I’ve written about David Lawrence before. First as the new principal at Thurgood Marshall High School where he made great strides, then as he took the helm at the Dayton Regional STEM school.

That lasted exactly one year.

Last night, the Dayton Board Of Education made a smart move and brought homegrown talent back to the District and created a new position in the hierarchy:

Rehire
ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDING
Chief of School Innovation at the rate of $100,000.00 annually
Eff. 7/1/2012 – 6/30/2013, 001.2421.111.1114.000000.500.00.110
Lawrence, David

You can find it in the board minutes PDF here: http://www.dps.k12.oh.us/documents/contentdocuments/document_23_5_2053.pdf

It would appear he also took a pay cut to come back. You can watch this WSU produced video about him:

The big question is how much impact can one person have on a district with over 800 teachers, 30 buildings and a student population that has 85% of the students eligible for the free lunch program?

The biggest question is who will the STEM school bring in to fill his shoes?

Yesterday, the president, our first black president, finally took the correct stand on gay marriage- to support it. It’s not about god, the bible or religion, it’s about equal rights. The same equal rights that were so long in coming to the black community, are starting to have a chance for the LBGT community.

On twitter and Facebook- I made some comments- including that this may be the biggest small business stimulus package the president could make- florists, wedding photographers, caterers, DJ’s, tux rentals, limo rentals, event facilities- all could see huge rises in business if we follow through and make it the law of the land- without any federal “stimulus” involved.

A few haters came out on Facebook, including from a friend who happens to be black and a minister.

David watch this. You may be putting a nail in your political future in the city.

a second message

Well you remember you said this when we you are soliciting the ministers I influence. Wrong position to take because I will tell them not to support you! There are more people who oppose this postion (sic) than you think. And yes there are a lot of churchs (sic) that are standing with us in our Moral Majority and Traiditonal(sic) Family Values. You are out

I never knew I was in. I’ve been to the screening committee of the ministers several times- and never once been endorsed.

And, my final answer to him:

I believe “single issue” voters are one of the biggest problems this country faces. Judging candidates on issues that have ZERO bearing on the office they are running for (when I’m running for City Commission for instance) is a huge mistake.
It’s polarizing this county and causing us to ignore the much bigger issues. Gay marriage won’t make one iota of difference to most of the people who will vote against me over it-
it’s like you worrying about your next door neighbor’s back yard flower selection-
the current city commission offers you zero candidates btw- so what now?
There are many white voters who didn’t want to give equal rights to “niggers” either- how do you feel about that?

Yep, I used the “n” word.

Unfortunately for me, I don’t really make decisions based on either my political future- or what’s politically correct for my livelihood either. I run a small business in this town- and have attacked many of the biggest possible accounts in this town and have been turned down even for working with charities because I have attacked the “powers that be.” We once did a project for Caresource- that will never happen again after my post comparing the crimes of their CEO vs. the crimes of a leader of the black ministers. I dug into the Dayton Development Coalition and their hiring of Lori Turner’s firm (wife of Congressman Turner) on a no-bid contract and went after improper campaign donations to Steve Austria by the local poster child for misguided corporate welfare – Qbase (and no, I don’t have time to get you all those links). I’ve had the nerve to go and look for work from Teradata’s COO (former chair of DDC) and look him straight in the eye after mocking their status as a public welfare leach (to his credit- he took the meeting and didn’t have a problem looking me right back in the eye- and yes, Bruce, my firm does better work than what you’ve been buying, but that’s your problem).

Last Saturday night I got called every name in the book by an elected official, because I’d been too hard on him in a post. I’d betrayed our friendship, and he was right- I was too hard and I did a quiet edit of the post (David Lauri, please leave this alone- I know you love to show off your Google cache recovery skills).

It’s not easy sticking your rear end on the broiler over and over. Some would say I’ve cooked my goose by speaking out, and others would say I’m toughening the meat. But unlike the president, I can’t waltz into George Clooney’s mansion and pick up $12 mill the next day. There are a few readers who’ve gone out of their way to send some business my way, despite “the risk”- TP, BW, LW, – I thank you. I hope the work that we at The Next Wave have done has been worth your risk.

I also have to thank the one elected official brave enough to endorse what I do and mean to this community on video: Stacy Thompson of the Dayton Board of Education. When I put the call out asking for support, she was the only one who stepped up.

If my endorsement of equal rights was the last nail in my “political future” I guess I should be writing my obituary now, because I’ve never done any of this for a political future- I’ve done it because I wanted to speak out for truth, justice and to prod our community into thinking beyond the drivel that has passed for a discourse on the future of our region. I don’t do this for me, I do it for us, you included. This site is my hammer, and thanks to the shallowness of some of our loudest voices in this community, I’ve got an endless supply of nails.

And, if you want to see this voice grow stronger, and you need better marketing, I have four employees who would be very grateful for a chance to work with you. The nails, unfortunately, do hurt them.

Despite the local Democratic party’s private plans for the Dayton City Commission involving Nan Whaley beating Gary Leitzell and Rhine McLin taking Nan’s old seat- or Dean’s once she fails the first time and he resigns as a back-up plan- A.J. Wagner decides to run- of course, you read it before anyone else on this site.

Former Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge A.J. Wagner announced Tuesday his candidacy in the 2013 race for mayor.

“I come to this announcement well equipped and uniquely qualified to be mayor,” said Wagner, pointing to his near three decades of public service, including 20 years as an elected official.

Wagner, a Democrat and former county auditor, has long been rumored to be interested in the job.

via A.J. Wagner announces his candidacy for Dayton mayor.

His new site doesn’t look as good as his first one- but, what do we care? A.J.’s bravado is unmatched. First he quits after 2 years of his judgeship, and now he thinks he should be mayor. We posted a list of questions for our future mayor right after we leaked his site: “Questions for A.J. Wagner-our future Mayor”

He hasn’t answered them on the post- or on his site: http://ajwagnerformayor.com/ and we know he knows about them because I sent him an email asking him to respond- to which he wrote on 4/30/2101 at 3:58 PM: “Thank you David, but I am not a candidate at this time.”

Well, now that you are… we’d like answers please.

Clay Mathile

If New York City can have the services of Michael Bloomberg for a dozen years, why can’t Dayton benefit from having local business legend Clay Mathile take the helm as the new Montgomery County Administrator now that Deb Feldman has found her soft landing which so many of our local political has beens seem to find.

Instead, our county commission is announcing the de rigueur “national search” to find Feldman’s replacement:

Deputy County Administrator Joe Tuss will be named interim county administrator. County Commission President Judy Dodge anticipates a national search for Feldman’s replacement.

via Feldman named new CEO of Children’s Medical Center.

Feldman’s leaving this year came as no surprise to anyone, it has been known for over a year by insiders. The real question is why, if Feldman was such a capable leader, do we need to do a search at all? Why hadn’t she groomed a stable of capable replacements. As I’ve said before, true leaders build organizations that can continue smoothly after they leave. Despite various pundits claiming Apple without Steve Jobs was doomed, its stock price has almost doubled since Jobs’s death and the profits keep soaring. Granted, the real question comes after 2-3 years to see if the product innovation pipeline continues to deliver smash products, but for now, look at how smoothly the company transitioned leadership.

Why Mathile?

Besides being well known in the region, he’s also someone who chose to build a business here and did it successfully. His focus on high-performance organizations has been backed up with his kind donation of Aileron to the community- a business institute committed to improving businesses for the health of our community. He knows our community well, as well as all the major players and could be the one leader who is capable of moving regional cooperation and consolidation forward without having any of our mini-fiefdom leaders toe the line and get in step.

And of course, while we’d be more than happy to pay him what Feldman makes or more, I’m pretty sure he’d work for a $1 a year, and attract a whole bunch of new talent to the ranks of county government of young bright talent who know the value of the experience of working with a business tycoon. Gone would be the legions of sycophants and patronage peons who grace every floor of the county building, putting in their time for their almighty pension payoff.

Sure the argument can be made that at 71, why would Mathile do this? Bloomberg seems to have found new energy as mayor of NYC and would have been more than happy to serve another term. If Bloomberg can, why can’t Mathile?

Our region needs a transformational leader more than ever, and the short list of possible candidates is small. My second choice would be to recruit David Hopkins from Wright State or possibly Dan Curran from UD. Former hospital network CEO’s could also be on the shortlist.

If we’re going to rebuild this community, we should begin by realizing that we have local talent, we only need to look around and think of what could be, instead of what we’ve done in the past. The past is what got us here, time to move on.

I welcome your suggestions, comments or candidate submissions on this post.

Matt Joseph parks for free

On April 15th the Dayton Daily news reported that the city of Dayton began a tow on sight program, targeting cars with unpaid parking tickets and camera violations.

Immediately after I started hearing from people- “you have to do something”- and “write about this”- which I would have loved to do, but, you have to remember, I have a job, and it’s not to do the one that our elected officials are supposed to do (and yes, I auditioned for that paying job more than a few times).

At Wednesday night’s commission meeting, in the final comments, about 5 weeks after this draconian illegal seizure of vehicles began, Commissioner Joey Williams asked in closing comments if there was something “that could be done” like a payment plan, since the people this is affecting can’t all just write a check for the tickets, the tow and the storage fees. He asked the city manager to look into doing something similar to what the water department does to restore service, noting that if you take people’s cars, you often stop them from working. No other commissioners chimed in.

Here is what the DDN reported on the 15th of April:

Police began towing vehicles with a combination of two or more unpaid camera-caught violations or parking tickets on April 2. In announcing the decision, the department said that those who haven’t paid within 30 days of the second violation would be subject to towing….

