From Noah Jacobs' facebook page:
Barcaloungers for all
Someone gave me the heads up that Dr. Jonas thinks I'm childish, and further suggests that the Dais is not that big an expense.... apparently if all the residents just pony up $20.00, this would be paid for no problem. If this was such an easy sell, why didn't he and the other elected officials put this up for a Village wide vote? I wonder...
As far as childish, that seems a curious sentiment coming from him, and I will respond in kind... I believe the proper response is, "it takes one to know one", or maybe "I know you are Dr. Jonas, but what am I".
Honestly, and a bit more seriously, Fred has pushed this $20 a person idea before. He suggested this when he was on the Biscayne Park Foundation. For some reason residents balked at the idea then. Amazingly, now that he is no longer the face of it, the Foundation has done a remarkably better job in regard to fundraising.
As a government official he has a responsibility as do the others to properly and judiciously manage the finances of the Village. Spending money on a throne so that he has a nice cushy place to put his fanny is not a well thought out expenditure of Village revenue.
But let me delve into the $20 a person idea, there are roughly 321,873,982 people in America; imagine that the federal government raises your tax rate to the highest in the Western World, (bear with me, I am going somewhere with this), then the IRS sends you a nice little letter that says they are asking that you give them an extra $20 for every one of you and your family. They intend to spend it in a way that makes certain Congressmen and Senators would get top of the line seating.
As far as childish, that seems a curious sentiment coming from him, and I will respond in kind... I believe the proper response is, "it takes one to know one", or maybe "I know you are Dr. Jonas, but what am I".
Honestly, and a bit more seriously, Fred has pushed this $20 a person idea before. He suggested this when he was on the Biscayne Park Foundation. For some reason residents balked at the idea then. Amazingly, now that he is no longer the face of it, the Foundation has done a remarkably better job in regard to fundraising.
As a government official he has a responsibility as do the others to properly and judiciously manage the finances of the Village. Spending money on a throne so that he has a nice cushy place to put his fanny is not a well thought out expenditure of Village revenue.
But let me delve into the $20 a person idea, there are roughly 321,873,982 people in America; imagine that the federal government raises your tax rate to the highest in the Western World, (bear with me, I am going somewhere with this), then the IRS sends you a nice little letter that says they are asking that you give them an extra $20 for every one of you and your family. They intend to spend it in a way that makes certain Congressmen and Senators would get top of the line seating.
Does that seem like a good use of...hold on (20 * 321,873,982)=
$6,437,479,640? I didn't think so either....
$6,437,479,640? I didn't think so either....
The meeting is Tuesday the 6th, please go and have your voice heard... Oh by the way its still in the Rec Center, because the really fancy Annex with the place that might have thrones isn't finished inside, I wonder if this project is over budget? For a look at the Agenda, here is the link...
http://www.biscayneparkfl.gov/
http://www.biscayneparkfl.gov/
I'm so ashamed. What could I say?:
Noah, if you want to fuss about something, bother to know what you're talking about. It was $20 per household, not $20 a person. And yes, you're right. If each home contributed $20, we would very easily pay for the new dais, with money to spare, "no problem."
I'm curious about your "cushy...throne" reference. This is not the first time I've heard it. The proposed dais is a long table that will sit on the same floor as all the other seats and tables in the room. My guess is that we will use the same chairs the Commission uses now. Tell us more about your "cushy...throne" fantasy. What did you think this was about?
As far as taxes are concerned, you are at a disadvantage. You are not a property-owner here, and you don't pay taxes. You have no reason to know that property values in BP are comparatively low, so that a given millage, which might sound high, is not a lot of dollars in taxes.
Also, our Village is unique. It is unique in its charm, and it is consequently unique in some limitations it has. It has an unusually limited way of raising revenue. We have no commercial component here, so it is essentially the contribution each of us property owners makes that pays the bills. Other income is based on residence, but not necessarily on ownership. Thus, we have non ad valorem revenue, too, but most of the income is ad valorem. So our limited ability to hold a high millage is what keeps us as afloat as we are, which is not exactly healthy, let alone luxurious. The current Commission is trying to make improvements as we can. We have a vision for the Park, and we understand that improvement requires commitment. In the early days of the Village, if residents wanted a log cabin, they dug into their pockets to get the money for the materials to build one. None of them would have tolerated the mean and mealy attitude you adopt. Had you been here to spout off then as you're spouting off now, you would have been run out of town.
I am personally proud of the commitment I have made to this Village. As is true of every other area of my life, I aim to give more than I take. If I ask my neighbors to pony up $20 per house for a very worthy cause, you can be sure I commit much more than that myself. I don't know how to answer you about the Foundation in its earlier years, when I was a Trustee of it. We all did the best we could. We worked hard, and we were as creative as we could be. Did we disappoint you? I'm sorry to learn of it. Have you joined the Foundation yourself, or have you joined any of the Boards, to show your own commitment, and your skill in making things happen? I don't know whether the Foundation right now is doing better, worse, or the same as we did then. It never felt to me like a competition. I do know that the Foundation has recently committed about $2000 to the Village, for a lighting project. The job costs twice that, but the Foundation could not raise more than the $2000.
