Friday, September 30, 2011

It’s Not Easy Being Green

Obama Energy Plan

If your electric bill is currently $300 per month, Obama wants it to be $1500 a month. He wants us to pay $10,000 more for a new car, so there won’t be so many people driving cars. He wants us to reduce our use of oil from the current 18,000 barrels per day to the 5,000 bbl/d we now produce in the U.S. He wants to increase CAFÉ standards to add $10,000 in increased cost to a new car by 2016. All of this, we are told is because carbon in the atmosphere will produce global warming....right.

Global Warming Scam

In Georgia, we have coal and nuclear electrical generating plants here in Georgia and they cost 2 cents per kilowatt hour to produce electricity. Natural gas costs 6 cents per kwh. Wind and solar cost over 10 cents per kwh or more.. Look it up on the internet. We don’t want to increase the cost of our electricity five- fold because the UN perpetrated the “global warming – climate change” scam. We’ve already paid enough for that hoax, thank you.

Recent studies from U of A Huntsville indicate that carbon is not trapped in our atmosphere causing anything. It is released into outer space. Our planet is as tough as we thought it was and our federal government is as dumb as we thought it was and the U.N. is as corrupt as we thought it was..

We need to close the federal energy apparatchik. That would cut $24.154 billion from the federal budget. Maybe wind and solar will work in the west, but even those utilities should wait until the technology exists to deliver it for the same price as coal and nuclear.

Oil Drilling Bans

Despite the pile of evidence discrediting the global warming scam, government has accelerated its implementation of carbon capture down to the city council level. Government has forced U.S. oil production to decline from 10,000 bbd to 5,000 bbd using wildlife preserve purchases, stealing land from states for more national park land, bogus endangered species excuses, drilling bans and snail’s-pace processing of permits, leases and compliance certificates.

Making Cars More Expensive

The new CAFÉ standards will require auto manufacturers to increase the MPG standard for cars from 27.5 mpg to 37.8 mpg in 2016 will add $10,000 to the sticker price of a new car. Half will be the real cost of redesign and the other half will be a stealth inflation adjustment.

Trains, Buses and Transit Villages

The Environmental lobby likes public transit; they hate cars. They started this in the 1960s before lead-free gasoline. Since then, cars have become less polluting than buses or trains, but that didn’t dissuade them. Like a federal program started 100 years ago and no longer needed, it lives on. This hatred of cars found a home in the 1992 U.N. Sustainable Planet meetings that created U.S. Agenda 21 Now the reason to hate cars is an excuse to get us all herded into transit villages after the global government has taken away our land and property rights. Now they like trains best and want to build lots of them. To make sure somebody moves into these transit villages, HUD, another unsustainable government program is ready to convert these apartments in the transit villages into Section 8 subsidized HUD housing, despite warnings from the UK not to put subsidized housing next to your shopping malls.

Sovereignty Lost

The Obama government has offered us a $1 to 2 billion bribe if we agree to tax ourselves an extra $4 billion to give MARTA new trains and buses and double their footprint First we had to establish regional commissions to control our transportation taxes. The establishment of these Regional Commissions undermines city and county sovereignty.

Use Less

Government wants you to use less of everything. Being molested by the TSA at the airport will give you some idea of the methods they will use to get you to use less of everything.

Use Less Water

Government is ignoring the need to expand water capacity in the U.S. despite the need for flood abatement in the upper Midwest and drought protection in the South. Government has regulations in the pipeline to dictate your use of water, electricity and natural gas an make your utility services more expensive..Government thinks you use too much of everything, so they will force you to use less; then the utilities will increase their prices to recover the loss of revenue, because you used less. I just want to beat my head against a wall..

Use Less Electricity

The EPA is planning to drive coal electrical power plants out of business with very expensive carbon emissions standards. We currently get most of our electricity from these plants. They would require utilities to install thermostats in your home the utility can control to make sure you don’t use too much electricity or gas. You won’t decide how warm or cool your house is or how hot your water can get.. The government will decide that for you. Next is how much water you can use and if you will be required to spend thousands of dollars to replace all of your toilets with low water use toilets, insulation, windows and other items before you will be allowed to sell your house. You will be forced to comply with their arbitrary notions of water and energy conservation They are going direct to our electric utilities to force them to build wind and solar electricity generating capability and capacity that will increase our electric bills five-fold.

Less Home Ownership

In California, the cost of compliance with their environmental regulations averaged $36,000 per home. These regulations usually start with a tax deduction for having things done to your home that you would ordinarily not do without a tax deduction – unnecessary things with minimal benefit. They end with an ordinance that mandates these unnecessary “environmental” modifications or they won’t let you sell your house. The federal government already owns most of the home loans in the U.S.


