Another entry in our occasional series, It's rarely good news when the NYT covers NC.
Today, broke-ass Wilmington.
GSO's own discussion of the line between Council management and micromangement of professional staff is mirrored in an exchange over a superannuated firetruck:
“The mechanics really don’t think it will make it,” the chief warned at the time.
“You need another mechanic,” shot back Charlie Rivenbark, the Council’s foremost fiscal curmudgeon.
Result: "It was an inopportune moment for the water pressure to plummet. But that is what happened when Engine 5’s motor, strained to the limit by 16 years and more than 100,000 miles of hard service, abruptly sputtered and died."
I hear from friends in NHC that some builders are making big bucks again in nearby military outposts.
Have some friends who now live in Wilmington who were livid about that firetruck thing.
And now...national exposure for it.
Posted by: Joe Killian | Jul 05, 2011 at 09:56 AM
This, from the same article, is also eerily reflective of Guilford County's current position:
The mayor and the Council, who serve part-time, were still smarting from last year’s decision to raise property taxes to make debt payments on projects they had approved when coffers were flush. If a tax increase was out of the question, would they need to raid the city’s reserves? That, Mr. Saffo knew, could threaten Wilmington’s capacity to rebuild if a hurricane smacked the Carolina coast this summer.
Posted by: Joe Killian | Jul 05, 2011 at 10:00 AM
It's exactly what can be expected when "city leaders" tie local economies to development and real estate as their primary means of revenue. There has to be another way.
Posted by: Billy Jones | Jul 05, 2011 at 11:17 AM
I don't know the specifics of the Wilmington projects that have them struggling to make debt payments -- but I have heard it said by those who have been following Guilford County's current predicament that it could easily have been avoided.
For decades some of the school building, repair or even maintenance was deferred to the point where a large number of projects were, in the eyes of the majority who voted for the bond projects anyway, necessary. So we are now paying off a terrific amount of bond debt for them -- even though we've deferred beginning some of them to ease the pain.
Republican and Democrat commissioners (Billy Yow, Linda Shaw, Paul Gibson, Kirk Perkins) have made the point to me repeatedly that if we would take care of the things we have and proceed in building things incrementally as needed we wouldn't find ourselves in this sort of binge and purge building situation whereby we approve a laundry list of projects when we're flush and then feel the sting when things are tighter.
Posted by: Joe Killian | Jul 05, 2011 at 01:16 PM
In other words, use common sense.
Posted by: michele | Jul 05, 2011 at 01:26 PM
"In other words, use common sense."
That's not allowed here, particularly when "it's for the children", or "it's needed to attract the young, educated, and cutured class", or if it's a Skip Alston pipe dream, or if it has to do with "intolerable raaaaaaaaacism!", or if Matt Brown needs to add to his little fiefdom.
Posted by: bubba | Jul 05, 2011 at 01:54 PM
A 16-year-old fire engine with 100,000 miles has been used maybe 4 hours per week, maybe one or two calls a day. This doesn't sound like overwork. Aren't fire engines supposed to last longer than this?
Posted by: Preston Earle | Jul 05, 2011 at 02:37 PM
"...if we would take care of the things we have and proceed in building things incrementally as needed..."
Excellent point, Joe.
Posted by: Billy Jones | Jul 05, 2011 at 02:38 PM
Preston asked: "A 16-year-old fire engine with 100,000 miles has been used maybe 4 hours per week, maybe one or two calls a day. This doesn't sound like overwork. Aren't fire engines supposed to last longer than this?"
Sounds to me like maintenance has suffered for a very long time.
Posted by: Billy Jones | Jul 05, 2011 at 02:45 PM
This gear-head agrees.
Posted by: polifrog | Jul 05, 2011 at 03:12 PM
>>It's exactly what can be expected when "city leaders" tie local economies to development and real estate as their primary means of revenue. There has to be another way."
Billy is wise. I would extend that to the national economy.
Of course, the reason for the linkage of local economies to real estate is because so many "city leaders" are developers and realtors.
Also nice to see we have so many experts on fire engines -- things on wheels that pump lots and lots of water -- in our midst. Why, I am certain that all those pumps on a firetruck have nothing to do with its service life.
Further evidence, in a minor way, of the right's resort to belief over reality, and it's consequent indifference to actual evidence.
Posted by: JustCorbly | Jul 05, 2011 at 07:42 PM
Balance the Wilmington budget using the NYT Interactive link, and it shows you everybody's results. 84% of participants chose to raise taxes by some level.
Posted by: Anonymous | Jul 06, 2011 at 01:36 PM
Someone wrote "Balance the Wilmington budget using the NYT Interactive link, and it shows you everybody's results. 84% of participants chose to raise taxes by some level.
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I wonder how many of those participants are Wilmington tax-payers. I tried the tool and balanced the budget by deferring raises, retirement payments, and all capital expenditures, and reducing fund balances to 15%. That was easy, but then I'm not an employee or citizen in Wilmington. It's easy spending other people's money.
Posted by: Preston Earle | Jul 06, 2011 at 04:11 PM