Dayton police said a vehicle on the tow list that is “operating or parked on a public street” can be towed, not just vehicles involved in a traffic violation. All police cruisers have copies of the tow list, and five cruisers contain technology that reads license plates. Five more license-plate readers are “ready to be installed” in cruisers, police said.

Costs include $105 per tow and $20 per day for storage if a vehicle isn’t picked up in four hours….

“My main concern is why are most of the red camera lights in the West Dayton area?” said Smith’s husband, John Smith. “I think that’s very important and significant.”

Of the 11 intersections with cameras in Dayton, six are in the western part of the city, one is to the north, one is close to the middle and three are in the eastern section…

New city contracts for towing began April 1 for Sandy’s Auto and Truck Service and Summit Towing Inc. Each is paying the city about $150,000 annually during the next five years.

Sandy’s tows and stores vehicles in the city’s East Zone, from east of the Stillwater River until it flows into the Great Miami River and east of the Great Miami to the eastern city limits. Summit Towing Inc. tows and stores vehicles from the West Zone. Neither company returned calls Friday seeking comment.

“With the way that the economy is today, they need to work with people,” said Tiffani Richardson, who paid fines at Dayton Municipal Court last week. “At least let them make payments if they don’t have all the money at once.

“That’s putting us a step back if you are going to tow my car. How am I going to get to work or anywhere else to be able to pay the ticket?”

via Spike in towing angers ticketed drivers.

Why pay parking when you have two jobs

Note, you can get multiple tickets for drunk driving and they don’t seize your car and hold it hostage.

In a city that claims to have the welcome mat out, seizing cars for minor speeding, red light or parking tickets is a bit draconian, don’t you think? Especially since the cameras have no way of proving who the driver is, or if the ticket was delivered to the vehicle owner. Of course, if you are a city commissioner like Matt Joseph, you can go to events that aren’t official city business, stick a placard in your window, and park for free. (pictures taken May 18, 2010, on E 2nd Street by me) Note- Matt also gets free airport parking as well- and a city car.

It’s easy to make laws if you don’t have to live by them.

Sources have informed esrati.com that Director Betty Smith (R) will be stepping down at the Montgomery County Board of Elections for health reasons. Smith just recently switched positions with Steve Harsman (D) for the director. Both are paid the same and the seat rotates from D to R on a regular schedule.

It will be up to the new Republican Party chief, Rob Scott, to lead the decision on who will replace Ms. Smith at the board of elections.

On a personal note, I wish Betty the best- I’ve always found her to be incredibly helpful and nice in all my dealings with her. She also seemed to always follow the letter of the law on the patronage hires- making sure to have job applications etc. More than I can say about  the other side of the house.

We now do a lot of teaching to the test. Making sure that kids can pass tests created by private companies to gauge achievement. It’s a huge racket. We spend billions on tests, test prep and the time wasted in our already short school year. The same people who make the tests, make the textbooks,  the test prep materials, and even run charter schools take a huge share of taxpayer money to provide “services” to “public education.”

There are proven lower cost alternatives, but I’ll get to that later. First you need to be schooled about what’s on our tests.

For a brilliant perspective on this folly, you really must read about the “hare and the pineapple“- a short story adapted from the fable of the hare and the turtle. This was on a test in the state of New York and was called out by students as being dumb, and amazingly, the people administering the test agreed and threw the questions out. Unfortunately, we didn’t look at throwing the publisher of this tripe, Pearson, out of the public education support business and start investing in meaningful education reform.

Gail Collins, editorial columnist for the New York Times has a nice short piece about this “A very pricey pineapple”

The first group of people we need to test on education is the people we elect. Sarah Palin had the potential of being our vice president, yet couldn’t tell you who fought on which side in World War II. Maybe we should make candidates try to pass the basic citizenship test that we make foreigners take to gain citizenship? It’s not an easy test. Right now, Ohio Governor Copycat Kasich is in love with an idea he got from the State of Florida- that no third grader should advance to fourth grade until they are reading at level. All research says that for kids to read on level by third grade a few things are needed:

• Parents who can read and do in the home
• Books in the home
• Pre-K programs like Head Start and full-day kindergarten

However the governor has done little to assist schools in having funding for the actual parts the state provides.

Politicians talk about supporting education all the time. In fact, in his leaked website, our “Future Mayor of Dayton” talked about making sure education will be a priority, even though as mayor of Dayton, he has absolutely zero authority to do anything about education in his job description, unless he gets the state to intervene and declare Dayton Public Schools a failure and turns the headaches of urban school district reform over to the mayor as they have in Cleveland- in essence putting an amateur in charge of the education system. Maybe to run for office we should first require a test to see if the candidates actually know the responsibilities of the position and the structure of government before they are allowed to take out petitions?

It’s pretty obvious that this country has zero interest in electing our best and brightest people to positions of leadership in this country, with a few notable exceptions, we’re holding a popularity contest or an auction more than an election to select the people with the best ideas. Voters are given as little real information as possible to make selections, and the process is tainted by a lot of money spent on disinformation.

What are educational solutions that our best and brightest would advocate for? Here are two efforts that are being undertaken to help third-world nations educate their people- paid for by Americans, who don’t see it as a problem that we’re not doing the same for our kids:

Worldreader gives kids in the developing world access to digital books. Using e-readers loaded with thousands of local and international e-books, we provide children the books they want and need, so they can improve their lives.

via Worldreader: Kindles and E-books in Schools.

Wow, instead of constantly having to buy new textbooks that become obsolete or that consume a ton of physical resources, we’re giving away devices loaded with knowledge that can be updated and distributed effortlessly. Giving a kid a whole library of his own to explore and engage with doesn’t somehow seem obvious to Americans for our own kids.

My own kids aren’t even allowed to bring home many of their textbooks- instead being given “worksheets” which are stupid, wasteful, fill-in-the-blank, multiple-guess and matching crapola that mimic what “the tests” look like- and of course, have to be purchased from the crack purveyors of testing materials- Pearson (et. al.).

We also talk about the jobs of tomorrow belonging to “knowledge workers” which would require absolute familiarity and expertise in working with computers. It would seem that we’d be racing to make sure that every kid had a personal computing device of their own- ideally with open source software so they could learn and tinker with the inner workings of these devices so critical to their future. Nope, we don’t have a One Laptop Per Child program universally in the United States- but, thanks to a really smart guy who isn’t elected, Nicholas Negroponte of the MIT Media Lab, they’ve developed the OLPC XO laptop, or “hundred dollar laptop” to send to poor kids in Third World Countries to solve the same problems we have here.

OLPC’s mission is to empower the world’s poorest children through education.

We aim to provide each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop. To this end, we have designed hardware, content and software for collaborative, joyful, and self-empowered learning. With access to this type of tool, children are engaged in their own education, and learn, share, and create together. They become connected to each other, to the world and to a brighter future.

via Mission | One Laptop per Child.

They are on version 2 of their device, and our kids here in America, still don’t have computers. At least not universally, provided by the “public education system” – because companies like Pearson fear for the day when they are no longer needed in the classroom, as kids learn from the huge body of information that’s freely accessible to anyone with access to the internet.

As to the question of who might be responsible for making sure that information is correct- well, let me introduce you to Kahn’s academy. It started out with a very smart guy in college, Salman Kahn, (working on his 4th degree) tutoring his cousin online. He soon started using YouTube and sharing his lessons globally. It took off. Guess what, although I previously chided amateurs running education systems it turns out some of them can. Unfortunately, see above about testing our politicians before allowing them to run.

If we elected people like Salman Kahn or Nicholas Negroponte, our education system would look a lot different. Of course, for that to happen, we’d have to have smarter voters, with better access to information… but that’s another theme that we talk about on esrati.com for another time.

For now, let’s start testing the politicians to see if they know what the leaders in educating for the future know to be true and that works at a much lower cost than what we’re doing now.

Photo Credit: Alberto G. via Compfight

If you want people to follow your account, you should own it first

Last night I let the community know about A.J. Wagner’s new Wagner for Mayor website. One of my readers has already claimed the twitter account that the Washington. D,C,. developers failed to claim, despite telling the world to follow @WagnerforMayor

His fundraising button to ActBlue doesn’t work yet either. And, the brilliant D.C. developer also failed to remove the “Hello World” post as well. The site does look real “purdy” though.

I believe in Dayton, but I go to DC for my site

Considering Wagner claims all over his site that he “believes in Dayton” he chose not to use any number of local firms that can develop a site and a brand and headed to Washington, D.C., to hire “Code and Politics” So far he has no content under “The Issues” and in his grand introduction which is written in that wonderful third-person voice (especially odd for a blog post) the most telling part is that you can’t comment. Does A.J. want to have a conversation with the people of Dayton or not? Since you can’t do anything but friend him on Facebook and sign up for a newsletter, I thought I’d open the discussion about A.J.’s campaign here on Esrati.com where the people who choose to be well informed about Dayton politics and graft come daily.

I’ve used the ordered list with numbers for discussion only, not as a rank of importance.

