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| This man is NOT welcome in Norfolk |
It is with great exhilaration that I confess the following.
I support a bump in real estate taxes in Norfolk.
We need the money to build four new schools so our children
can be educated in a warm nurturing climate.
New schools will give our children hope and inspiration to
learn, to achieve and to advance their generation.
New schools will give our children a new and brighter
perspective, surrounded by new glass, new roofs, new ceilings, new hallways and
a new exterior, and new computers.
New schools will boost our children’s better than average
academic excellence.
New schools will give teachers the security in which they
need to teach.
New schools will reward the Norfolk School System
administration with a job well done.
New schools will attract families to buy and own a home in Norfolk. These are the
families who brave long lines of traffic at the tunnels every day.
Families from Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Suffolk will
flock to Norfolk,
knowing with confidence that their children will be educated in a new school
with new computers, new gadgets, new everything.
They will “come home to Norfolk.”
New schools will give the Norfolk School Board a chance to
do something.
Throw in a LED sign showing parents that the Norfolk School
System is really thinking about their children and their academic excellence.
Put a mermaid on the lawn of each new school, instilling
children with a reminder of Norfolk’s
legacy.
Dedicate monuments and statues in honor of the advancement
of academic and bricks and mortar excellence in Norfolk.
But I say to you…No, I implore you readers that taxes should
be raised by ten cents, not a paltry two cents.
This isn’t Virginia
Beach where property owners tear up sidewalks and
throw eggs at Jim Spore’s luxury vehicle
at a hint of tax increases.
No, this is Norfolk, and we
do things differently in Norfolk.
The Brahmins of Bi-Polar on the Bay have our best interests
at heart. They know what is best for us and our children and their children’s
children.
Ten cents will give Norfolk
not only money to build new schools, but also funds to buy more properties to
advance Norfolk’s
progress.
With more funds, Norfolk
can buy the properties north of Brambleton
Avenue on Granby Street and really make a “public”
arts district.
With additional funds, we can sprinkle some sugar on the
contract with Cordish Companies to get started on the company’s Vegas style
Waterside, modeled after an MGM studio set.
With additional funds, Norfolk
can build new light rail spurs to Old
Dominion University
and Norfolk Naval Base.
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| The Public |
With more money, we can bump contributions to members of City Council's health coverage and pensions, as well as their base salary.
Yes, folks, it’s time.
Norfolk
needs to do the “full monty” and really raise taxes.
Forget this piecemeal stuff.
Raise taxes, Bi-Polar on the Bay Brahmins, and let the
public cry havoc.
PS-We don’t need no stinking Tea Party in Norfolk.
I would encourage everyone to watch the documentary "Waiting for Superman" which details the fraud, waste and incompetency in our education system and then decide if taxes aren't high enough.
ReplyDeleteIronic or hypocritical that the biggest critic of the fiscal management of Norfolk is encouraging us to give them more money to carry out more boondoggles. But I guess it’s OK since they are Phil’s boondoggles.
ReplyDeleteVery clever writing today, Philip. Somehow you managed to get to the heart of the issue - which isn't the two cents. It's the fact that city council continues to ask property owners, the minority in Norfolk, to carry everyone else's water. And then they act surprised when families don't come running "home".
ReplyDeleteThe biggest problem with Norfolk schools isn't the facilities, it's the lack of parental reinforcement. The tax hike is a diversion that does nothing to fix the real problem.
I'd be happy to give them two cents in taxes if the'd first listen to my two cents in opinion. But no one asked the public for ideas or suggestions. No one said, hey, we need new schools. Who has ideas? They just said, if you love the children, then you must support this tax hike. That's not leadership. That's coercion - which is never sustainable.
In the long-run, reinforcing poor city management (by supporting this tax hike) will do more harm than maintaining old schools for a few extra years.