(This entry is duplicated on depotdazed.com since it pertains to both local and state level finances.)
IF you have an elected official insisting on “No Tax Increase”, what is not being said may be even more important than what is said. What is not said is that for the Government, just as for everyone else, costs go up. Read the rest of this entry »
Virginia House Bill No. 449 is, in my opinion a disaster waiting to happen.
A summary of this bill is offered through the LIS website:
Freedom of Information Act; injunctive relief for public bodies under certain circumstances. Provides that any public body may petition a court for injunctive relief to restrain a requester from harassment or other abuse of the rights or privileges granted under FOIA. Read the rest of this entry »
Effective immediately DepotDazed.com and myvaresources.com/blogs/depotdazed will not be mirror images of each other. I do far too much research in too many areas and sometimes key Christiansburg/NRV issues get lost in the shuffle. Read the rest of this entry »
Are you one of the people who got the information and the questionnaire in your mailbox? Whether you were or were not, you might want to look at this take of the process. It is a bit long for a blog and contains a lot of information on sources of information and relevant state code. If you don’t have the time, suffice it to say that I found the questionnaire to be of questionable design and value. Additionally, it appears to be biased and does not provide citizens with the information needed to make valid decisions for themselves. Happy reading….and you will probably find the 2 maps that I included as links in the article informative. A basic course in survey/questionnaire design might be useful for future applications.
It is easy to blame Wall Street for all our financial woes. But what did they really do? They violated trust. People trusted those businesses to ‘do the right thing’ … people trusted them so much that they gave up a lot of control and power to them and just let them (big financial institutions) take care of things. Read the rest of this entry »
F.O.I.A. … now let’s see where have I heard that before? Oh, yeah! It is that Freedom of Information thing. You know, that thing where at either the National or State Laws clarify a citizen’s right to access public documents. Read the rest of this entry »
Unfortunately, the costs to citizens could be something of a ‘bone of contention’. Campaigning for re-election at ALL levels of government often takes place in the public eye at the meetings those elected officials attend. Old campaign promises are dusted off just before election time and paraded before the public. Read the rest of this entry »
Foreign Policy is a part of our government that a lot of people do not pay much attention to, yet it is a crucial piece of who we are as a ‘country’. Simply learning about issues/problem in other countries is nice, but taking the time to discuss those issues with others provides an opportunity to come up with creative solutions that could make a real difference. Events in other countries can have a considerable impact upon us. How decisions on foreign policy are made and analyzing the impact those decision are likely to have on all of the parties involved provides a wonderful opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of our history and our future. Read the rest of this entry »
I promised a lot of people that I would update here when I found out anything definite.
(***a special note: It looks like Mayor Ballengee and Councilmember Wade may be taking some extra steps in order to keep citizens better informed of what Town Council is doing! Both of them now have Facebook pages. Look ‘em up and start a friendship. Hopefully, they will make good use of a free and easy way to keep citizens informed!***) Read the rest of this entry »
I kept waiting for someone to bring up a couple of issues about this, but they never did during the Joint Public Hearing held on January 6, 2010. The discussion was concerning the application of fees for those people who wish to pay their town bills using a credit card. Read the rest of this entry »
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