1. You’ve been writing a column in the Dayton City Paper (DCP), now that you are a political candidate, will you give that up, or will you get the DCP to give your opposition equal space?
2. Do you plan on writing your own posts on your blog, or continue to have some strange ghostwriter do it in a third person like our Republican congressman and former Mayor, Mike Turner? And if you are interested in learning how to use this technology, may I recommend the excellent seminar on using WordPress, www.websitetology.com
3. Will you at some point allow comments? Will they post immediately like on esrati.com or will you hold them for moderation?
4. As a judge, you recused yourself from all death penalty cases, claiming your Catholic faith and personal moral constructs put you at odds with the law (citation needed, but take my word for it- or A.J. can respond in comments). Are there any issues in the city that your faith and constructs might put you at odds with the law- for example, the Catholic church isn’t a fan of abortion, birth control, gay marriage, domestic partner registries, etc.?
5. The current city charter requires 500 signatures of registered voters to get on the ballot and to have the petitions notarized. This is a bit odd, since you only need 50 signatures to run for Congress. It has stopped many candidates from getting on the ballot due to technicalities or the validity of signatures (which have to be gathered in very cold weather). The state standard is also 50 signatures. Will you change this?
6. Also, the charter requirements for citizens to put a charter change on the ballot and the recall process both are measured by percentages of registered voters- not by a percentage of actual voters in an election (the standard that’s used throughout the state). According to the census, Dayton has 109,000 people of voting age. If you believe the 100,000  count of registered voters at the Board of Elections we have 93% of adults are qualified to sign petitions. Yet petitions routinely have at least 30% of the signatures invalidated. Will you fix this?
7. What is A,J, Wagner’s plan for the priority board system that was implemented in the ’70′s and decimated in the last ten years?
8. On your site you talk about improving educational opportunities. To quote Mike Turner in his first mayoral race when I was running against him and talked about the schools, “if you want to talk about the schools you should be running for school board.” Where is the money coming from to better fund pre-K education and full-day kindergartens? And where is the money coming from to fund a program “for all those who qualify and apply themselves, through a college diploma paid for by private and public benefactors” ala the “Kalamazoo promise” We can be promised the world by any politician, we want to know specifics on how you will achieve it.
9. You backed Rhine McLin in the past and Richard Clay Dixon. Considering that neither of them was a  stellar, ground breaking mayor- what will make you different? Can you point out any paradigm shifts you implemented as auditor or as a judge that supports your ability to do any “outside the box” thinking?
10. We’ve seen the City Commission get mired up in national politics by addressing things that are outside the purview of city government – an assault weapons ban, a handgun registry, anti-predatory lending laws, living wage rules which while all good and fine for posturing, drained city resources and took the eye off the ball of doing the basic jobs that our city has been failing to do (indicated by the mass exodus of residents over the last 25 years). Are you for or against these kinds of grandstands- and how do you feel about each of them in retrospect (every one of them has cost the taxpayers plenty).
11. Despite my protest and arrest over the subject of illegal “work sessions” of the City Commission back in 1996, the charter clearly specifies only one official meeting of the commission to conduct business at a set time and place, these have continued to be held. Will you stop this practice or continue it?
12. The rules on public speaking at City Commission have become pretty draconian over the last 20 years, will you change the tenor of how citizens are received at the legal meeting?
13. Over the last 20 years, we’ve seen the growth of the “Department of Economic Development” in the city, the county and the state. The main function of this department seems to be to hand out tax breaks or our tax dollars to private companies. What is your position on this?
14. The Downtown Dayton Partnership has been funded for a number of years with an additional tax on downtown property owners. Considering the huge loss of downtown jobs, is it time to end the “Special Improvement District”?
15. The city has given money for years to the Dayton Development Coalition which is supposed to serve as a regional Economic development department, but instead seems to have become a federal lobbying group. The city has also paid a lobbyist at times with tax dollars. Will you stop this practice and instead be our voice to lobby to our other elected officials?
16. What are your specific criticisms of our current mayor? How has Gary Leitzell failed the citizens of Dayton in your opinion. I know this question is difficult for a nice guy like you, but, some would  point out he’s only one vote of five, and you’ve been a supporter of the other four commissioners who have probably gotten in his way. Comment?
17. As a follow up question to #16, the inside joke about the mayor’s job is that your only qualification is that you have to be able to count to three. Which two commissioners will you engage and count on to make your mark?
18. If I crawled though your campaign finance reports- who would I find as your major donors? You’ve run for other offices including Ohio Supreme Court. Are there any donors who might embarrass you? Do you have any opinion on campaign finance reform? Gary Leitzell ran his campaign with a sixth of what Rhine McLin spent- are you willing to agree to limits if your opposition does?
19. You retired as judge before your term was up. Why should we elect a quitter? If you do it again, it will cost the taxpayers money for a special election- will you promise to personally guarantee the costs of a special election if elected? Also, if you are already receiving a state pension, will you forgo it while serving as mayor if you win? And, how will a four-year term as mayor affect your pension- is this part of why you are running – to add years? If the anti-spiking law goes into effect being mayor may actually lower your average pay and could decrease your pension- are you OK with that?
20. I admit, I was impressed when you planted a flag in your yard for every dead US soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan as a reminder to us of the real cost of war. I understand that removing thousands of flags and replanting them every time you had to mow became an issue. While symbolism is wonderful- what else did you actively do to protest?
21. I’ve previously posted an attack on your practice of housing young UD co-eds in your home- at one point the voter rolls had as many as 5 women, not related to you, residing in your home. What changes to zoning and building codes will you push as mayor? Do you support Single Room Occupancy, dropping the requirements for parking with development in built locations, or are there other ideas you have in this area?
22. Last question- call it catch 22. Our city has a weak-mayor system. We’re supposed to have a professional city manager lead us, yet politicians with big egos and small brains have minimized our manager’s voice over the years. While Tim Riordan has done an amazing job at keeping the city out of financial folly, he’s not been a particularly visible or engaged leader. Who will you replace him with? Or will you try to move us away from the city manager form of government?

To be fair to Judge Wagner, and to other candidates, this is more than enough to keep him busy writing his blog for the next month. We’re still waiting to see who else throws their hat in the ring for leader of the pack.

In the meantime- make sure you follow @Wagnerformayor for the latest updates. I’m sure you’ll get more answers from the Fake AJ Wagner than you will from the real one.

If any of my readers want to pose questions for “The Future Mayor of Dayton” comments are open and welcome by me- the future…. of Dayton.

AJ wants to be Mayor.

I missed the announcement- but the website is up: http://ajwagnerformayor.com/home/ telling us how much AJ Wagner believes in Dayton and he will…

He’s been a career politician for at least two decades and a Montgomery County Democratic party insider. However, he quit his last elected position in an attempt to maneuver someone into his judgeship so they could run as an incumbent. When things weren’t going as planned for one of his patronage employees, he tried to “un-retire” and tell the governor who’s boss. See the posts:
A.J. Wagner shows the Governor who’s boss
How the Monarchy of Montgomery County Works: The AJ Wagner Affair

Insiders who’ve shared the story say the person he was protecting wasn’t worth it.

Although A.J. doesn’t have any use for me, I like him. He’s a nice guy, everybody’s buddy. The fact that he wouldn’t sign my petitions to help get me on the ballot, shows his true colors- he believes that the democratic process is only for insiders anointed by him and his pals.

I’m glad he’s running, just because it will make things interesting in the next election cycle. Mayor Leitzell is waiting until August to decide on his plans. Commissioner Nan Whaley thinks it’s “her turn” to be mayor. Commissioner Williams may be ready to be done with the commission. Rhine McLin is planning her comeback as well, either to fill Nan’s seat, or in a special election which will be called soon after Commissioner Lovelace gets his 20 years in and resigns.

There are some other candidates hiding in the wings, including a few who could give AJ a real run. No matter what, this will be a big money race.

Thanks to reader Melissa for giving me the tip.

Note- And AJ doesn’t believe in buying local- he went to Washington, D.C., to have his website done by Code and Politics

Just last week, I wrote about the costs of giving tax breaks to big businesses for promised jobs- while small business start-ups have huge obstacles. I spoke of the costs we all pay when we have to make up for the tax revenues that aren’t coming in.

From my post:

I’m watching a small start-up try to get out of the blocks. A house painting company that specializes in making new paint stick to old houses- by doing maniacal surface preparation and using high quality paint. He could hire an employee tomorrow to start work, but, he has to pay for licenses, bonding, insurance and purchase capital goods like a scaffold, all out of cash.

Also the minute he hires someone, he has to start paying worker’s comp (which is high for a painting company out of the blocks) payroll taxes- all the things we’re willing to subsidize for the going concern. And, the person he’s likely to hire- is someone who is also under-employed, needing every dollar earned just to survive.

He has no credit, no tax breaks and zero support. I helped by creating his new identity, printing business cards, door hangers and signs. I set him up with a website and suggested marketing strategies, he’s finishing his first project and about to start his second tomorrow. I also hired him to do some interior painting as he was getting started. He’s having to bid low to prove the value of his product, despite having a few “freelance projects” to show from last year.

When we know that the major engine for job creation is small businesses, why are our tax dollars subsidizing large ones?

When we know that the small business can have an immediate impact- why are the deals being done for jobs that are a year away?

Why do we subsidize any business with our tax dollars? With every subsidy we tilt the playing field to give an unfair advantage to one company over another- not the role for government or a fair use of our tax dollars. Plus, if the big business paid the same taxes as our smaller ones- maybe the burden of starting up wouldn’t be so insurmountable?

Would you like to help a small business get started? Hire one. The Brush and Bucket.

You want your tax dollars to help a big company by costing you more for security systems, slower emergency crew response, new school tax levies to make up for the giveaway- continue to sit on your thumbs while politicians sell you the BS that tax supported “job creation” is a good investment of your tax dollars.

via Your tax dollars at work as venture capital vs. small businesses at work.