Raising money is not easy. You often have to ask people who are not eager to contribute. They'll fuss and resist over no more than $20. If I remember correctly, when there was an effort to find money to pay for the mural outside the recreation center, and the private fund-raising came up woefully short, the Commission of which you were a part simply raided Village coffers for the rest, which was almost all of it. Your neighbors all pleaded with you not to do it, and two of your Commission colleagues objected. But you and your other two colleagues ignored everyone, and just snatched the money. Is that what felt to you like a successful fund-raising effort?
When I have had a more personally inspired project, and I didn't need to depend on the formal participation of a group of other people, I have joined a few other ambitious Village residents and made things happen. You will see three pieces of public outdoor sculpture around the Village. The Village now owns two of them, and it is about to be presented with the third. All of these represent the hard work and personal sacrifice of some of your neighbors, not, unfortunately, including yourself. We spent a lot of time knocking on doors, we took "no" for an answer a lot (if we couldn't persuade the neighbor that "yes" was the right answer), and we paid more to compensate for those who paid less. We would love to have been able to include your $20, or $200, or $5, but you never made anything available to us. By "us," of course, I mean the Village. The municipality where you choose to live for a little while. The one to which you commit nothing, and from which you seem to demand a lot.
I'm curious about your "cushy...throne" reference. This is not the first time I've heard it. The proposed dais is a long table that will sit on the same floor as all the other seats and tables in the room. My guess is that we will use the same chairs the Commission uses now. Tell us more about your "cushy...throne" fantasy. What did you think this was about?
As far as taxes are concerned, you are at a disadvantage. You are not a property-owner here, and you don't pay taxes. You have no reason to know that property values in BP are comparatively low, so that a given millage, which might sound high, is not a lot of dollars in taxes.
Also, our Village is unique. It is unique in its charm, and it is consequently unique in some limitations it has. It has an unusually limited way of raising revenue. We have no commercial component here, so it is essentially the contribution each of us property owners makes that pays the bills. Other income is based on residence, but not necessarily on ownership. Thus, we have non ad valorem revenue, too, but most of the income is ad valorem. So our limited ability to hold a high millage is what keeps us as afloat as we are, which is not exactly healthy, let alone luxurious. The current Commission is trying to make improvements as we can. We have a vision for the Park, and we understand that improvement requires commitment. In the early days of the Village, if residents wanted a log cabin, they dug into their pockets to get the money for the materials to build one. None of them would have tolerated the mean and mealy attitude you adopt. Had you been here to spout off then as you're spouting off now, you would have been run out of town.
I am personally proud of the commitment I have made to this Village. As is true of every other area of my life, I aim to give more than I take. If I ask my neighbors to pony up $20 per house for a very worthy cause, you can be sure I commit much more than that myself. I don't know how to answer you about the Foundation in its earlier years, when I was a Trustee of it. We all did the best we could. We worked hard, and we were as creative as we could be. Did we disappoint you? I'm sorry to learn of it. Have you joined the Foundation yourself, or have you joined any of the Boards, to show your own commitment, and your skill in making things happen? I don't know whether the Foundation right now is doing better, worse, or the same as we did then. It never felt to me like a competition. I do know that the Foundation has recently committed about $2000 to the Village, for a lighting project. The job costs twice that, but the Foundation could not raise more than the $2000.
Raising money is not easy. You often have to ask people who are not eager to contribute. They'll fuss and resist over no more than $20. If I remember correctly, when there was an effort to find money to pay for the mural outside the recreation center, and the private fund-raising came up woefully short, the Commission of which you were a part simply raided Village coffers for the rest, which was almost all of it. Your neighbors all pleaded with you not to do it, and two of your Commission colleagues objected. But you and your other two colleagues ignored everyone, and just snatched the money. Is that what felt to you like a successful fund-raising effort?
When I have had a more personally inspired project, and I didn't need to depend on the formal participation of a group of other people, I have joined a few other ambitious Village residents and made things happen. You will see three pieces of public outdoor sculpture around the Village. The Village now owns two of them, and it is about to be presented with the third. All of these represent the hard work and personal sacrifice of some of your neighbors, not, unfortunately, including yourself. We spent a lot of time knocking on doors, we took "no" for an answer a lot (if we couldn't persuade the neighbor that "yes" was the right answer), and we paid more to compensate for those who paid less. We would love to have been able to include your $20, or $200, or $5, but you never made anything available to us. By "us," of course, I mean the Village. The municipality where you choose to live for a little while. The one to which you commit nothing, and from which you seem to demand a lot.
Noah,
ReplyDeleteAlthough I don't wish to hurt anyone's feelings, I would be willing to pass along to Steve Taylor, Supreme Dorvil, Victor Romano, and Priscilla Blake your deep disappointment about how we tried to manage the Foundation. Clearly, we didn't do, to your satisfaction, the job we were paid to do. Oh, wait a minute. We weren't paid. It was you who were paid to do a job, which, in my estimation, you badly botched. And what's really peculiar, and ironic, is that each of us contributed to the Foundation, out of our non-salaries, and you refused to contribute, even though the Village paid you $4000 a year to do the job you mishandled. No $20 bill for your Foundation, though, huh? Public art? Clearly not!
Fred