Published on 29 Jan 2006 at 2:33 am.
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Filed under Politics.
The title of this post may rip off Marvel’s new Nextwave book, but it seems apropos given the climate on the Say No to the C of U‘s message board.
For the record, I may be a blogger that is interested in the subject, but I am not the Blogsider. When I posted on that board, I only post as Brian from Charlotte. I have an idea who that individual may be, but I am not he (or she). If the identity of the Blogsider really is who I believe, I think I should explain to him the difference between an intranet and the Internet.
Back on topic. Part of the argument started from someone posting about Bob Lonsberry’s article on the NET programin Rochester. While I do not normally pay attention to Lonsberry, he did strike some cords echoed by many in the community. I did leave a comment on the article, but it now it seems appropriate that to reprint it here.
The NET is not going to go away any time soon. The CGR report shows that it does do jobs that need to be done. That said, in its current form the NET is not doing its job effectively.
The primary solution would involve separating the inspection duties from the enforcement duties. This will eliminate the “Gestapo-like” currently seen by the people over at NET. The inspectors and other NET officials should be able to get away with only one or two of the six NET offices. Enforcement should be handled by the RPD, and should be given the other four to five locations to add to the two other police stations in the city. With the RPD handling all the enforcement details, this will eliminate the ambiguity in regards to who handles what. Currently situations arrive in which the NET police and the RPD do not know who is supposed to handle things which delays the whole process. I am aware of at least two occasions (a shooting and a person who was charged with ‘mental health’ problems) where it took 45 minutes for the police to show up in Charlotte after police were called.
The certificate of use program has severely hurt the relationship between the city and businesses. There are many businesses that are scared of the inspectors/enforcers (this is from the “Gestapo” imagery that would be eliminated from separating the roles), and feel it is unfair to lose the right to appeal a design, due process, that their privacy is being taken away, and that it creates an uneven playing field through selective enforcement (the same crimes taking place at a Wegmans and at Wilson Farms would result in Wilson Farms being penalized because its size is small, while Wegmans is greater than 20 thousand square feet). They feel that the law essentially tells them to police the neighborhood that their business resides in, yet offers no training. Also, some businesses are scared to call the police when something occurs because the C of U program can shut their business down if their are too many police calls from a business. Businesses are currently threatening to close up shop/leaving the city to avoid this hassle.
The program should be reworked to address these issues. The city should allow businesses the ability to appeal any decisions (due process). Open a dialog between businesses and the city to relieve tension — currently both sides are essentially yelling back and forth, with very little rational debate or compromises being formed. Force all businesses, regardless of size or type, to apply for the certificate, but scale the application/renewal cost to the businesses side (there is no reason why a 1 person/1 location shop should have to pay the same amount as say, Wegmans). Do not make business owners responsible for actions of their customers or people around their store (similarly, do not make landlords responsible for actions of their tenants).
Currently, the NET program suffers from a poor perception problem. Too many people are being snagged for “low hanging fruit” violations. Look at the previous posts above this one. A good many of them point to severe crime problems such as shootings and drugs going essentially unnoticed or receiving poor response. When people see this but are ticketed for not taking their trash from the curb fast enough they are rightfully upset! These nickel and dime violations do generate revenue for the city (which is in desperate need), but propagates disgust within the community.
The quote is slightly edited by me to “fix”/add some markup.
By “Gestapo-like”, I meant a “Gestapo-like” imagery, and was referencing one of the comments within the report, and was not an attempt to Godwin the thread. Alas, one can only edit a report so well within a simple textarea late at night, and thus I feel I may have made that explanation clear.
Published on 29 Jan 2006 at 1:40 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under Wrestling.
Well, since my friend said he would come for the show (which means he’ll show up in the last hour), I will post my predictions for the matches currently announced for the show.
- Mickie James over Ashley
- JBL beats the Boogeyman.
- Kurt Angle defeating Mark Henry
- Edge retains against John Cena
- Rey Mysterio wins the Royal Rumble match, unless John Cena ends up being one of the three mystery men.
Published on 27 Jan 2006 at 10:12 pm.
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Filed under Life.