Well, last night, The Brush and Bucket had his tools stolen. His brand new pressure washer, all of his sanders, grinders and scrapers. The aluminum downspouts from his current project- which were all locked in a building across the street from his house- gone. He was working on getting a security system installed- but, alas, it’s too late.

He also didn’t have his equipment insured yet. Gone are about $1,000 worth of equipment that helped employ 4 people.

Here are pictures of the kind of prep work he did with those tools- making old wood look new- and shots of the door lock that was busted open.

True economic development means that people can spend their money on building a business, without having to fear that their tools will be stolen and all that they’ve worked for has disappeared overnight.

Had we spent $45,000 on our police department instead of a website from a Denver ad agency, maybe the Brush and Bucket would have the tools so 4 people could have worked today- and tomorrow.

Maybe the Mayor and the Commission would like to invest in a small local business with money out of their pockets- and buy him a new pressure washer, sanders, grinders and scrapers- so he can keep his company that he started in Dayton, hiring Daytonians, in business?

I’ve added pictures of the products- and the S/N of two of the stolen items:

Troy Built Pressure washer with Honda engine: Style 8100CP Model 020489 S/N 1019876149

DeWalt 5″ Random Orbit Palm Sander Kit- model D26451K  SN 882560

It's time to rethink parking downtown

Photo Credit: Bruno Furnari via Compfight

Imagine what would happen if NYC enacted rules requiring one parking space per every 1000 square feet of living space?

NYC wouldn’t be NYC.

That’s because the whole value of a dense urban downtown is that by cramming people together, you create critical concentrated buying power that supports retail. People in NYC don’t have cars- they walk, they use public transit, they use taxis. It works.

So why does Dayton stifle development with requirements of x parking spaces for business, residential, commercial? Because we’re stupid.

Cincinnati on the other hand is thinking of abolishing parking requirements to spur growth and to shift the cost of owning a car back to the car owner instead of to the real estate developer:

Cincinnati’s vice mayor has proposed a zoning change to allow developers to avoid minimum parking space requirements in downtown and Over-The-Rhine.

Roxanne Qualls introduced the motion Tuesday with support from City Council members Laure Quinlivan, Chris Seelbach, Yvette Simpson, Cecil Thomas and Wendell Young.

The city currently requires one parking space per residential unit in the central business district and Over-The-Rhine, where developers are building new projects and rehabilitating older spaces as apartments, condominiums and commercial properties.

Depending on the location, developers typically build either structured parking lots or buy more land for surface lots, which sometimes requires building demolition.

Nashville, Tenn., Portland, Ore. San Francisco, Seattle and Tacoma, Wash., are among the U.S. cities that have already eliminated parking minimums to reduce the cost of housing and free up space for commercial and residential development.

Downtown Cincinnati Inc.’s most recent quarterly study found that there are 36,473 monthly contract parking spaces downtown, with 4,375 spaces available.

“Cities are recognizing that allowing the market to function will produce a better result,” Qualls said. “If a developer wants to build an 800-room hotel without providing any parking, that’s probably not going to meet the demands of the market. But if a developer can sell or rent his units without meeting minimum parking requirements, then there is no need for them.”

Chad Munitz, of developer 3CDC, said the average cost to a developer is $5,000 for one surface parking space and $25,000 for a structured parking space. That cost is then passed on to the consumer, he said, raising the price of a residential unit by as much as $25,000.

Muntz said many residents of downtown and Over-The-Rhine use their cars infrequently, if they have one at all.

“The convenience sought by downtown residents is not instant access to a car; it’s the ability to live without a car,” Muntz said.

If approved, the parking requirements would be lifted within 30 days.

via Plan Would Allow Development Without Parking – Cincinnati News Story – WLWT Cincinnati.

Dayton’s Oregon District has buildings that have been rendered worthless because of these stupid requirements. Because it’s a historic district you can’t tear down anything to build a lot- and there are only so many spaces available. No developer is going to build a garage in the Oregon District (partially because the city transportation center garage is so close- and vacant most nights) because there isn’t enough demand for parking and the rates they could charge wouldn’t pay back the structure.

It’s time to change the zoning laws to release real estate from coming with parking- and to look at other options to allow more people to come downtown without having to park right at the door. Some solutions: free parking for 2-wheeled vehicles on sidewalks if not impeding walkers, a bike-share system to help facilitate moving from fringe parking lots to core buildings, changing more on-street parking to end in, like they’ve done in front of the Cannery on E. Third Street- which almost doubles the parking density, and lastly- turning the Oregon District into a pedestrian mall every weekend to attract more walkers, to increase opportunities for more retail, which will help getting occupancy up to 100% in all buildings on all levels and give us the kind of population density that can support more retail.

The headline is me being sarcastic. I’ve pushed the idea of a central massive sports/rec plex on the former public housing site between 1-75, the river, Helena and Keowee for years. I suggested instead of 6 new Dayton rec centers- we just build one amazing centralized one- instead, we ended with 2 semi-lame ones.

The plan got a small boost when the Kroc Center went in just due East of the location- taking care of the basketball component- but, my original concept also called for a true Olympic pool, ice rink, even speed skating track and velodromes- things not necessarily the norm. A put-Dayton-on-the-map sort of facility. It was to be integrated with a Dayton Public Schools central tutoring lab, media center to give kids places to go after school other than Third and Main- but, instead, we have an empty field.

Now, we hear Mr. Gunlock has a plan for a “$35 million regional youth sports complex” partially funded with tax dollars- and probably on his property. Nothing like propping up your property values with tax-supported amenities, huh Mr. G?

From the Dayton Daily news today:

Developer Randy Gunlock called for a regional campaign to raise as much as $35 million in private funds for a year-round regional youth sports complex.

Gunlock said he would be a major funder of the proposed youth sports complex, but that others would be needed to pull it off. “I’m continuously talking about this. I think it’s important. Whether there’s going to be enough support in the community, I don’t know,” he said in a phone interview Thursday night.

Gunlock’s family company, RG Properties, is the developer of Austin Landing, the $150-million, 142-acre development near the Montgomery-Warren County line. RG Properties has developed more than 10 million square feet of commercial real estate in four states.

Gunlock said development of such a facility is essential to keeping families in the Miami Valley and drawing families to regional or national events in the Dayton-Cincinnati area.

He declined to comment on how much he would donate to the project or where it should be located, other than to say the complex should be built somewhere along the corridor between Cincinnati and Dayton. “The reality is … these communities are growing together. Have been 50 years. Will continue to,” he said.

Already, youth and amateur sports tourism are credited with bringing more than $100 million a year to the area — just a fraction of $5 billion to $7 billion in national revenues traced to yearly business activities springing from youth and amateur sports tourism.

Although a youth hockey supporter, Gunlock said the facility should offer facilities for soccer and lacrosse. He noted plans in West Carrollton and Miami Twp. involving youth sports facilities.

Plans for youth sports complexes, so far focused on outdoor facilities, already are unfolding 11 miles apart in Warren and Butler counties, both so far to be funded by taxpayer dollars.

via $35M campaign for youth sports complex launched.

The magic tonic of “sport tourism” which starts the economic development types salivating is yet another distraction from solving real problems in our community- like the ones Gunlock has already caused by constructing new office space in a community that’s already overbuilt. Adding in his special income tax free zone for the rich only, he’s sucked the last bits of life out of downtown while draining the county coffers of development dollars building his private interchange at Austin Road.

We’ve already seen one attempt to illegally jack up the hotel tax to build an ice arena for Sir Gunlock that nobody had discussed or justified. Now, we’re seeing a second attempt.

We’re also hearing rumblings out of West Carrollton to build a soccer complex and arena for the Dayton Dutch Lions. Why is is impossible to have a true regional plan? Could it be that our County Commission is totally ineffective in coordinating the many fiefdoms of the region we call Dayton?

Our one true regional success has been Metroparks- wouldn’t it make sense to look at having them coordinate regional sports related recreation facilities? If they need experts on how to build effective recreational facilities and run programs- they should talk to the City of Kettering which by far is the leader in creating parks and programming for all residents from their BMX track and Skateboard park to soccer fields, and Rec Center complete with ice rink. No other community comes close in the region at providing real community amenities- and I left out the Rosewood arts center, Trent Arena and the Fraze Pavillion.

Mr. Gunlock may be able to pledge some money to a project- but, let’s make sure it’s our project not his- we’ve already gone broke building his fields into dreams, and they’ve cost us dearly.

When I first came to Dayton there were a lot more people living in the city. Downtown didn’t have two new class A skyscrapers, a new performing arts center, Riverscape, but it still had people working there. The Arcade was open and we didn’t have the Downtown Dayton Partnership or the Dayton Development Coalition or give-away tax dollars to every single business that promised to employ people.

We did invest in having 6+ recreation centers, a police force close to 500 sworn officers and the streets were smooth, clean and not full of potholes.

Now, downtown is a ghost town, we have about half the police force, just a few recreation centers and the streets are like an obstacle course. Oh yeah, and our population has dropped by something close to 40%

So, tomorrow night, the Dayton City Commission is going to spend $45,000 on a website with Atlas Advertising of Denver, Colorado, on a GIS-enabled website for the Department of Economic Development.
Here is how Atlas describes its product:

Does your community know how to leverage its unique strengths to drive inquiry and investment from prospects? Economic development marketing is where Atlas started and it’s what we do every day. Our CEO is a former economic developer. Our Creative Director has designed the best economic development website in the country—four times. And we all work hard to create feature-rich, integrated software products and dynamic creative services for our economic development clients every day. Smart, Feature Rich Economic Development Websites; Atlas offers the most feature rich, easy to use economic development websites on the market. These include Atlas Smart City Economic Development Website, developed specifically for cities and counties under 100,000 in population, and Atlas Smart Region Economic Development Website, developed specifically for regions and utility service areas made up of multiple cities and counties and totaling over 100,000 in population.

via Economic Development Marketing Services & Products.

