meetings, people from various neighborhoods have come before the body to alert us to problems of raw sewage, or storm water, or a combination of the two flooding into their houses. The resulting damage and loss of personal effects has been extensive. The assignment of responsibility to the deity has been convenient, but not necessarily beneficial to these residents.
The proposal before the Council is simple. The Storm Water Board is developing a Storm Water Master Plan. This process should take about six to nine months. During the last Council meeting, I asked an engineer working on the plan, if that plan would result in better development( better meaning less flood-prone or less likely to inflict flooding on surrounding houses or buildings ) after the plan is completed and its findings implemented. He agreed that it would.
A woman from one of the affected areas told of a vacant lot near her house. She suggested that water which flooded the streets of her neighborhood and poured into basements there, might have been made more severe if that vacant lot were built upon, adding impervious surface to the equation of an obviously problematic drainage area. Further, she said, if it were dedicated to use as a detention basin for flood waters, the vacant lot might actually reduce the problem rather than exacerbating it.
The lot to which she referred is in an established subdivision. Construction on that specific lot is permitted "by right". The only element of oversight the City now has on such a parcel is a review of plans pursuant to a building permit, because the overall drainage questions have been answered years ago when the development was granted approval. Unfortunately, unexpected problems are arising to prevent proper drainage, and this is resulting in property damage and loss of personal items. Have rain patterns nullified earlier assumptions? Has maintenance lagged? Or is something else amiss? Hopefully, the Storm Water Master Plan now in development will explain what has gone wrong and point us in the direction of fixing the problems.
The expected time to complete the Master Plan is not excessive. If it is done correctly and thoroughly it may prevent, or at least, lessen the severity of flooding throughout the city. Of course, a plan will not solve anything in and of itself, it will need conscientious application and enforcement to be effective.
As the old joke goes, when you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you need to do is to stop digging. In this case, for six to nine months.
One of the ordinances on the agenda is a moratorium on building permits. This is not intended as a punitive measure against builders or developers. It is, rather, an attempt to let the City catch up with the issues it faces as a result of damages caused by storm water and sewer problems.
During several recent Council meetings, people from various neighborhoods have come before the body to alert us to problems of raw sewage, or storm water, or a combination of the two flooding into their houses. The resulting damage and loss of personal effects has been extensive. The assignment of responsibility to the deity has been convenient, but not necessarily beneficial to these residents.
The proposal before the Council is simple. The Storm Water Board is developing a Storm Water Master Plan. This process should take about six to nine months. During the last Council meeting, I asked an engineer working on the plan, if that plan would result in better development( better meaning less flood-prone or less likely to inflict flooding on surrounding houses or buildings ) after the plan is completed and its findings implemented. He agreed that it would.
A woman from one of the affected areas told of a vacant lot near her house. She suggested that water which flooded the streets of her neighborhood and poured into basements there, might have been made more severe if that vacant lot were built upon, adding impervious surface to the equation of an obviously problematic drainage area. Further, she said, if it were dedicated to use as a detention basin for flood waters, the vacant lot might actually reduce the problem rather than exacerbating it.
The lot to which she referred is in an established subdivision. Construction on that specific lot is permitted "by right". The only element of oversight the City now has on such a parcel is a review of plans pursuant to a building permit, because the overall drainage questions have been answered years ago when the development was granted approval. Unfortunately, unexpected problems are arising to prevent proper drainage, and this is resulting in property damage and loss of personal items. Have rain patterns nullified earlier assumptions? Has maintenance lagged? Or is something else amiss? Hopefully, the Storm Water Master Plan now in development will explain what has gone wrong and point us in the direction of fixing the problems.
The expected time to complete the Master Plan is not excessive. If it is done correctly and thoroughly it may prevent, or at least, lessen the severity of flooding throughout the city. Of course, a plan will not solve anything in and of itself, it will need conscientious application and enforcement to be effective.
As the old joke goes, when you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you need to do is to stop digging. In this case, for six to nine months.
Which Side Are You On?...Day 29
For years now, one political party has claimed exclusive protection of family values. Now, as the time to make choices which can protect families is upon us, they choose profits over people.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
WHich Side Are You On?...Day 28
Here are the Top Five Lies About Health Care as reported in Newsweek:
You'll have no choice in what health benefits you receive.
No chemo for older medicare patients.
Illegal immigrants will get free health insurance.
Death panels will decide who lives.
The government will set doctors' wages.
Read the entire article here.
You'll have no choice in what health benefits you receive.
No chemo for older medicare patients.
Illegal immigrants will get free health insurance.
Death panels will decide who lives.
The government will set doctors' wages.
Read the entire article here.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Which Side Are You On?...Day 27
The better angels of our nature are around here somewhere,I hope, even though they may not be visible from Europe.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Which Side Are You On?...Day 26
Attention literalists: This video of Teddy Kennedy does not specifically discuss health care reform, but it does hit the very real issue of class inequality and the way in which the haves are dismissive of the have-nots.
I don't really know any haves, if you consider people like Rick Scott, who puts millions of his own money into the fight against health care reform. And, my continuing amazement is that while very few others know any people like him either, and have little or no chance of becoming like him, many of these same people want to fight for his intersts which are aligned against their interests.
Is it a belief that somehow, if we let the richest have free rein, there will be "More pie for me"? They fail to realize they don't even have a fork.
I don't really know any haves, if you consider people like Rick Scott, who puts millions of his own money into the fight against health care reform. And, my continuing amazement is that while very few others know any people like him either, and have little or no chance of becoming like him, many of these same people want to fight for his intersts which are aligned against their interests.
Is it a belief that somehow, if we let the richest have free rein, there will be "More pie for me"? They fail to realize they don't even have a fork.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Which Side Are You On?...Day 25
How much different might the debate on health care have been had this legislative giant been in the battle?
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