Zach Randolph Fan !!!!!

Zach Fan !!!!!

Crazyland: The Coming Tax Increases in Shelby County and the Waste of Civic Energy over Consolidation

Shelby County Politicos Burning  Tax Dollars


So many politicos in this town have wasted civic energy on consolidation efforts that were never going to improve our community, both metro and school consolidations. Now they are asking us to pay for their craziness.

Time is Money and they have burned through it for several years now.
Please stop the madness.

Logan G's - Chomp Burger - Sandwich Competition

My son, Logan (9 years old), likes to cook. So he entered a national sandwich competition (link here - http://www.jif.com/Promotions/Most-Creative-Peanut-Butter/CastVote), where he placed in the top 10.

He also has a food blog (link here – http://thetasteofmemphis.blogspot.com).

So now he is both a chef and a critic.

The top 5 from the sandwich contest go to New York City for the next round.

You can vote for him, Logan G. from Memphis, TN – “Chomp Burger”. Vote Early and Vote Often.

Make Our First Snow Day of the Year An Official Memphis Holiday

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Make-Our-First-Snow-Day-of-the-Year-An-Official-Memphis-Holiday/103413013066987?v=wall



Make Our First Snow Day of the Year An Official Memphis Holiday



Join the FACEBOOK Group:

11th Hour Plea to Mayor Wharton and Mayor Luttrell - “Bring Schools To The Table”

Friends and Neighbors,

Once again, we are asking the mayors of Memphis and Shelby County to do whatever is necessary to bring the two school systems to the table to discuss recent developments around special school districts and a potential school charter surrender.

These far reaching issues deserve cooler heads. Our top political leaders can no longer talk about the issues; they must bring the parties together.
Emotions are running high, and a vote on the charter surrender resolution scheduled for Monday should be avoided at all cost.

Our community must have real discussions on reforming our school systems. This is not the way to travel the difficult road of reform.

Contact info:

Mayor@memphistn.gov Office (901) 576-6000
Mark.Luttrell@shelbycountytn.gov Office (901) 545-4500

Your action is required. Sincerely, Tom Gule

Luttrell and Wharton Must Bring Schools To The Table, Now !!!!!

Friends and Neighbors,

To avoid another political tsunami, we are calling on the mayors of Memphis and Shelby County to become actively engaged in bringing the two school systems to the table to discuss recent developments around special school districts.

Political capital must be spent by Mark Luttrell and AC Wharton to bring the parties together and discuss the issue of schools before this storm spirals out of control. Groups are moving too quickly. It is a very complicated issue and the citizens deserve cooler heads in the room.

Our top political leaders can no longer simply stand on the sidelines, they must bring the parties together and force them to talk.

Recent discussions about efforts to dissolve the Memphis City Schools' charter and force consolidation of the county and city school systems are premature. Without information and dialogue, the intended solution may make the problem worse, which could include loss of funding and chaos within both school systems.

We need leadership, now!

Contact info:

Mayor@memphistn.gov Office (901) 576-6000

Mark.Luttrell@shelbycountytn.gov Office (901) 545-4500


Your action is required. Sincerely, Tom Guleff

Their Cult- Like Fascination with CONSOLIDATION

The pro-consolidation forces are back !!!!!!

To be honest, the cult-like fascination with Consolidation is creepy. After being soundly defeated by an 85% margin in the county, the losing side wants to re-write the narrative of its demise and bring it back to life. I could understand the current effort, if the vote was close, but it wasn’t.

This small group appears disconnected from political reality. This is just plain weird.

Here is the proposed resolution by Steve Mulroy to the County Commission.


http://agendapub.shelbycountytn.gov/sirepub/mtgviewer.aspx?meetid=411&doctype=AGENDA

ITEM NO: ______________ PREPARED BY: _____________


APPROVED BY:


RESOLUTION IN SUPPPORT OF THE CONCEPT OF CONSOLIDATION.


SPONSORED BY COMMISSIONER STEVE MULROY.
___________________________________________________________


WHEREAS, this body narrowly passed an October 2010 resolution expressing its
opposition to the Metro Charter on the November 2010 ballot; and


WHEREAS, many of those voting for this resolution supported the idea of Metro consolidation but had reservations only about the particular Metro Charter on the ballot; and


WHEREAS, there is a danger that this resolution could be misinterpreted as opposition to metro consolidation generally; and


WHEREAS, some Shelby County citizens legitimately believe that further attempts to achieve Metro consolidation with an improved Metro Charter draft are appropriate and inevitable; and

WHEREAS, it is appropriate that this body’s prior resolution not be misconstrued as being unduly dismissive of citizens taking that view;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Shelby County Board of Commissioners supports the concept of consolidation, and is open to the idea of revisiting a Metro Charter process in an upcoming election cycle, provided that:

(a) The City Council and County Commission have greater input into the selection of members of any appointed Metro Charter Commission;

(b) Greater efforts are made to achieve racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity among any Charter Commission appointees;

(c) Appropriate efforts are made to avoid any undue influence of corporate interests on the process; and

(d) The issue of school consolidation, if still applicable, should be given weight equal to that of any other major issue in Charter Commission deliberations.

