Main Street Lights

Actually you might be best to carry a flashlight or simply stay in after dark since it is not safe in this town regardless of where you reside. Conceal/carry is also an option. 

No thanks if we have to go thru this nightmare to get the "Facts" it's easier to buy a tiki lamp. Keep the city off of my street.  In regards to your other topics SJ water/sewer/backflow costs all need to be investigated.

You can "earmark", "designate", "make a friggin constitutional amendment that funds be used for a certain thing-but Les the Lawless and Justice (for me) Judy will take them anyway-as they happily sing their new duet

Voice,

Sounds like the gentleman with no lights on his street could use those "Mulliganlamps" to illuminate his neighborhood rather than pitch 'em in the dump. Would be kinda "prestigious" knowing your street lights came from the high-fallutin' area of town, wouldn't it? Give a man some braggin' rights. Could even salvage the light poles with a flatbed semi to load and transport them from S. Main to his neighborhood, some electric wires run and some holes dug and he's in business.

VOR - I am not sure I understand your reasoning behind two 12 hour shifts vs 1 24 hour shift for Middletown Firefighters. What exactly would the 12 hour night shift during down time?? sleeping, watching TV? If the night shift is from 8pm - 8am I could see them doing some work from 8pm - midnight but after that, what else would there be to do, sleep or watch tv?

Of course the MFD could take a lesson form Kettering Fire Dept. Which operates a paid/volunteer fire dept in a city larger that Middletown Population wise. They have 52 paid fire fire fighters and 102 voluteers.

You can read more about it at http://www.ketteringoh.org/newweb/departments/fire/fire_main.php

Concerning the $2M for road repair I am not quite sure how much is budgeted each yr right now, but if it is approx $1.2M the simplest way to get to $2M is to take the $3.50-$3.75 (not sure about this amount) that is being talked about being added to our water bills for street lights and add this approx $750,000.00 to the annual budgeted amount for road repair. this would give you $2M without having to layoff firefighters or police officers.

It has been mentioned in several city council meetings by the city manager that these funds for street lights could be designated on road repairs. The only thing you need to watch out for is that the city manager/city council doesn't take the street light money in the front door and then take a like amount from the current road budget and move it somewhere else through the back door. This has been done by many states with their lottery proceeds and education funds. All of these funds should be designated soley for road repairs and nothing else by resolution.

Ground Swat

We all should know by now that are spineless ones are going to do as they please.Main Street will get there fancy ass lights and dont care what we think.I pray every night that they (the spineless ones) will get kicked out of office for the nonsense thy have put this city through. They are nothing but theifs.

I still like to know why Mullethead and Kohler are so special that we the taxpayers have to pay for their fancy ass lights.

the streetlight situation just gets more interesting.

Ground Swat--you've missed my point.  Spending money your money on things such as nice light fixtures and re-paving the roads enhances the town, as would implementing strict zoning requirements that would make it unattractive for Section 8 slumlords to operate in MIddletown (because of the increased cost of owning real estate. 

Wouldn't it be "Neat" if the same people who scream about why we have so much section 8 and can't understand why more citizens don't confront the Admin. about it could apply that same logic to why it's important to question the same folks on how they spend our money. It always amazes me when people who play golf bitch about why their course can't look and play like the ones on the PGA, all it takes is money and a vision with leadership. By the way does anyone know were that line starts for "Handouts" of all that money we seem to have. Thats Ok not one business owner I know wants a damn thing given to them other than fair and balanced application of our laws, which I won't bring up. Getting the feeling I'm coming off as a anti-I should belief and trust everything I'm told taxpayer. 

Voice- "But I'd like to make the point that having some art, education, and nicer amenities in town doesn't hurt the city--it might actually help the city and change the perception that Middletown is a dump".

AGREE VOICE, BUT THERE SEEMS TO BE SOME IRONY HERE DOESN'T THERE? ON ONE HAND, THE CITY LEADERS ARE TRYING THEIR BEST TO BRING IN SOME CULTURE WITH THE PAC AND THE ARTZY CROWD DOWNTOWN. THEY SEEM TO BE MORE THAN CONTENT TO APPEASE THE S. MAIN ST. CROWD WITH THEIR STREET LIGHTS. THEN, WITH THE OTHER HAND, THEY APPLY FOR EVERY FRIKKIN' HUD PROGRAM AVAILABLE, LURING TO TOWN EVERY LOW INCOME, GOVERNMENT ASSISTED, HAND-OUT PERSON WHO HEARS ABOUT IT, BRINGING THE TOWN TO IT'S KNEES WITH POVERTY. HOW CAN THE CITY LEADERS AND COUNCIL THINK ON SUCH RADICAL TERMS? THEY PURSUE CULTURE AT THE SAME TIME THEY ARE PURSUING POVERTY.