There are also monthly fees of:

• Annual maintenance, demographic data, software and hosting: $495
• Company data (D&B) $125

So instead of working on recreating the unique strengths we once had- parks, recreation, safe neighborhoods- we’re going to send large sums of money to a web development firm in Colorado (not that there are any in the entire state of Ohio that can do this) but, we’re going to spend our hard-earned tax dollars on yet more “economic development” Hail Mary solutions instead of investing in making sure the streets are smooth, safe and clean.

I don’t care what you tell people about what you offer- if they do their due diligence on this community (greater Dayton) and get one whiff of the kind of three-ring circus we call “government” – with umpteen hoops to jump through, the prospective employers will head elsewhere.

We’ve “invested” about $150 million in moving the deck chairs of local companies to Austin Landing over the last 3 years- just imagine how many more police, parks and street sweepers that could have bought. Never mind the savings by consolidating our I don’t want to even know how many jurisdictions into one competent one.

And- as per usual, the 126-page agenda was posted as a scanned PDF- unreadable by people with disabilities and not in compliance with the ADA. So, I’ve done a little OCR work and uploaded it here for you to review. The internal links unfortunately break with the OCR process.

Dayton City Commission 04-18-12 Agenda

I also find this item interesting:

DHDC, Inc.- Contract- for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP3) Nuisance Abatement Program Residential Asbestos Surveys and Post Abatement Verification Inspections- 2012 (Open Market Contract) (Federal NSP3 Funds)- Dept. of Building Services/Housing Inspection. $77,357.00

DHDC is Design Homes- owned by Sherry Oakes, who was recently investigated by the Dayton Daily News and the Feds for issues about minority and set aside ratings. The city says “This Project was bid with a 0% participation goal; however, DHDC, Inc. is a minority and woman owned company.” If this is a 0% participation goal- why are these relevant? They also checked “No” with an * on disclosure of litigation and have a handwritten explanation of their issues with RAPCA.

Note- Design Homes website doesn’t talk at all about doing asbestos abatement. However, TesTech- one of their other companies does: http://www.testechinc.com/enviro.html

If you don’t find this odd, you must work for the city.

Bruce Langos sells 24,751 shares of TDC on 02/10/2012 at an average price of $62.09 a share.

via Feb. 14, 2012 – TERADATA CORP (TDC) COO Bruce Langos sells 24,751 Shares.

that’s $1,536,789 in income- or $34,578 in taxes at 2.25%  In 2008 (last date I could quickly find for his compensation) he earned:

Total Compensation $1,242,916.00

via Bruce Langos Profile – Forbes.com.

that’s another $27,966 in income tax that he’d have to pay if he was subject to the same income tax that the people who work at Kohl’s next door are subject to under the connived rules created by the JEDD- or “Joint Economic Development District”- in the name of “economic development.”

Put the two together and there goes $62,554 in taxes that could be funding police officers, water treatment plants, regional dispatch centers. The income taxes being skipped by excluding just one person in Teradata are greater than the average total wages of all those “jobs” we created at Kohl’s, Menards, Walmart and other major corporations who have been subsidized by this boondoggle of massive proportions at Austin Landing.

boundaries recently set in the Austin Landing district exclude workers like RG Properties President Randy Gunlock who works from one of the office buildings excluded from the district and lives in nearby Clearcreek Twp. The district also excludes office workers living in the development’s residential village, but construction workers are to be taxed.

(James Durham, a law professor at University of Dayton) Durham acknowledged excluding RG itself and other tenants, such as Teradata, failed to capitalize on taxation of the higher wages earned and larger staffs working in the office buildings.

“On the whole, they are going to be paid more. It’s certainly imperfect,” he said.

via Townships use economic development district funds to spur growth.

Teradata was part of NCR- and those jobs were in Dayton, with employees paying the 2.25% income tax. The company was spun off- and despite having revenues in the billions, the residents of Montgomery County have subsidized this company’s moves not just once, but twice in the last 5 years. Moving them first to a custom built HQ (Oberer Companies)  in Miami Township and then moving them half a mile down the road to a new one, constructed by RG Properties.

I’m not picking on Bruce only, his whole company is benefiting, but Bruce was also the Chair of the Dayton Development Coalition which advocates for corporate welfare instead of the health of the community. It’s also easier to find his compensation.

Another tenant of the 1% tax free while the 99% pay tax zone, is the law firm of Thompson Hine. They too used to be in downtown Dayton and paid the 2.25% income tax. They left for the shiny new oasis of Austin Road- leaving their offices in the former Mead Tower and helping force that building into financial straights. This triggered Key Bank to move across the street, abandoning their building which sold for $500K to a mysterious guru who calls himself “Commander.”

Thompson Hine’s lawyers won’t have to pay income tax either, thanks to the “all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others” rule that somehow snuck on the books. Of course, the lawyers of Thompson Hine pay a different tax- the “campaign tax” as I call it- handing out huge donations to federal candidates.

Top Contributor to Member (5 results)

• Thompson Hine LLP to Jean Schmidt (R) in 2012
• Thompson Hine LLP to Rob Portman (R) in 2012
• Thompson Hine LLP to Sherrod Brown (D) in 2012
• Thompson Hine LLP to Albert R. Wynn (D) in 2004
• Thompson Hine LLP to Steve Chabot (R) in 2004

Top Contributor to Candidate (4 results)

• Thompson Hine LLP to Ohio District 10 candidates in 2012
• Thompson Hine LLP to Ohio Senate candidates in 2012
• Thompson Hine LLP to Ohio Senate candidates in 2010
• Thompson Hine LLP to Ohio District 7 candidates in 2008

via OpenSecrets.org Search.

So if you have money to donate to political candidates you get a hall pass on income taxes? Note, OH-10 democratic candidate Sharen Neuhardt is one of the Thompson Hine lawyers who won’t be paying a Montgomery County income tax- and she’s also a prime recipient of donations from her firm.

Of course, Austin Landing is the pet project of local developer Randy Gunlock who is also not going to have to pay income taxes in his new development. His company, RG Properties is also excluded. Randy does OK for himself and is a top donor as well to political campaigns giving tens of thousands of dollars between him, his wife, his kids- to candidates like Congressman Mike Turner and the Republican National Committee. When you’ve got an indoor full size hockey rink in your backyard, complete with a Zamboni, the idea of having to pay income taxes like a checkout person at Kohl’s must be really repulsive.

His home, a 5 bedroom, 15,879 sq feet, is appraised at just under $2 million.His annual property tax bill is $30,000 of about what someone working at Kohl’s makes. He pays no income tax, they pay 2.25%

The taxpayers have poured over $150 million into the interchange and improvements at Austin Road, the residents of Miami Township have gotten stuck for the airfare on Randy’s private jet when he flew two trustees up to Michigan to look at a hockey arena. The Township residents have already been hit up for $24 million to help finance Mr. Gunlock’s private tax haven for the wealthy by being asked to float bonds, apply for development grants and transportation tax dollars. All so that the wealthy can work in brand new office buildings and pay Mr. Gunlock rent- while getting to evade income taxes that were supporting existing infrastructure in Dayton. Recently another million dollar cost overrun was paid without investigation.

This is the giant sucking sound of the lifeblood of Dayton’s core. The saddest thing is it’s being financed by the very people who can least afford it, and have the least influence in changing political outcomes, the working poor.

Of course, the county officials are talking out of both sides of their mouths- the original reason for all this investment according to another article claiming the development is worth $400 million was to generate income taxes:

“We’ve got our flag in the ground,” said Steve Stanley, executive director of the Montgomery County Transportation Improvement District, the entity which helped fund the interchange, roads and other infrastructure underlying the development.

Income taxes from employees working in the area will go to the county, Miamisburg, Miami Twp. and Springboro. Sales tax will go the county.

“Sales tax is one piece. Income tax is another piece. The idea is to bring income tax from outside the region into this area,” said Todd Duplain, director of development for Mills Development.

via Austin development part of over $400M in projects off interchange.

We just didn’t know at the time that the richest incomes wouldn’t be contributing.

July 29, 2009, while the economy was in the Dumpster and 5th/3rd was in the process of leaving the old Cit Fed building, my friend Haitham Iman made the gutsy move and took over a space that had failed repeatedly as a deli and put his life savings on the line- here is what I wrote:

I’ve known Haitham Iman for years. I’m sure many of you who have attended events at the David Ponitz center, Building 12, of Sinclair know him too.

He’s the always smiling, nice guy, who makes sure your experience is exceptional when it comes to the food at events.

Now, he’s the guy on the grill- only it’s his grill, in his and his lovely wife Carmen’s new restaurant on the first floor of the 5th/3rd Tower, in the old Swisher’s Too location….

via Carmen’s Deli now open- go see Haitham.

He started with 3 employees; now, he has 6. He’s worked hard to build his business and a following, despite being in a building that had its tenants abandon ship, the building go into foreclosure and then be sold for dimes on the dollar to one of the richest, largest companies left in Dayton: Premier Health Partners, owners of Miami Valley Hospital, etc.