Just want to say congratulations to my good friend Lynn. She had an interview this morning that resulted in her getting a call this evening informing her that she got a job working in for Analytical Labs in Middletown, PA. She has been working at Sears for years, and has been actively trying to find a job related to what she studied at Brockport for a number of months now. Today it finally paid off. 🙂
Published on 26 Jan 2006 at 6:58 pm.
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Filed under Comics.
In one of my previous blog entries, I mentioned the hilarious, satirical work of Robert Kirkman known as Battle Pope. Image is going to once again cash in on the Christian money train with a new one-shot, Loaded Bible: Jesus vs. Vampires. Sweet zombie Jesus!
I first heard of this book last night at the local comic shop when my comic guy was going through the new issue of Previews for the April solicitations. He turned to the one-page advertisement/article on the item and remarked “I’m not even going to bother with that kind of headache”. Curiosity got the better of me, so I asked him to order one for me. Ah well, hopefully there will be some good music in Hell.
This book will probably get little attention. I mean, it’s not like there are any Christian holidays in April. Besides, what is wrong with saying that white Jesus could save America from a horde of vampires?
Published on 24 Jan 2006 at 8:43 pm.
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Filed under Comics.
For the last two weeks Lying in the Gutters have interviewed Mr. Silent and Doktor DiscorD from the Justice Society of Justice — offering twice the justice of the leading competition! The good Mr. Silent fancies himself to be something similar to Rorschach from Alan Moore’s Watchmen and sees the pair as something similar to the droogs in Clockwork Orange (which may not be a good thing). Doktor DiscorD on the other hand does not compare himself to any literary characters, and freely admits just taking his costume from things that were laying around his home.
Hailing from Indianapolis, the duo have not yet fought much crime, and have actually resolved situations through logic and discussion! To quote Doktor DiscorD: Do you really want to shoot somebody when you’re in the center of the state capitol with cameras all over you and an undercover cop in that car behind me?
Currently, they have yet to battle a super villain. This is quite possibly a good thing, because they do not appear to have any useful powers. Mr. Silent fancies himself similar to Batman, but adds that he has the uncanny ability to spin for hours without falling down! Doktor DiscorD appears to be more of a brawler from what I’ve read.
Considering that the Justice Society of Justice have begun to find their very own groupies maybe it is time that the ole POWRSURG get into the super hero business! With great power comes great boobies! And besides, it’s not like Rochester doesn’t need more protection. I could be the very next Speedball, Slapstick, or Aquaman. I can manage enough daddy issues/inner conflict to give me a good enough back story for a reason to fight for justice. That said, I don’t know how great I would look in spandex. Maybe I should pick up some armor?
Published on 24 Jan 2006 at 3:34 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under Uncategorized.
In the rare occasions that I have gotten out of the house lately I’ve found that there seems to be a small trend building (mostly unnoticeable) — women have too much forearm hair.
I am a guy. As such, the amount of hair on my arm works for me. That said, it is completely unattractive for a woman to have so much hair (I’m sorry if that makes me sexist, but in my opinion this is true). In fact, having even fifty percent of the amount of hair on my arm would be too much. If any of you female readers out there are in this range (which means you’re someone who I do not regularly hang out with because I don’t consider any of my friends in this category), please consider shaving regularly and often. This means you, girl at KB Toys in Greece Ridge Mall in Rochester, NY.
Published on 24 Jan 2006 at 2:55 am.
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Filed under Politics.
Well, the 2006 Canadian voting results are in, and the Conservatives have won the election. Unfortunately for them, they did not win the majority. Unlike American politics, Canada actually has more than two parties that matter. While the Liberal and the Conservative parties represent most of Canada, there are two more parties — the Bloc Québécois and the NDP. The Bloc party essentially looks out for the best interest of Quebec, while the NDP is a political party further to the left than the Liberals (who are center-left). In Canada, the NDP and the Liberals have gotten along in the past, but they are separate enough on some issues that they don’t always they are their own parties.
Under the Liberals, Canada was saw a budget surplus (which is not good in excess because it means you are taxing your people too much) and advancements in human rights issues (most recently passing a nation wide law OKing same-sex civil marriage). It recently went through a corruption scandal that led to the recent election.