________________________________
Mark H. Luttrell, Jr.
COUNTY MAYOR


Date: _________________________


ATTEST:
________________________________
CLERK OF COUNTY COMMISSION


ADOPTED: __________________________

Moving Past the Metro Charter – The Opportunity Ahead

Moving Past the Metro Charter – The Opportunity Ahead


Let’s start from the beginning

We understand the desperation and the frustration of our neighbors in watching our city spiral into a kleptocracy of ineptness, corruption, and cronyism. Reforming government cannot wait or be curtailed. It must be done now. We want Memphis to succeed. We need Memphis to succeed.


Real Problems Require Real Reform

The stakes here are very high. The difficulties faced by Shelby County, and most notably Memphis, of slow growth, low income, crime, poverty, poor education, racism, unskilled labor force and population flight must be addressed. It’s time to revisit many of these issues and make politically difficult decisions. We challenge the new city executives to aggressively search out and hire world-class talent, and ruthlessly execute a thoughtful plan with the most meaningful of civic metrics (crime and education). Tough issues require tough approaches. If progress cannot be made, we must our change our leaders. If leaders cannot be found, then it’s too late for our community. The next generation will inherit what we could not solve.


Leadership at the Top and Throughout

Mayors AC Wharton and Mark Luttrell along with our six suburban mayors must take the lead in pushing for much needed reform. They are our elected leaders. The status quo is unacceptable. Our neighbors and potential neighbors are telling us that crime and schools are basic problems that must be addressed. As uncomfortable as it may be to some to talk about, an emphasis on strengthening the family can no longer sit on the sideline as a political hot potato or a political slogan. Strong families must be the bedrock of our community going forward. There is no strength or sustained effort going forward without this core belief that families are our most valuable support system in the community. New voices must be brought into the conversation to solve the most thorny issues around schools, crime, and family. Everything else is secondary to this.




Everyone has a Stake

It doesn’t just stop with Memphis. There are other changes that must be made to remove impediments to reaching shared regional goals for the economy and quality of life of the whole area. We should consider the adoption of a regional structure. A good example is the Hampton Roads Project in the Hampton Roads, Virginia, area. The region of Hampton Roads contains the largest military base in the world, is a major transportation hub, a world-class tourist destination, and an important matrix of institutions for research and higher education. Regions such as this are the primary units of economic competition in the global economy. Memphis has all of the same basic ingredients but with two important differences — missing synergy among the local governments and lack of a regional structure.

By “regional structure” we mean the institutions that deal with the shared issues that comprise the regional agenda — their membership, powers, internal procedures, and relationships with each other and with external governments.




Leaving Behind “The Herenton Era”

First, create a strong regional voice. Establish a Shelby Metropolitan Council composed of the mayors and the chairs of the City Council, County Commission and the various Boards of Mayor and Aldermen. The Council would speak for the region and provide stronger political leadership for fostering regional visioning, economic development, and a regional legislative agenda. Improve public participation in decision making by using modern methods of communications. Organize a regional review board to evaluate the performance of the various independent agencies and report to the Metro Council.

Second, improve economic development by reforming the various planning organizations. Involve legislators in the planning, and upgrade staffing and procedures to national best practices. Strengthen the Shelby Metropolitan Council to realize its potential for being the most representative regional leadership body by adding non-profits to the present government-business board, communicating more openly with the public, implementing regional visioning and organizing the process of producing a regional legislative agenda. The local governments should coordinate tourism development through a regional plan and regional marketing initiatives implemented by a regional agency, as they should for economic development.

Finally, regional efficiency should be improved. In some ways, the eight local governments already share services in a number of ways, but a mixed commission of officials, accountants and management consultants could use modern telecommunications, information technology, transportation and management systems to create savings through more shared regional services.




