Marcy's right about taking the land out of the tax base, or reducing the taxable value to almost nothing. If someone gets a huge tax break for setting aside land as an easement, for whatever reason, the rest of us have to pick up the slack and make up the difference. It's simple math, folks. The more land that's removed from the tax base, the more the rest of us have to pay.
Two comments on two different items above: First, since 1984, federal workers have paid into the Social Security system, and are therefore no different from other non-federal workers in SSA benefits. Second, if you believe Christmas has become too commercial and ads are starting too early, shop only at stores that advertise "Christmas", not "Holiday", and spend whatever you would be spending anyway in mid-December, not two months early. They start early to get your money early. Also, since I don't celebrate a holday named "Holiday", the "Happy Holiday" advertisers don't see my money. The December 25 "holiday" has a name. Advertisers who are ashamed to use it don't see me in December.
I hope His Highness doesn't tour areas where homes have been repossessed and have become unsightly, or businesses that have gone under and had to close, leaving some appearnce problems. Recently, we've seen Clemson adopt mandatory distances between driveways and boat trailers, and seen malcontent activists pitch a fit at the thought of seeing a Wal-Mart or Lowes. There's a real world out there, Mr. Mayor, beyond your city limits. I'm sure the builders and developers above didn't mean to have all this financial trouble and spoil your pretty view.
$97,000,000, and a county population of 70,000 means almost $1,400 for every person in the county! $50,000,000 for a new school when the county's student numbers haven't changed much in more than 40 years? $9,100,000 for a library? What happened to the $6,000,000 library they've been wanting? Also on the wish list, but not listed above are the constant requests for money for convention centers, recreation complexes, and on...and on... This wish list mentality has to be brought under control. In economic times like these, we need to remodel or add to schools, not build new ones for $50,000,000. We need to add a room or a wing to our existing library, if needed, instead of building another Biltmore House architectural wonder for $9,100,000. We absolutely need a jail, courthouse fixes, bridge and road work, but convention centers and swimming pools can and must wait, unless they're funded by private concerns. Speculation on utility lines with no customers, new "hope for the best" commerce parks, and empty spec buildings also have to be put way back on the back burner. Whether this wish list is paid for by reserves on hand, bonds, tax increases or grants, the money all comes from taxpayers' pockets at a time when the pockets are nearly empty. Just say "NO!", Council, to unnecessary wish list projects. Just say "NO!"
I also don't like the "Can't we all just get along?", middle of the road, conservative today and liberal tomorrow record of Graham. If there's anything that liberals and conservatives alike have to credit former senators Jesse Helms and Edward Kennedy with, it's consistency. We always knew where they stood on issues. Helms was always conservative, Kennedy was always liberal, and the voters in Raleigh and Boston knew what they were getting in both. Not so with Graham. During the 2008 campaign, he glued himself to the moderate McCain, and has aligned himself with Kennedy and now John Kerry on liberal issues. Jumping back and forth across the fence doesn't cut it with me. Now he's riding in the global warming panic wagon with other hard core liberals, on a bill that will skyrocket our energy bills. I'll continue to vote for conservatives, even if it means third party, and not accept the lesser of two evils. I'll also be expecting an election year conservative conversion by Lindsey Rodham Graham, but I'll also "remember in November".
Oconee22, your examples are not "apples to apples". An adult night club can cause many problems other than visual (excessive drinking, brawls, etc.). A trash incinerator has obvious health and air pollution problems. A large flashing billboard on Main Street could be a trafic safety problem if it obstructed views, caused unavoidable distractions, etc. No, the complaint I'm reading avove is that a sign, a paint color, an awning, just isn't pretty enough to please some people. I also have a problem with a committee of non-owners deciding on the definition of "pretty enough", and imposing their definition on others. I've driven by the business in question too many tuimes to count, and never paid any attention to paint colors or a sign. Yet, you linked the appearance of this business with allowing a town to prosper? Do you think someone visiting from somewhere else would see that paint, that sign, and say, "That does it! I'm never coming here to spend my money again!!"? I guess I'm just fed up with the collective commune mentality, and defining "acceptable" appearance based on group consensus.
Yes, pgoldman, they are. And the only way to keep governments "halfway honest" is to be involved in what goes on. The best way locally, at least with city and county government, is to care enough to show up and speak out. If we don't, we lose by default. In football lingo, too many people are criticizing from the sidelines, instead of caring enough to get in the game and change the score. We don't have easy, direct access to senators, governors and presidents. But all five councilmen can be reached again tonight, at 7:00, by anyone who really wants that direct access mentioned so often in "Tell Willie". Unless, I guess, there's something more important on television.
Thanks, JS. Now odj wants the city to be paint color police? An ordinance against neon blue paint? And oconeegirl thinks selected trim and awning colors should be against the law? Every day we see homes, businesses and other property that we may think are not all that attractive. But they're not ours, so they're not ours to contol for reasons as petty as paint color or if a sign has LED lights that some may think aren't up to their lofty visual standards. Good points, JS.
"...if they venture out in public, give them a piece of your mind"??? Here we go again, with call them or wait to see them "in public". Folks, they're "in public" and available for comments, on a regular basis. If you want to talk to them, and agree or disagree with them, you have a chance to catch all five of them at the same time...at a County Council meeting. The next one is this Tuesday, 7:00 P.M., Pine Street, Walhalla. It's amazing to me that thousands will fill the high school football stadiums every Friday, but rarely more than a dozen can find the time to show up at a Council meeting and speak out. The effects of a game can last two hours. The actions of Council can affect you the rest of your lives. Got a complaint? Then show up and put your actions where your Willie complaint is.
About that "Yankee go home" comment above: It's just my own opinion, but I think the resentment is more about attitude than where someone was born. How often have so many of us heard, "Here's how we did it in New Jersey", or, "In Boston, we..."? So often, transplants from big cities in northern states grew up with zoning controls, high taxes providing expensive government services, and a collective commune mentality as to how others' property should look to passers-by. Instead of blending in with the area in which they chose to live, they immediately try to "fix" what they think are problems here, and they see them as problems just because the way we live here isn't the way they lived elsewhere. I see little or no resentment about whether a transplant was born in Alabama or Minnesota, but plenty of resentment with the attitude, "Now that I'm here, here's how we're going to do things". The perception is that much of that attitude comes from north of here. If others who move here, from north or south, would blend in, settle back, enjoy the lifestyle, and not try to transform us into what they left behind, I think that "transplant" resentment would nearly disappear.
Posted on November 21 at 6:38 p.m.
On Seneca farm enters protection program
Marcy's right about taking the land out of the tax base, or reducing the taxable value to almost nothing. If someone gets a huge tax break for setting aside land as an easement, for whatever reason, the rest of us have to pick up the slack and make up the difference. It's simple math, folks. The more land that's removed from the tax base, the more the rest of us have to pay.