Premier is now about to fill the tower with 900 employees, news that made Haitham leap for joy when he first heard the news. His lease ran through 2014 and he looked forward to 900 new customers right on top of his little dining spot. First assurances were that no one would lose out, but, then the powers that be changed the plan, serving Carmen’s Deli with an eviction notice. It seems Premier wants to feed its own people by building a cafeteria – right on the first floor. They offered Haitham a management position, which was what he had before he took charge of his future and started his version of the American Dream. He turned them down- politely I’m sure.

Premier also offered him a chance to take over the old Kitty’s/Thomato’s/Mediterra/piano bar, etc. space- but it requires about a $300K build-out which is beyond Haitham’s reach. My sources say they shopped the same space to other restaurateurs in town but offered the build-out- and still didn’t get takers.

Most of us would think, how can they boot him if he has a lease? If he tried to walk on them, they’d go after him like rabid dogs. Premier’s lawyers claim that his lease didn’t transfer after the foreclosure and they have the right to boot him now. His customers are outraged, some have even offered their legal services pro-bono to help him out. He’s a David without a slingshot getting his lunch eaten by a Goliath who could take care of this within the rounding error on their books. But, he’s at their mercy.

Precedent

Jimmy Brandell was a thorn in Miami Valley’s side for years. He bought the bar at the corner of Brown and Wyoming streets before the hospital had visions of a grand campus. First it was the second home of the Walnut Hills (first home is now Tank’s) and then when he split with his partner he renamed it Jimmie’s Cornerstone Tavern. He built his business with Dayton’s first CD jukebox and a bar menu that started early for hospital employees getting off third shift. He knew he had it good- and the hospital had decided they wanted his building bad. For years they went back and forth until finally, the hospital made Jimmy an offer he couldn’t refuse: to move him across the street to the old Ladder 11 firehouse, complete with a large attached parking lot. If you hadn’t been to the Cornerstone- you missed a good dive- but, if you haven’t headed over to Jimmie’s Ladder 11 since he opened on 11/11/11, you’re missing out on the Taj Mahal of firehouse bar food and drink.

Jimmy had leverage in bricks and mortar- Haitham, unfortunately only held a lease.

But what about all our “Development” organizations?

Haitham has talked to the Downtown Dayton Partnership, Citywide, the powers that be at the City of Dayton Office of Economic Development- and while they all liked talking about his start-up 3 years ago, now, they like talking about the jobs that Premier is bringing (well not really bringing, they’re just shuffling- but we call that development). Citywide has space in the first floor of “Courthouse Crossing” or did (they might not own it anymore) including the former Roly Poly location that rolled out of downtown under the cover of darkness. There is also the former Chick-filet location in the Key Bank tower (formerly Mead tower) which is too small, but so far, no one has come up with some options to save 6 jobs and a business that committed to downtown when others wouldn’t. Sure- our tax dollars have gone to help Uno around the corner, and Citilites across the way in the Schuster has been butted up with public money, but so far- nothing for Haitham.

Unfortunately, when the “undeveloper” Paul Hutchins sent Boston’s Bistro packing for a plan that never happened- way back in 2006, he also stripped the space of what it needed to become a bar again. That space has been empty ever since- and is spitting distance from Carmen’s. If only…

The reality is, it’s one thing to wheel and deal in real estate, but it’s another to destroy jobs. Yes, Premier will be able to brag about having the only building downtown with 100% occupancy (except for Kitty’s space), but they’ll also be driving a business out.

You can call this progress all you want, but what we’d give to have back Seattle East, Boston’s, the Dugout Deli, Wendy’s, Frisch’s, The Diner on St. Clair, etc. To have a vital downtown, we need diversity and choices in food. Premier isn’t doing itself a favor by tossing Carmen’s out like trash- even its employees may miss options.

I’m not suggesting this should be the taxpayers’ responsibility, but since we subsidize Premier Health through Medicare/Medicaid and not taxing the hospitals- maybe Premier can find it in its heart not to kill this small business. It’s healthy for our community to keep it.

Thank you to the readers who have thanked me for writing the last post, questioning why the newspaper goes hard at minor contract problems, but ignores the widespread graft, nepotism and cronyism by high-level officials in the county.

In today’s Dayton Daily news it was reported that Brian Higgins and GSSP resigned the county contract. They also report that Montgomery County’s purchasing director, Roy Sigritz is now going to “investigate.” Last I checked, that was the job of the Montgomery County Prosecutor, or the Ohio Ethics Commission- not the head buyer:

Sigritz said he would investigate the relationship among Higgins, [Ken] Betz and Dr. Kent Harshbarger, the county coroner.

Harshbarger told the Daily News last week that before he became coroner, he had business dealings with both Higgins and Betz. An Illinois company Harshbarger owned leased one van and sold another to Higgins for use by GSSP during the early to mid-2000s. He said he got permission for the deal from then-county coroner Dr. James H. Davis.

His business dealings with Betz concerned a company the two incorporated in 2004.

“Due to information that has come to light subsequent to the contract extension, I have requested from the coroner’s office any and all information concerning any business relationship between the three parties,” Sigritz said.

Harshbarger could not be reached, but in an interview with the Daily News last week he said, “I don’t want you to blame Ken. Anything that happens in this office is on me. I don’t think there’s anything that happened wrong.”

via County’s body transportation firm resigns.

When will Mr. Sigritz investigate his boss, County Administrator Debbie Feldman for her profiting from the deal to buy the former Sears property from her family at a price of at least 4x more than they had invested? Or, who will investigate the funds handed over to Reverend Trammell, without proper oversight for years. It’s my experience that when deals like this are this easy to expose, we’re only looking at the tip of the iceberg.

If we need more proof that you buy your legislation and legislators in Montgomery County- how else can it be explained that the people most likely to donate to political campaigns, like developer of Austin Landing, Randy Gunlock and the attorneys of Thompson Hine will be exempt from a JEDD personal income tax, while the subsistence wage workers at Kohls, Menards, Wal-Mart and the future Krogers will all pay 2.25%?

Contrast what happened on Bonner Street this morning. As I was putting my trash out in the alley, I saw a white male wearing a hoodie walking down my alley-seemingly out of place I looked again to see “US MARSHAL” on the back of his jacket. Engaging him in conversation, I learn he’s looking for a neighbor. I immediately assume it’s one of the crew of my favorite neighbors. Walking out front, I see two more officers, in full tactical gear right in front of my house- and they ask me if I’ve seen the mope in question. Soon, 4 more officers converge on us. They were from S.O.F.A.S.T. – the Southern Ohio Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team.

I hadn’t seen said mope- but told them I’d post info on my neighborhood watch group. I thought it’d be easy to find a mugshot online- but, all I could find was a mention of the punk getting caught stealing less than $100 in merchandise from a big box store.

Justice in Montgomery County- 7 officers to recover $100 for “the Man”- while millions in tax dollars are handed out to the friends of those in office without a true investigation by either the press or the prosecutor.

But, don’t worry- purchasing agent Roy Sigritz is on the case of the van sales, you can sleep well at night.

Full Disclosure: my business, The Next Wave, does limited amounts of graphic design work and printing for the Sidebar and Brian Higgins. His websites for both the Columbus and Dayton restaurants are on our server.

Front page, center, top of fold. Multiple photos. Even when Mayor Clay Dixon took me outside to be his punching bag, it was below the fold.

The Dayton Daily News new modus operandi is to grab onto a small story and expand it into a grand inquisition. You can almost be guaranteed that if they do one investigative story, more will follow, each bigger and more inflammatory. Ask Sherry Oakes from Design Homes, Raleigh Tramell, or the operators of Richard Allen Academies, all whom have been dragged through the trial of public opinion in the Dayton Daily of late.

Now, we have the post mortem being written for a small, seemingly successful businessman, who happens to be in the body hauling business.

Montgomery County may have violated its own contracting requirements last month when it renewed a contract with a body-hauling business that was delinquent on hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal and state taxes, a Dayton Daily News investigation found. The debt — more than $215,523 in past due federal and state income taxes, and workers’ compensation premiums — would appear to put the Dayton-based company GSSP Enterprise Inc. in violation of its contract with the county, which requires payment of “any and all” taxes. Owner Brian E. Higgins also never disclosed that he had a business relationship with the director of the coroner’s office – something that the owner is required to disclose in a contract.

via County renews contract with delinquent business.

As a small business man, I can tell you from first hand experience that it’s very easy to get fined and have tax liens placed on your business. The myriad of websites, forms and differing reporting deadlines- as well as the number of different payments required by the state, as well as the complexity of tax laws make mistakes almost inevitable. Couple that with the misleading business practices of Intuit, makers of Quickbooks software, who sell a product for $150 every year that requires a $200 a year subscription to be able to use the payroll/taxation functions- including the ability to print out the basic filing forms and you have a recipe for the government to make more in some cases from fines than from collections. I remember one year not having sold any printing of business cards or letterhead for the six-month period that I report sales taxes in. The state decided this is impossible, “estimated” my sales taxes due, slapped a fine on my company and then took months to fix its assumptions.

The numbers that are reported on the front page of the Dayton Daily news (lowercase N intentional) add up to under a million dollars, and include the mixing of personal and corporate debt to inflate the numbers. This would never be done in a credible news story since the two aren’t in any way related. Corporate CEO’s get divorced all the time, with big settlements, and yet it would never be included in a financial analysis of their company.

But, there is one quote the DDn did dig up:

Susan Willeke, spokeswoman for the Ohio Ethics Commission, would not directly comment on the Betz and Higgins business connection, but said, “If someone uses their public position to secure a public contract for themselves, their family or a business associate, it is a fourth-degree felony.”

