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| The poet in exile |
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| Miller the Munificent |
Zack Miller, the PT Barnum of the tech set, is entertaining a bid to run for mayor of Norfolk in 2014 or 2016.
Miller, whose vision for Norfolk is boundless, has already solidified his slogan: “Millerformayor.com.”
Tom Robotham, former editor of Portfolio magazine and Norfolk’s leading lefty intellectual and Taphouse habitué, is getting support from his hundreds of Facebook fans to run for mayor of Norfolk.
Should be an interesting race.
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| Sacks, El Prez |
Skip Sacks, lawyer and English literature and philosophy major, is featured on the Virginia Real Estate blog for May. Sacks, who is Virginia State Commercial Counsel and Agency Services Manager for Stewart Title Guaranty Company, is 2013 president of the Hampton Roads Association of Commercial Real Estate.
The Q&A with Sacks can be found here.
Raising taxes is treachery
Mayor Paul Fraim wants to raise real estate taxes by four cents. He wants the additional $3 million generated by the tax hike to fund four new schools.
He proposed a hike of two cents last year. Now, it’s four cents.
Before you start a dialogue about raising taxes, let’s start a dialogue about ways to avoid raising taxes.
Raising taxes is an easy solution.
Instead, stop selling city property for 10 cents on the dollar.
Stop subsidizing Nauticus, the cruise terminal and Waterside to the tune of $3 million a year.
Lease or sell the properties to the private sector.
Sell more property.
Furlough city employees.
Outsource some city services.
Look for alternatives. Look for solutions.
Don’t slap us with a tax hike before you explore other avenues.
For once, ask the Public.
Sold yet?
Word has it that 161 Granby Street and the former Union Mission have been sold to South Carolina-based U.S. Development.
I can’t verify it because I haven’t checked the deeds.
I’ve heard this so many times I’m beginning to believe my credible sources aren’t so credible.
If it’s true, downtown Norfolk will be come a haven for affordable apartments and Bobby Wright, owner of 161, will survive another test.
For the city gave him until the end of April to fix 161 or have it demolished. A sale will forestall the demolition and save Wright’s ass.
The solutions the author points out for Norfolk's fiscal problems can be applied to all state and local bureaucracies as well as the federal government.
ReplyDeleteThe Pilot claims that the nearly two-dozen folks who spoke at the public hearing on taxes all supported it. Which is why Fraim decided he should raise taxes even more. I'm not sure why everyone was so supportive. Perhaps they were sent by the teachers union. Or perhaps they don't own property. Or perhaps the detractors (like me) didn't hear about the meeting until after the fact. Whatever the case, this is my public forum and I believe a tax hike to be not only unnecessary, but also ludicrous. City employees are lazy and should be downsized. There, I said it. Have you ever stood in line to pay a bill at the city building? It takes them 10 minutes to ask how they can help, then to take your check, tell you something is wrong, walk as slowly as possible to someone else the issue can be discussed, decide to take your check (or not), give you a dirty look and then try to figure out how to print a receipt.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the cynicism, but I blame the mayor and his tone deaf proposal. But at least I have a forum for venting. I feel better now.
Let em all run...any knuckle head could not possible do any worse than the idiots in charge now. Anyone complaining about tax hikes or long lines in Government lines better not have voted for Obama!
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