Thursday, May 24, 2007

If You Value Your Life (Part 2)

Sooner than expected.

As I was saying, there is a threat to our safety from the Communist Chinese.

According to this report that threat has come to pass.

Puffer fish? Sheesh, it’s like some fugu chef got sloppy in a down-scale sushi house.

So, as Sergeant Esterhouse of Hill Street Blues would say, “Let’s be careful out there.”

Monday, May 21, 2007

We’re ‘In’ the Money (Part 5)

Comments from another Proud Pueblo Taxpayer

Not myself….

I often work in large medical buildings here in Pueblo and I always notice that the air conditioning is a day behind the temperatures.  If we get a cool snap the air conditioners are still going and when it warms up suddenly you will cook for a day, especially in the upper floors.  So it is with our property taxes.  They are always behind the times, set for yesterday.
I was severely disappointed by Mr. Beltran’s bureaucratic and personally negative response to Mr. McCarthy’s editorial about the inaccuracy of property taxes.  He completely misses the point.  The point is that property taxes are rising as property values are falling, not to mention a potentially stagnating economy.  Cannot Mr. Beltran step outside his narrow government focus to consider superior alternatives?  He should render a dispassionate expert opinion on other options and perhaps be familiar with other systems around the country.  I think the answer is contained in his sarcastic response, “I guess we would all have to read those states’ statutes to see how they’re supposed to value property.”  In medicine we are always looking around to see what advances are occurring anywhere in the world to bring better care right here to Pueblo.  I guess assessors don’t care to do that.
Mr. McCarthy offers alternatives which are used successfully and I cannot find one expert opinion by Mr. Beltran on any of these, including in his interview with Margie Wood in the 5/15 Chieftain.  He simply defends the status quo and essentially says “That’s all I have to do.”, and goes on to demean his critic.  This is a classic bureaucrat.  They do not think outside the box, learn new things or give any advice on improvements.  They execute policy and head for the door at 4:59pm each day.
Mr. McCarthy may be off on his assessment mathematics but he is dead right on his critique of the problem and the search for a better system.  In that sense he does represent all of us who pay ever increasing taxes.

The [Parkview] Plan (Part 5)

Not So Easy Listening

It’s funny how listening to a meeting and taking notes of it by a recording is such a draining experience. But nevertheless, it is. And hence, I did not get to this until this morning…..

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Sunday, May 20, 2007

If You Value Your Life….

...be VERY careful when you buy food and healthcare products from China.

If life were not difficult enough as it is and the safety of the food we eat not important, this article would not be so ‘hair raising’.

The business of killing pets by adding melanine to the wheat gluten used in making pet food was apparently the straw that broke the camels back and got what seems to be a common problem out into the public purview.

Dried apples preserved with a cancer-causing chemical.

Frozen catfish laden with banned antibiotics.

Scallops and sardines coated with putrefying bacteria.

Mushrooms laced with illegal pesticides.

These were among the 107 food imports from China that the Food and Drug Administration detained at U.S. ports just last month, agency documents reveal, along with more than 1,000 shipments of tainted Chinese dietary supplements, toxic Chinese cosmetics and counterfeit Chinese medicines.

The cosmetics thing reminds me of the Joker’s means of attack in Batman.

The [Parkview] Plan (Part 4)

A brief comment….

...on something I overlooked from the Chieftain article I fisked yesterday.

This caught my eye yesteday and I didn’t want to address it at that time. I wanted to let it percolate through this limestone core I call a brain.

“If you came here to hear why we’re tearing down the Beaumont House, we’re not,” he [C.W. Smith, CEO of Parkview Hospital] said.

Now, having slept on it a bit, here is my observation of what C.W. said.

Being a trained combat engineer, I know there are a number of different ways you can destroy a structure. Bulldozing it, a la Thatcher House 2003, is just one technique. Tearing it down with a wrecking crew is another. Then one can burn it down….say in an unfortunate accident. Something like what happpened to Mineral Palace Park’s green house. Or, on a more ‘uplifting’ approach, one can blow it up….“Gas leak! Everybody out before it blows!”

Then, if you’re REALLY into the esoteric approaches, one could use biological weapons. Things like termites. Or unique molds that would require the destruction of the place as it was no longer acceptable for meetings with people who might be allergic to such.

There are as many ways to destroy a building as one can imagine. The end result is the building is gone and one can always build something else there….maybe even a few thousand more square feet of profitable hospital structure.

Personally, if I were in C.W.‘s position, I’d turn Beaumont House into my personal office, complete with a three-star chef and kitchen crew to support lavish meetings and parties. In the mid-80s, at 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized) Headquarters, the area where the generals worked was referred to as ‘Carpet Country’. It was, from a lowly grunt’s perspective, very posh. They always did things with panache. I would think that the CEO of an organization like Parkview would see the advantage and prestige of Beaumont House as their CEO’s office and Public Relations interface with a community that treasures historic buildings like that grand old house.

More, later today. Right now the Sunday Morning Brunch tradition at Casa Pelto Pueblo must be attended too. The Richmond BBQ Pork (left overs) hash is about ready. The biscuits are baking and I need to start the eggs.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

The [Parkview] Plan (Part 3)

Let the fun and games begin!

The other night, Parkview Hospital held a town hall-esque meeting to unveil their initial plans about their intentions to expand their campus on the Northside.

Regrettably, I was not able to attend the meeting. I was detained by some back issues. However, I did get a couple of things. The first is an iPod recording of the proceedings of said meeting. The second is a nice article in the Pueblo Chieftain.

I’ve not had time to listen to the iPod recording, yet. I’m planning on doing that, taking notes and making comments, here, based on that during the course of this weekend.