Really? Esrati.com has exposed multiple instances of county employees hiring friends and family without open competition. The hiring of a convicted rapist in the Board of Elections without even a job application, the Montgomery County Clerk of Courts made sure both his wife and father-in-law had jobs for the county, and if we go back to pre-blog days, I stood up at the Dayton City Commission meeting after losing against Bootsie Neal and Dean Lovelace for a commission seat, and threatened to file for an injunction to stop the “emergency legislation” the commission was enacting to purchase the former Sears site downtown for the Riverscape fountains project.

A brief recap of the Sears project: a group of local businessmen formed an LLC to purchase the Sears building for $200,000 with a five-year option on the real estate that it was on for $1.5 million. The businessmen included: Alan Rinzler who owns the Talbot Tower and other real-estate holdings; Sandy Mendelson, owner of Mendelsons; Jason Liff, a local real estate broker and former owner of MotoScooto, and Bruce and DeNeal Feldman, owners of Economy Linen.

Full disclosure once again- after I threatened to file the suit to stop this “emergency legislation” I naively approached Mr. Mendelson to do his advertising, something he mentioned when giving me a $500 cash donation for my campaign (a donation I had to return and get as a check to satisfy the BOE- who doesn’t believe cash is legal tender for donations larger than $100). He told me to “go-to-hell” when I called- which I didn’t understand, since I didn’t realize at the time he was part of the LLC. Over lunch at Franco’s he explained his part of the deal- and told me that “nobody cares” about this, and I had a simple choice- file the suit (which at best would stall the deal and force it into a regular ordinance- taking two readings and 30 days to go into effect) and “find my body parts in different area codes” (exact words- you don’t forget threats like that from someone you barely know at the time, who wears a lot of gold jewelry) or, drop it, and have a nice little advertising account that puts money in your pocket.

For a year and a half, my firm did award winning advertising for Mendelson’s Liquidation Outlet. We re-did his logo, introduced the new tagline “The first place to look for every last thing” and developed the “explorer” character in a series of TV ads. His business grew substantially. When we couldn’t agree on terms for me to close my business and come run his retail operation, including the eBay business that I had pushed him to, we parted ways. I did do a small campaign a few years ago because he had severely damaged his brand publicly by suggesting he was closing and moving to another location and his sales were down. He stiffed me for a few thousand dollars- to date, the biggest uncollected debt my business has had in 22 years.

Back to the Sears deal- if the names DeNeal and Bruce Feldman don’t ring a bell, maybe Bruce’s wife’s name does: Debbie Feldman, our county administrator, who is one of Montgomery County’s highest paid government employees (as far as I know only Steven Johnson at Sinclair is paid more and it’s a horse race between Debbie and Dayton Schools Superintendent Lori Ward for second depending on how you count their perks).

The price that the LLC got for their $200K investment and option on the Sears deal? $8.7 million.

Front page story anyone?

There are lots of people getting rich off government contracts in this community. Our Congressman’s wife got a no-bid contract from the Dayton Development Coalition to come up with “Get Midwest” – a tagline that may go down in the annals of advertising history as one of the lamest- if it had been consequential. She also had a GSA schedule to do work for the Federal government while her husband was a sitting congressman on the defense appropriations committee- no DDn story outed her for doing work for the Army Corps of Engineers after I exposed it and work for the Home Depot PAC- a convenient way to skirt campaign finance laws. I could go on.

I can’t tell you if Brian Higgins got any special tax breaks for job creation from any government or quasi-government organization for “job creation” or “economic development”- but I can tell you that everyone of those government bureaucrats who will be first to load the shells into the guns of his firing squad over these tax issues- ate at his restaurant or maybe enjoyed hors d’ouvres at a fund-raiser he hosted (I had my election night event there- Brian donated food and allowed us to use the private back room to gather and watch results). I can also tell you that the building owner, Mike Ervin (who filed an eviction notice on Friday causing a Saturday DDn article) had put several different operators in the former Pacchia space where Sidebar 410 is today- and none of them could make the menu and atmosphere work the way Higgins has. Higgins employs at least 40 to 50 people and spends his money locally- with companies like mine. Yet, he doesn’t get a 30-year tax abatement like GE. While “high-tech” jobs may pay more, we have an awful lot of people who need service jobs too.

I’d look up the performance of all the “job creation” and “economic development” deals and compare them to Higgins’ operation any day of the week, but of course, there is no required posting and reporting of tax dollar giveaways in return for promised job creation. Hmmm- I wonder why not?

In the grand scheme of things, Brian Higgins and his tax bills or his government contract are being used as smoke and mirrors to cover up for wholesale thievery of public tax dollars. I’ll once again set myself up for “you’ll never do work in this town again” by calling out the “job creating” and “tax roll enhancement” juggernaut, CareSource. A company that despite paying its CEO, Pam Morris, $3 million plus a year, getting all kinds of tax breaks- including its new HQ built with public dollars- is 100% dependent on tax dollars for income, making their CEO right up there with the CEO of Countrywide, FannieMae and FreddyMac- as criminally overpaid quasi-government bureaucrats who have zero risk and 100% upside guaranteed.

Where is the front page story hanging them up?

While I don’t doubt that the body collection contract award probably didn’t follow correct practices, I’m pretty sure that Debbie Feldman or Roy Sigritz (the head of county purchasing) won’t take a hit on this. I’ll also add, that getting paid $128 to go pick up a body anywhere in Montgomery County on 24-hour call isn’t exactly raking in big bucks for what can be some really disgusting work. I asked the owner of a tow truck company if he could make money on that price- without accounting for mileage or disposable supplies on each run (remember some of these corpses can weigh as much as 600 lbs, could be several weeks old, and can be dangerous- open wounds with bodily fluids etc- you’d want to wear a bio-hazard suit) and he said “barely.”

The real bodies that need to be moved in this county are the ones running this three-ring circus with impunity- but, that would require the newspaper to do real investigations and run the risk of alienating the friends and family of the Monarchy of Montgomery County- and they have the advantage of owning everything from elections to judges. Good luck with that.

You can play the MegaMillions- but not the MegaBillions Photo Credit: Robert S. Donovan via Compfight

Today, many of you who don’t play the lottery, may decide to plunk down a buck or two on the “MegaMillions” for a chance to win $540 million. In their “how to play” section, it doesn’t take that long to tell you what you have to do to win-

“MegaMillions tickets cost $1.00 per play.

Players may pick six numbers from two separate pools of numbers – five different numbers from 1 to 56 and one number from 1 to 46 – or select Easy Pick. You win the jackpot by matching all six winning numbers in a drawing.

What if you win the jackpot?”

Really- after 46 words- “What if you win”

What if you get struck by lightning, while being held by a terrorist, after sitting on a needle in a haystack? But, someone has to win is the common justification for giving away your dollar. That’s right, while you’re hoping to win $250 odd million after taxes (depending on which state you live in) there are people winning the lottery year-in, year-out.

Let me introduce you to the people who’ve managed to legally (and why what they do is legal still is beyond comprehension) make this kind of money by playing with other people’s money. Meet the “hedge fund managers” and I use that term “manager” very loosely.

From today’s New York Times:

Hedge funds have endured a rough year. Tumultuous markets. Tighter regulations. An insider trading crackdown.

But despite the lackluster environment, the top managers still took home $14.4 billion in 2011.

Even when returns suffer, the largest hedge funds can collect big paychecks, thanks to the fees they charge pensions, endowments and wealthy individuals to manage money.

Paul Tudor Jones II charges a 4 percent management fee and takes 23 percent of any profit. So he made $175 million in 2011, although his main fund tracked the returns of the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index. Steven A. Cohen, whose firm, SAC Capital Advisors, keeps 50 percent of the profit, earned $585 million.

“The industry’s fees and performance are so out of whack it’s unbelievable,” said Bradley H. Alford, who invested in hedge funds while he was at the Duke Endowment in the late 1990s but today oversees a lower cost mutual fund firm that competes with them. “Fifteen years ago, you got double-digit performance for those returns, but last year, the S.& P. was positive and hedge funds were negative. There’s no alignment with the fees.”

But the 10-figure payday is a rarer phenomenon. In 2010, six managers earned more than $1 billion, according to the annual ranking by AR Magazine, which tracks the hedge fund industry. John A. Paulson topped the list, taking home $5 billion.

Last year, only three managers hit the $1 billion mark. Ray Dalio, the enigmatic founder of Bridgewater Associates, seized the top spot, after his largest fund gained 16.05 percent. His payday: $3.9 billion.

In all, pay for the top 25 earners dropped by a third to the lowest level in three years. AR Magazine arrives at its figures by estimating money managers’ portions of fees along with the value of their personal stakes in the funds.

It all comes back to performance. In recent years, industry returns have been “uninspiring,” said Brad R. Balter at Balter Capital Management, as hedge fund strategies that have been “successful in the past aren’t working in these markets.”

The average hedge fund lost 5 percent in 2011, according to Hedge Fund Research Composite Index, which tracks nearly 2,000 portfolios. That compares with a 2 percent gain for S&P 500.

Strong returns account for the difference between a stratospheric payday and one that is just substantial.

Bridgewater’s gains — along with the firm’s hefty $120 billion in assets — catapulted two of Mr. Dalio’s lieutenants to this year’s top earners. Greg Jensen and Robert Prince each collected $425 million.