Voice- "Here's another general observation: A number of people seem to want less government and lower taxes, but in the next breath look to government to solve the problem and "bring jobs" to town. This is what people clamor for when they don't have marketable skills and aren't willing to invest in themselves. Blaming city leaders for not bringing jobs to town makes you smell like a rotten socialist, and from what I've gathered there are few, if any, of those on this forum"

AND EXACTLY WHY WOULDN'T WE EXPECT THE CITY LEADERS TO BRING JOBS (DECENT-NOT LOW WAGE) JOBS TO TOWN? ISN'T THAT THE FUNCTION OF THE ECON. DEV. DEPARTMENT, VOICE? IF NOT, WHY DOES THE CITY NEED THIS DEPARTMENT? WHO ELSE WOULD BE WORKING ON BRINGING JOBS TO TOWN, THE CITIZENS? I'M NOT A SOCIALIST, BUT I DO EXPECT MY CITY LEADERS TO DO THEIR DAM JOBS, ESPECIALLY THE ECON. DEV. DEPT.

Voice- "Given the lack of educational attainment, on average, in Middletown, there won't be any high-tech, high-paying jobs that arrive here anytime soon. About the only thing a lot of people in Middletown are qualified to do is work jobs that barely rise above minimum wage, and there's no amount of cajoling with outside business interests that any city leader can do to change that".

YEAH BUT WE CAN BLAME THE 70's, 80's, AND 90's CITY LEADERS FROM THE PAST, WHEN THE PAPER MILLS WERE FOLDING AND AK WAS GOING DOWN THE TOILET AND DOWNSIZING. ALL OF THEM SHOULD HAVE SEEN THE CHANGE IN THE TOWN EMPLOYMENT CLIMATE AND STARTED PREPARING TO DIVERT THE JOB SCENE TO EMPLOYABLE VENUES OTHER THAN PAPER AND STEEL. THE PEOPLE IN MIDDLETOWN BEING QUALIFIED TO DO MINIMUM WAGE JOBS IS A DIRECT RESULT OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM GOING DOWN THE TOILET SINCE THE 60's WHEN IT WAS RESPECTABLE IN PERFORMANCE. TO BE FAIR TO THE CURRENT SCHOOL PERFORMANCE, THE CITY HASN'T HELPED DUMPING ALL THEIR SECTION 8 CRAP AND ALL THAT GOES WITH IT IN THEIR LAP. THE CITY'S NEED FOR REVENUE THROUGH HUD MONEY HANDOUTS HASN'T DONE THE SCHOOLS ANY FAVORS. INCREDIBLY, THE CITY LEADERS DON'T APPEAR TO CARE WHAT DAMAGE THEY HAVE CAUSED TO THE SCHOOLS. SELFISH AGENDA. IF THE CITY LEADERS WOULD PLACE AS MUCH IMPORTANCE ON JOB CREATION AS THEY DO ON FAKE GAS LIGHTS, CHIPPED PAINT ON HOUSES, RUSTY GUTTERS, THE ARTZY CROWD DESIRES AND KISSING THE A-- OF THE MMF PEOPLE, WE MAY HAVE BEEN UP THE ROAD FURTHER IN THE IMPROVEMENT OF THIS TOWN. THEIR PRIORITIES ARE ALL SCREWED UP AS TO WHAT THIS TOWN REALLY NEEDS.

Voice- "how about we simply raise the bar for acceptable housing and road conditions"?

HOW ARE WE GONNA DO THAT IF THE CITY KEEPS INVITING SLUMLORDS AND ACCEPTING THE DUMPS THEY OWN? HOW ARE WE GONNA RAISE THE BAR ON ROAD CONDITIONS IF THE CITY WON'T RETURN THE MONEY THEY "BORROWED" FROM THE ROAD FUND AND PLACED IN THE GENERAL FUND WAY BACK IN THE 80's? THEY NEVER RETURNED THE MONEY TO THE STREET FUND SINCE THEN. THEY HAVEN'T HAD A COMPREHENSIVE STREET PREV. MAINT. PLAN IN OVER THREE DECADES. IMO, VOICE, IT WOULD BE WRONG TO NOT BLAME THEM NOR HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE SCREWUPS SINCE THE 70's. THERE IS NO DEFENSE FOR THEIR INCOMPETENT ACTIONS AND LACK OF VISION FOR THE CITY.

Voice- "We've got more than our fair share of poor people; maybe we'd get some peole with money and means to move to here if we had nice streets and strict zoning requirements".

WHEN YOU FIGURE OUT HOW TO ATTRACT SOME CLASSY PEOPLE WITH MONEY TO TOWN, PLEASE LET US KNOW. I WOULD IMAGINE PEOPLE WITH MONEY AND CLASS WOULD RATHER LIVE IN A COMMUNITY THAT OFFERS A LIFESTYLE RELATED TO MONEY AND CLASS RATHER THAN MIDDLETOWN, A TOWN WITH LITTLE CLASS NOR PEOPLE WITH MONEY. NICER STREETS AND STRICTER ZONING JUST AIN'T ENOUGH. GOT TO PURGE THE OVER ABUNDANCE OF LOWER INCOME AND GET RID OF THE "GHETTO LOOK" INHERENT IN THIS TOWN NOW. TOO MANY AREAS THAT LOOK LIKE THE INNER WEST SIDE OF DAYTON AROUND THIRD ST.