What does all this mean? Canadian politics are going to be boring for a while. No clear majority means that the Conservatives need to play nice with one of the other parties in order to get any laws passed. Historically, when the Conservatives are given full control, they screw things up (in many Canadians’ eyes) and they will run back to the Liberals. Since they will not be that effective as a minority leader, less people will look at them in contempt, and thus they not run back to the Liberals for leadership. Before that would ever happen, the Liberals need to clean up shop.
Published on 20 Jan 2006 at 1:23 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under Life,Politics.
So the other day my friend Christine was driving me home after playing racquetball at Brockport and then going to Eastview mall, and as she goes to slow down for a red light some jerk rear ends her car right by the Stutson Bridge Plaza (which is less than a half mile from the border between the city and Irondequoit). The light had turned green right as she was hit and the car in front of her was moving, so we pulled forward a little bit to turn into this outlet to check everything out. As we pull in there, the jack ass guns it and pulls away. Of course, a chase to at least get his license plate number ensued. Unfortunately, said jack ass had too much of a head start that he was able to pull into an apartment complex where we lost him.
We then decided to park in the plaza to check out the car. She has a very old Honda Civic with a great deal of wear and tear on the vehicle. It’s possible that the accident further loosened her bumper, but if so it was only marginally looser. Just to play it safe, Christine decided to call the cops. She specifically told the dispatcher that no damage occurred, but she still sent a cop out to check. Once hearing that someone was being sent out, I commented on us having a long wait. From prior history, the city has shown it takes 45 minutes to get down to Charlotte, even when something like a shooting occurs, so something of lower priority like this should take that long or longer. Fortunately for us, I had forgotten that the side of the lake that she had her accident on is considered part of Irondequoit and not the city. It only took them 20 minutes for a cop to arrive, and we believe that we had seen him pass by the plaza once before, so if he was more astute (this is not a dig at said cop) it would have been less time. The officer told her that since there was no damage, there was no accident (which is bull, something did happen) and since we did not have a license number, there was nothing that could be done about the guy taking off. Sucktacular.
All of that said, I have to commend Irondequoit for having a response time that is less than half of the time it would have taken someone from the city to get there. And this is comparing a low priority situation response time to a higher priority situations’ response time! Hopefully the city can get their act together soon.
Published on 19 Jan 2006 at 1:14 am.
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Filed under Politics.
Well, it seems that under former Mayor Johnson, an FBI investigation revealed that the city of Rochester paid at least $85.5 million in taxpayer dollars for the fast ferry. Of course, the former mayor believes that there are those out there that believe it would have worked
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How much money would it have taken for the ferry to have worked? What was its goal? To give the city a tourist attraction? To set up another means to/from Canada? If so, where are they to stay? What are they to do while here? Living in Charlotte and listening to local business, I can tell you that rent near the ferry is way too expensive. Parking is a problem, and there are a string of businesses going under.
So where does the city go from here? This I’d like to see.
Published on 18 Jan 2006 at 11:57 pm.
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Filed under Uncategorized.
… the day we sold it. December thirty-first, 1979. Well, that Simpsons reference is close enough ….
That said, Fox is officially canceling That 70’s Show with its last episode to air in May. Meanwhile, crap like American Idol is getting renewed. Bah I say! Great, now the only thing Fox airs that I care about are the Sunday night Foxtoons. If that is the only thing they have left, bring back Futurama damn it. And I mean really do it. I’m sick of hearing a new article saying people are trying to bring the show back. I want official word from Fox that the show is coming back, else stop teasing me!
Admittedly, I can understand the cancellation of this show. First, they are in 1979. Second, the two main stars, Topher Grace and Ashton Kutcher, have left the show. The new character introduced is not funny in the least. In fact, the new guy that they introduced before him that they killed off in his second or third appearance was funnier. The character Fez finally had sex in some episode I must have missed, Hyde married a stripper in a drunken stupor to effectively end his relationship with Jackie, Jackie is floating around doing nothing, Donna is slowly falling for the sucktatcular new guy. Whatever. This season sucked, and was an end to the best sitcom Fox had in years.
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