Focus on what matters

The starting point of these actions rests with putting a good faith effort into fixing Memphis first. Secondly, Memphis, Shelby County (along with its component cities), and the outlying counties must build a regional organization to create a strong regional voice, improve economic development and regional efficiency. Finally, AC Wharton and Mark Luttrell must move forward in the best interests of our community. Failure is not an option for them or us. The voters have spoken. It is time to start reversing the poor decision of the past, and focus on what truly matters to our citizens. We have a great opportunity ahead of us. Let’s move forward in solving tough issues together.

Who Killed Consolidation?

The players had everything lined up. They had money, they had the politicians, and they had the plan.

So, who killed Consolidation?

Well, actually no one. It was more like an “inside deal” gone bad, carrying good and well intentioned citizens into a fixed political game.

From the outset, it was clear that there wasn’t going to be any real or credible investigation to solve the community’s problems, but rather an orchestrated series of false choices, leading to only one conclusion,: Consolidation. It was going to be consolidation or bust. In doing so, those who put this process in motion failed to act in the best interests of the community.

The “listening tours” were the first signs of trouble. For the few that attended these events, it was clear that the “emperor has no clothes.” The “conversation” smelled as a something cooked up from the political elites. A top down initiative with corporate new speak of “charter not consolidation, rebuild and reinvent, efficiencies not savings.”

The push for Consolidation wasn’t authentic; it was produced, almost scripted line by line from someone else’s playbook. The step by step nature of campaigning for a new charter was pronounced through a series of staged events. The blueprint outlined a never ending campaign, prosecuted by paid advocates and fueled by the political insiders.

The entire process reeked with misunderstandings, conflicts of interests, lack of transparency, a game of advocacy vs. education, skirting finance disclosures, front men, push cards, kick-off celebrations, hyped surveys, connected surrogates, and outside consultants. And now, only a federal lawsuit keeps it from being irrelevant.

In the end, the residual effects of all this will be more distrust. Consolidation was built on a ponzi scheme that collapsed from years of mistrust and today’s political gamesmanship. That’s what killed consolidation.

Consolidation is No Solution

IS BIGGER BETTER?

Consolidation is No Solution

By Ronald Williams & Tom Guleff
www.SaveShelbyCounty.org


An urgent message persistently delivered by advocates of Shelby County and City of Memphis consolidation is the claim it would bring cost savings and efficiencies to our taxpayers and government. But, they’ve said very little, if anything, about what those would be, even though the questions have been asked by us regularly for over a year. This began with the “Listening Tours” of Mayor A C Wharton, Myron Lowry and Deidre Malone in the fall of 2009. In fact, the same questions will bring the same answer from proponents today – a deafening silence. We’re being asked to vote for something without knowing the hard facts and data behind the proposal.

There’s a popular theory of government efficiency running around among supporters of consolidation that “bigger-is-better”. In fact, the opposite is typically the case. There’s little to support this theory in the way of information. To the contrary, the available evidence does not show a correlation between local government consolidation and improved efficiency at all. A number of examples show that consolidations intended to save money actually wind up increasing spending.

A poster child city of the advocates for consolidation to compare with Memphis has been Indianapolis, Indiana. Various data were rolled out by RebuildGovernment to “prove” how successful and vibrant the city now was as a result of the merger with the surrounding Marion County. They even hired the mayor to “witness” for them. One statistic cited was the rapidly growing population of the city. In fact, the actual reason for such growth is the very low cost of housing in Louisville, attracting people to move there.

There are many reasons for consolidations failing to bring efficiencies and saving money. Some, such as salary and benefit leveling and service level adjustments tend to simply raise costs to their highest pre-consolidation values. Another reason is the increased size and complexity of a new government and the reduced accountability that occurs. These reasons tend to increase expenditures in the long run.

According to Wendell Cox, noted demographer, Metropolitan areas with consolidated cities, such as Indianapolis, “have not generally produced better results in the more important indicators of income and poverty,” and ….. “Average median household incomes were 6.9 % lower and average poverty rates were 1.3% higher than metropolitan areas without consolidation.”1 Therefore, citizens of Memphis and Shelby County should not necessarily expect to see improvements in these areas, despite what advocates claim.

The city of Indianapolis faces significant financial difficulties. In 2008, the state of Indiana assumed $ 1 billion in retirement liabilities and provided other assistance to the city. If consolidated government were more efficient and cost effective, then these actions wouldn’t be necessary. The city of Memphis finds itself facing nearly the same amount in terms of unfunded retirement liabilities. This will undoubtedly increase the future debt and taxes for younger people. Consolidation didn’t fix the same problem in Indianapolis, why should we expect it to here?