A relative newcomer, Chase Coleman, a protégé of hedge fund giant Julian Robertson, landed at No. 6 on the list, the magazine said. Mr. Coleman, 36, began his Tiger Global Fund in 2001, and earned $550 million last year, owing to bets on Internet companies like the Russian search engine Yandex. A spokeswoman for Tiger Global declined to comment.

Even longtime managers proved they can rack up big returns. The activist manager Carl C. Icahn, 76, was up 34.5 percent in 2011 and pocketed $2.5 billion.

via Large Hedge Funds Fared Well in 2011 – NYTimes.com.

While the government tightly regulates all kinds of industries, especially the gambling industry- which is the only business I know that is absolutely guaranteed a profit as long as it has customers, Wall Street operates on its own rules and regulations. It can do this because it pays an annual fee to our government to write laws that favor them; I call it the “campaign tax” – a fee paid by the wealthy to buy advertising and support for political candidates who will look the other way while they pay themselves exorbitant salaries from fake manipulations of our capital markets.

“Even when returns suffer, the largest hedge funds can collect big paychecks, thanks to the fees they charge pensions, endowments and wealthy individuals to manage money.”

So they win even if they lose money, unlike the lottery that you may play today.

These billions that are being paid these Wizards of Wall Street are coming straight out of your pocket- and you don’t even have a chance at winning. Ask the hard-working folks who retired from Delphi what happened to their pensions? Or look to the people you know who had jobs working at GM- which went bankrupt while paying many of their internal “managers” million-dollar-a-year-plus salaries- they are now working for much less- losing homes, boats, cars, a future for their kids- and the shareholders who never worked a day in their lives on an assembly line- got made whole with our tax dollars.

Look at the value of your home- and how it’s been affected by the foreclosure crisis- which was caused by the unregulated financial chicanery that’s helping put cash in the pockets of the Wizards while sucking it out of your pocket in large chunks.

There is a real lottery in this country- but it’s the “MegaBillions” and you and I aren’t allowed to play. We didn’t buy our legislators who allow this kind of corruption to continue.

There is one last example to keep in mind of how crooked our country has become. Some would consider playing in the NBA or NFL hitting the jackpot- despite having to have worked hard for years to reach that level of athleticism. But our country has laws in place to protect the players from agents who manage their money- that’s right, the amount a sports agent can charge a client is capped by law to something under 10%, yet we don’t cap fees on how much the people who manage your pension can make, because, well, that would be un-American.

If you wonder why Dayton doesn’t have as many police officers as it used to, or firefighters, or recreation centers- it’s because we’ve been so busy doing “economic development” and “job creation” to the effect that fewer people want to live in neighborhoods considered unsafe, and plummeting property values as people move to where they feel safe.

Job creation tax credits and grants and tax breaks are nothing other than corporate welfare. The jobs that are being “wooed” like the ones at the GE Episcenter (which got a 15-year tax break from Dayton Public Schools) aren’t the ones that provide work for the under-educated types that used to be able to find good paying jobs at Generous Motors- they are high-skilled, requiring advanced educational achievement. Guess what- those people that GE is going to hire aren’t going to want to live in Dayton (although they’ll pay taxes in Dayton) – they’ll live in Oakwood with their highly trained safety forces, great schools and well paved streets.

In today’s Dayton Daily News we read about millions of our tax dollars being handed off to big corporations who promise jobs in the future:

The Ohio Tax Credit Authority approved Monday a 75 percent, 15-year Job Creation Tax Credit for Abbott worth an estimated more than $8 million, said Stephanie Mennecke, a spokeswoman for Ohio Department of Development. That’s the largest value tax credit approved Monday, she said.

The second largest was for approximately $4.5 million for a Republic Steel and Republic N&T Railroad Inc. expansion in Lorain, she said. The authority approved 11 total incentive packages Monday.

The Ohio Development Financing Advisory Council also approved Monday a $1.5 million, 10-year, 0 percent interest loan for Abbott’s project.

“There were many factors that lead us to the decision to build a new plant in Tipp City including direct access to a major interstate, quality of available work force, and state and local incentives,” said Abbott spokesman Pete Paradossi in an email Monday. “Other locations were being considered. In the end, Tipp City was the best choice for this plant.”…

The Tipp City plant will create about 240 jobs, according to Abbott.

Tipp City Council members will vote April 2 on a local incentive package for the Illinois-based company, said Brad Vath, Tipp City Assistant City Manager. Vath did not say Monday what the city plans to offer. He said the city is optimistic everything will fall in place and the project will move forward “very, very quickly.”

Pilot Chemical Co., which operates a Butler County facility in Middletown, also received a tax incentive Monday. Pilot received a 50 percent, six-year tax credit worth an estimated $182,006, according to Gov. John Kasich’s office. The Sharonville-based company is planning an expansion at its headquarters, as well as a $42 million expansion project at either its Middletown or Houston, Texas, facilities.

Kasich’s office said Pilot’s project would create an estimated 38 full-time jobs.

via Abbott to begin building $270M plant.

On the flip side of these public fundings of private companies, I’m watching a small start-up try to get out of the blocks. A house painting company that specializes in making new paint stick to old houses- by doing maniacal surface preparation and using high quality paint. He could hire an employee tomorrow to start work, but, he has to pay for licenses, bonding, insurance and purchase capital goods like a scaffold, all out of cash.

Also the minute he hires someone, he has to start paying worker’s comp (which is high for a painting company out of the blocks) payroll taxes- all the things we’re willing to subsidize for the going concern.  And, the person he’s likely to hire- is someone who is also under-employed, needing every dollar earned just to survive.

He has no credit, no tax breaks and zero support. I helped by creating his new identity, printing business cards, door hangers and signs. I set him up with a website and suggested marketing strategies, he’s finishing his first project and about to start his second tomorrow. I also hired him to do some interior painting as he was getting started. He’s having to bid low to prove the value of his product, despite having a few “freelance projects” to show from last year.

When we know that the major engine for job creation is small businesses, why are our tax dollars subsidizing large ones?

When we know that the small business can have an immediate impact- why are the deals being done for jobs that are a year away?

Why do we subsidize any business with our tax dollars? With every subsidy we tilt the playing field to give an unfair advantage to one company over another- not the role for government or a fair use of our tax dollars. Plus, if the big business paid the same taxes as our smaller ones- maybe the burden of starting up wouldn’t be so insurmountable?

Would you like to help a small business get started? Hire one. The Brush and Bucket.

You want your tax dollars to help a big company by costing you more for security systems, slower emergency crew response, new school tax levies to make up for the giveaway- continue to sit on your thumbs while politicians sell you the BS that tax supported “job creation” is a good investment of your tax dollars.

Because when our tax dollars are used as venture capital- the only ones who win are the private companies who get the tax breaks.

A short excerpt written by me, September 11, 2011

What does Safety Mean?

…To the people of South Park- it means going out on patrol to make sure their homes and garages don’t get busted into.

via What does “safety” mean?.

I was George Zimmerman. After repeated break-ins, I would don a bright green vest, take a large Maglight flashlight and strap a 9mm pistol on my side and go for evening walks in my neighborhood. We don’t have “gates” to “keep the undesirables out”- but we’ve had a lot more security systems and cameras installed in our neighborhood.

One neighbor has managed to video record two criminal acts (the theft of packages from a porch and an attempted break-in to the vacant house next to them) neither of which has led to an arrest.

We’re not living in a perpetual state of fear, but, we’ve come to accept the idea that whatever isn’t chained down, locked, alarmed or monitored has become fair game for others to steal, damage or destroy.

This isn’t the America of  Mayberry R.F.D. and it’s not quite “Escape from New York” either- but the geography of “safety” seems much smaller today than it was when I came into this world in 1962, despite the Cuban Missile Crisis and the killing of our President than today, when a “neighborhood watch captain” is able to get out of his vehicle and then shoot an unarmed teen because he “looks like he’s up to no good, or he’s on drugs or something.”

The illusion of safety, the illusion of order, the illusion of a civil society is slipping away from us and while people are being galvanized one day to seek out Joseph Kony, the next we’re focused on Trayvon Martin and all the while the crimes that make all this possible are continuing merrily along.

Our country has become a mockery of a free society. Our beloved “democracy” is a farce. Our righteous proclamations to other countries of what is fair and proper come not from a morally protected high ground built on a foundation of “doing the right thing” but from having bigger bombs and being the only ones to actually use them. America has lost the right to call itself the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Our elections are anything but free- estimated to cost $10 billion this cycle. Our prison system is overflowing with minorities and under-educated, ill-prepared second-class citizens while Wall Street has created a new class of robber barons, of whom virtually none  have gone to prison. Our country is deep in debt, our states, counties and cities are unable to fund the systems we’ve put in place and record numbers of Americans have lost their jobs, their pensions, their homes and their dignity.

I am not going to go into guilt or innocence of George Zimmerman, it’s almost as futile as discussing the thought of Sarah Palin as a viable vice president. What we have is nothing more than a gross caricature of a country that used to be considered a shining example of all that could be right in a nation. A country that was founded with these most powerful words:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

There is a famous child’s fable about “The emperor’s new clothes”- are we willing to admit our country is now ruled by a different standard? That the self-evident truths are entirely fictional? Why do we pledge allegiance to a flag of a country that’s as far from united as we’ve become, which stands for nothing other than the power of the almighty dollar (which in itself has become a fraud thanks to the huge gap between rich and poor). Our ideals were nice, our execution of them of late has become criminal.

The future of our country was wearing a hoodie. He’s dead now. The guy who shot him is still walking free. What happened to those “certain unalienable rights” – I miss them. You should too.