Today, I’ll comment on what I found in the Chieftain’s article. It will be something of a fisking….

More...

Friday, May 18, 2007

Pueblo Neighborhood Partnership Steering Committee — 070518

An on-line meeting.

Because we’re scattered to the four winds today, and cannot get together, we’ll have the monthly Steering Committee meeting of the Pueblo Neighborhood Partnership on-line, via this blog.

Below are the details of this meetings requirements….just click on the word ‘More…’.

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We’re ‘In’ the Money (Part 4)

Life is a bowl of merde and statistics, rather, sadistics is the spoon.

I’ve been pondering the recently released property tax assessment on my home. And it seems to me to be very odd that we should realize such a significant increase in value while, from all appearances in the local economy, things are not really that good.

I’m not an economist, so I’ll let Misters McCarthy and Beltran slug out the theoretical aspects of how assessments SHOULD be determined; market or statute. However, I have had some brushes with statistics. And statistically speaking, I’d like to see Mr. Beltran’s raw data and methodology. The material and process from which he derived these new assessments.

Whereas Misters McCarthy and Beltran give differing views on what the proud homeowner of a charming $110K property can be expected to pay as a result of this increase; the former says $300 more the latter says $25. From a purely statistical and simple, i.e., not New, math perspective, I expect I’ll have to pay more the former than the latter. For 2007, the tax burden of this grand old house and the lot it rests on is a tad over $2200. A 10% increase in appraisal value equates, roughly, to around $220.

If I were to take Mr. Beltran’s form of math, I should only see something around $75.

As some wag put it in a very old Book I read on a regular basis, “The Truth will out.” Come next years demands for property taxes, we’ll see if we will have cause for sending Mr. Beltran back to Ms Kennedy’s tender ministrations in the form of remedial education in arithmetic. Or maybe I could give him lessons in sadistics….

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Chieftain, My Chieftain IX

The Pueblo Chieftain’s Contributions to Global Warming.

Not that I’m adamantly decrying human contributions to global warming. Personally, I think it’s more a function of some obscure cycle of the Sun than anything else. BUT, Ann Althouse has an interesting idea that I would REALLY like to see the Chieftain take to heart.

I keep reading about how hybrid cars and compact fluorescent lightbulbs can reduce the production of greenhouse gases, but I have yet to see an article about the savings that could be achieved if we were to stop delivery of newspapers and magazines and do all of our news reading on line.

I’ll wager dollars to donuts that if the Chieftain were to charge people the same price for a fully functional and fully searchable [Note: That means articles dating back more than 30 days, Steve] on-line version of the paper, dropping home delivery of the hard-copy version, they’d (1) save scads of trees, (2) no longer pollute the environment with processing trees into newsprint and (3) improve their bottom line in a dramatic manner.

So…what do you say Steve?

Got anyone doing a feasibility study/business plan on this idea?

We’re ‘In’ the Money (Part 3)

Another ‘love-tap’ in the ongoing examination of the recent Property Tax Assessment.

Here is my [Sean McCarthy’s] response to Mr. Beltran’s personal attack:

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Wednesday, May 16, 2007

We’re ‘In’ the Money (Part 2)

The gloves come off in the latest Property Tax Assessment.

Reprinted with permission of the editorial author.

In case you missed the opinion editorial piece in this past Sunday’s Chieftain…here it is again in all its splendor.  For some reason the County Assessor took it personally has disparaged me in an interview in the Chieftain this week…he is writing a guest column this Sunday to further respond.  Is this the proper reaction from an employee of the taxpayer?  Read my comments below and give me your opinion.

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Tuesday, May 15, 2007

The [Parkview] Plan (Part 2)

Tomorrow Night…

....Parkview will unveil their plan for expansion of their Northside campus.

The meeting will be held in the Rosemount Conference Room of the Parkview Financial (Old Scottish Rite) Building, 1518 North Elizabeth. The presentation begins at 5 pm.

I know a lot of people are interested in this. First off we need information of what the hospital plans. Then we need to see what control measures there are in place to insure everything is done in a honest and open manner, i.e., no skirting of the rules and ordinances that every other business and entity has to abide by.

I’m sure we’ll have opportunity to discuss these plans. The question is how much time and under what circumstances.

So…the first step is to see what the hospital has in mind.

See you tomorrow night….

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Recyclable Waste Collection Day!

Saturday, May 12
8am-1pm
State Fair Grounds (Gate 6)

This Saturday is the Recyclable Waste Collection Day!
Here are the items you can bring by from 8am-1pm at the State Fair Grounds on May 12th:

Paints/stains (free)
Used oil, oil filters, antifreeze (free)
Vehicle batteries (free)
Household batteries (free)
Appliances without Freon (free)
Appliances with Freon ($5 each)
Electronic scap (Monitors, CPUs, TV $5/each; everything else free)

Call the Recycle Hotline for more info: 583-4924

Friday, May 11, 2007

Chieftain, My Chieftain VIII

DON’T….......

....do THIS!!!!

Plastics Recycling Event

Saturday, May 19
9am-12pm
Bessemer Recycling Drop-of
Abriendo Ave. & Division St.

The next Plastic Recycling Event will be on May 19th at the Bessemer Recycling Drop off from 9am-12pm. You can drop off your #1 and #2 plastics. To find that number, look on the bottom of the container. Find the recycling arrows triangle. The triangle will have a number from 1-7 inside it. You can only drop off containers that have a 1 or 2 inside the triangle.

Examples: milk jugs, water/soda bottles, shampoo/conditioner bottles, condiment bottles.
Do not bring oil/antifreeze containers even thought they are #2.

For more information, call the Recycling Hotline 583-4924.