Another example of Indianapolis’ problems is the fact that anticipated savings can disappear even before consolidation is enacted. When the former mayor sought to consolidate county fire departments into the city fire department, a report was produced claiming a $21 million savings would be realized. A later report by the Marion County Consolidation Commission found that the projected savings had been greatly overstated and a more realistic number would be $1.3 million. Undeterred, the city proceeded to sign a labor contract with city firefighters that eventually cost the city an extra $20 million over the next three years, according to a press report.

Many other studies of consolidating local governments have concluded the same thing. For example, the Michigan Township Association commissioned Mr. Cox to provide an analysis on the fiscal impact of consolidating local governments. In his report summary, he stated: “In recent years, government consolidation has become the antidote for everything from urban sprawl to state fiscal crisis. Upon closer examination, however, the truth is evident: Bigger government does not necessarily equate to cost savings. In fact, the opposite is typically the case.” He continues “…townships spend far less for government functions and services – including conducting elections, collecting taxes, operating fire departments and other emergency services, and maintaining parks and recreational facilities – than do cities.” In other cases of cities merging with surrounding areas such as Memphis annexing Cordova, Forest Hills and Raleigh, the city failed to deliver promised new services to the annexed areas but collected their new tax revenue from them. Their intent here is clear – collect the taxes and don’t deliver on promises.

When the decision was made to proceed with writing a new charter for Memphis/Shelby County, government efficiency and cost savings weren’t goals. Instead they depended on the solution - government consolidation - to provide the desired answers without really knowing what the results should be. The decision relied on nothing more than assumptions and rhetoric, probably coming from those with special interests who should know better, with no evidence to support the proposition that government consolidation would improve efficiency and cost. The same is true today.

While consolidation is often portrayed in theoretical before-the-fact rhetoric as more efficient and saving costs, in reality there is little evidence that actual efficiencies and therefore cost reductions occur. The bulk of evidence shows that the impact of consolidation is to make government less efficient and more expensive. The effect of consolidating Memphis with Shelby County will be to spread the higher costs and less efficient practices of the city of Memphis across the even larger area of Shelby County to the detriment of its taxpayers.

Bigger is NOT better. Now, the wishes of the citizens can be made known, as they should have been long ago when this journey began. Vote AGAINST consolidation.

Mulroy and Bailey Should Appear Before Charter Commission

PRESS RELEASE

Media Only
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
www.SaveShelbyCounty.org
Contact: Tom Guleff
tomguleff@gmail.com
901-413-7804



Mulroy and Bailey Should Appear Before Charter Commission

Memphis, TN – April 14, 2010 – Citizens of Memphis and Shelby County will soon get a historic opportunity to decide whether they want a consolidated government. Because this decision requires an honest and transparent debate, Save Shelby County (SSC) is asking Steve Mulroy and D’Army Bailey to appear before the Metro Charter Commission and review why they believe that the current voting requirement for consolidation is in violation of federal law, and explain the possible outcomes of such a decision.

If the dual vote requirement for consolidation is against federal law, it changes the entire dynamics of the discussion and the writing of a new charter for consolidating Memphis City Government with Shelby County Government. Every talking point from the pro-consolidation side up to now has been constructed on the foundation that both city and non-city voters have to agree before consolidation can move forward. Whatever trust that was built around this fundamental concept is quickly evaporating.

“We agree that this conversation needs to take place sooner than later. I just hope that the conversation of consolidation was not sold under false pretenses,” says Tom Guleff, co-chair of Save Shelby County.



Save Shelby County.Org (SSC) is a grass-roots non-partisan organization to provide factual information and alternate solutions to Shelby County, TN voters about the proposed consolidation of Shelby County and City of Memphis governments. SSC will provide information resources through public appearances, press releases, and its web site, www.saveshelbycounty.org.

RebuildGovernment Through The Looking Glass

The entire consolidation movement is beginning to look like a political “inside straight" perpetrated by a small group of political and business players. RebuildGovernment, a pro consolidation group, has fueled this perception by refusing to disclose their funding sources while at the same time demanding transparency and accountability in government. It is only a matter of time before the group will be forced to come clean through election law.

Those fronting for the group know that the decision to play coy with the funding has become a detriment to their cause. It is silly and embarrassing to think that an organization attempting to reinvent government could do so without public outcry for financial disclosure, especially in light of the corruption we've seen in this town over the last decade.

The charter commission is a government sanctioned body, appointed by an elected official and charged with defining a metro government as outlined in state law. The process is well on its way and has the backing of the city council and county commission. The charter committee is aided in this effort by RebuildGovernment to gather information in support of the consolidated government charter. It is apparent to many in the community that RebuildGovernment is truly an advocate for the consolidation movement. RebuildGovernment should be held accountable and adhere to the legal requirements that govern single issue (measure) groups and disclose their supporters. We are confident they will follow our lead in registering with the Shelby County Election Commission.

By Ronald Williams and Tom Guleff of Save Shelby County (taken from www.saveshelbycounty.org)

Take The Offer !!!!

According to the CA, School district offers city new options to settle funding dispute

I would take the offer!!! A court decision in the council's favor is a gamble. Pro-rate the judgment over a period of time and get out of the funding of MCS forever.

The county should then conduct an open and thorough audit of MCS, and start the process to turn around a broken system. In roughly two years, MCS will have a budget close to $1 billion and a student enrollment of 99,000. If you want to turn around the region, he’s the place to start.

Take This Dollar Bill, I Have Plenty

Add Your Caption (photo from CA) -

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/apr/29/many-12-employees-indicted-charges-county-clerks-o/

The charges against Garrett include an allegation that she received money from councilwoman Barbara Swearengen Ware on April 29, 2008. Asked during an afternoon press conference if Ware could be indicted, District Atty. Gen. Gibbons said, "The investigation is ongoing.''

911 Call from the Memphis Police Department (MPD)

The first priority of any legitimate government is the safety of its citizens. For the past several years there has been much political talk and campaign promises to reduce crime in Memphis and Shelby County. It is time for Joe Citizens to respond to the 911 call from The Memphis Police Department and help politicos keep their campaign promises.

“With countless citizens trying to make Memphis and Shelby County a great place to live and raise a family, we have to respond to the needs of those who protect and serve us,” says Tom Guleff of JoeCitizens.com.

We are asking all citizens to contact their state legislators and demand attention in:

- Truth in sentencing - make criminals serve entire sentence
- No bond for career criminals - 10 convictions or more
- Habitual Misdemeanant law (10 convictions or more - additional class E felon charge on any subsequent charges)


E-mail program located at the bottom of webpage: https://kiosk.memphispolice.org/cyberwatch/mpd_legislative_email.htm

Know Your City Series (#6) – Memphis

(BUDGETING AND APPROPRIATIONS PROCEDURES)

The financial plans of the City are included in the annual capital and operating budgets. These budgets project all receipts and disbursements, and present the level of governmental services and the method of distributing costs to the various segments of the community through the collection of taxes and fees. The Council has final responsibility for approving certain program and fiscal policies, approving the annual Operating Budget and the Capital Improvement Program, and setting the tax rate and fees for services. The Administration is responsible for proposing programs and recommending funding levels to the Council and for implementing service programs in accordance with established goals and objectives.

Source: City of Memphis – Operating Budget 2009

Blake Fontenay’s Last Post

Today was Blake Fontenay’s last post on Commercial Appeal’s Blake’s Blog. His political humor was unmatched in Memphis politics, almost. We will miss his insight.

He’ll start on the Commercial Appeal’s business beat Monday. I am sure business and politics never mix in this city. Blake will fit in nicely.

Know Your City Series (#5) – Memphis

(Mayor)

The Mayor is responsible for all city appointments to boards, which serve the City. These include the boards of the Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division (MLG&W); Memphis Area Transit Authority; Memphis Housing Authority; Center City Commission; Memphis & Shelby County Convention Center Complex; Memphis Brooks Museum of Art; Memphis & Shelby County Building Code Advisory Board; Memphis Public Library Board. The Mayor appoints five of the seven members of the Board of the Memphis & Shelby County Airport Authority. Most of the members of these boards are private citizens giving their time to the City without compensation.

Source: City of Memphis – Operating Budget 2009

Stop Axe Grinding Term Limits

Memphis and Shelby County voters will get a chance to decide whether term limits should be applied to several elected positions come November. However, it is unfortunate that there are some local politicos attempting to make this nonpartisan issue, a “political party” issue.

The most recent opposition is coming from the Shelby County Democratic Executive Committee that opposes the current term limit movement. As with the failed Shelby County Ordinance 360, false arguments are surfacing once again. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the issue, term limits along with good governance should not be viewed through the prism of party loyalty.

We encourage both the Shelby County GOP and Shelby County Democratic Party to refrain from making this a political issue, and let the voters decide. This nonpartisan issue does not require political ax grinding, so let’s put the sharpeners away before we hurt ourselves.

We ask those involved to please, cease-and-desist.

Citizen Petition for Shelby County

Mick Wright beat me to the blog on this. Check out his post on the citizen drive.

PETITION TO KEEP (ELECTED) SHELBY COUNTY OFFICERS

If you want to help with this citizen initiative, contact Paul Mattila at (901)233-5078 or email him at pmattila@xipline.com .