Use Less Living Space
Government wants us crowded in small apartments in transit villages next to public transit train stations. They first need to spend our economy into oblivion, so unemployment reaches 50%. We will lose our homes and need to rent a cheap apartment somewhere. They want to make heating and cooling costs so expensive we will only be able to afford utilities for 1000 square feet for the family. We will not be able to keep our cars. The Atlanta Regional Transportation Plan builds transit villages.

City Councils

Be wary of city council approved land use master plans loaded with environmental overreach and abuses of private property and eminent domain. The methods, and models they use ignore private property rights. If you don’t stop this trend at the city level, you may soon have no property rights. Remember to get permission from the city before you have any trees in your yard removed. It’s not a joke, it’s real.

State & County Government

States and counties are accustomed to receiving federal dollars in exchange for squandering their own tax revenues on low use, high maintenance, unnecessary transit. The current $1 billion round of federal grants for transit are viewed by many as the last of the federal grants. They believe Obama will be replaced by a Republican in 2013 and grants to states for transit will end. They know grants will end, because our $3.8 trillion in federal spending is succeeding in permanently stalling the economy and holding federal revenues at $2.2 trillion. They haven’t thought through the future cost of operating and maintaining these heavily subsidized, low use public transit systems taxpayers will be saddled with forever. These elected officials need to be replaced.

U.N. Agenda 21

The U.N. decided that we need to reduce the global population by 80%.to ensure a sustainable planet. They want open borders, a one world government with them in charge, They want to usurp our national sovereignty. They want 90% of our land to be a global government owned wildlife preserve. They want to crowd those who survive the global depopulation to live in crowded transit villages in large urban cities. Travel will be prohibited. They will need more of our money to fully implement this plan.

Take Action

To get in the mood, rent these Movies: Dr. Zhivago, Logan’s Run, Orwell’s 1984, The Island 2005, Rollerball, Soylent Green, Mad Max, V, Farenheit 451, A Clockwork Orange, Code 46, Americathon 1979, To take action you should VOTE NO on any future Bond Issues or tax increases and throw most of your elected officials out of office.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

The Chess Game & The Economy

Building the Organization

There is an unholy alliance between a select group of global investors and our politicians and there has been for some time. Let's call them the Evil Empire guys. The Rothschild banking empire was built by lending money to kings and heads of state to wage wars and build capabilities to gain wealth. They also invented fractional banking.

In 1913, on Jekyll Island, bankers met to create the Federal Reserve and bribed the Congress to authorize it as the National Bank. The World Bank was created under the guise of helping third world countries develop. Woodrow Wilson’s League of Nations became the U.N., The World trade organization, and the G-20 and many more organizations were formed. Each organization has its role. The role of the U.S. government is to act as an insurance company for the banks. Instead of paying a premium, the largest global companies make campaign contributions to candidates to help them get elected. In return, the politicians create laws to benefit these large investors and global executives.

False Pretense

Most legislation is built on false pretences. The Federal Reserve wasn’t established to stabilize the banking system; it was established to provide a slush fund for international investors, U.S. politicians and their supporters. These investors may receive printed dollars to gamble on high cost ventures. Investors “borrow” money” from the central banks who get printed dollars from the Federal Reserve.. Politicians pass legislation that opens new windows of opportunity.

Congress passed the Civil Rights act to create a class of “victims”, whose victimhood could not be questioned. Congress established HUD and passed the Community Reinvestment Act of 1992, ostensibly to help “disadvantaged minorities” secure home mortgages.

In ensuing years other laws were repealed like the Glass Steagall Act to allow banks to become investment companies, opening the door to the creation of derivatives, credit default swaps and bundled mortgage securities.. Congress didn’t react when questions arose and agencies didn’t regulate these businesses. It was not an innocent mistake; it was the plan. Big investment companies wanted to sell derivatives and credit default swaps, so they could “bet” on investments going up and down and bundle and sell mortgages as securities to off-load the risk.

One clever investor believed housing values would fall, so he bought contracts that allowed him to “bet” that housing prices would fall and foreclosures would result. The bankers he proposed this to were busy cheerleading for the housing mortgage markets and securities and didn’t believe it was possible for these assets to lose value.

George Soros (spooky dude),gave campaign contributions to Liberal candidates for Parliament in the U.K., knowing they would run up government debt by spending wildly on social welfare plans. They did and that set the Pound Sterling up to devalue. Soros “bet” that would happen and it did.

U.S. CEOs gave campaign contributions to Obama, knowing he would polarize elected officials and destabilize the economy, so they could profit from the 2008 Meltdown, the devaluation of the U.S. dollar and the rise in gold prices. Now Soros has moved his money to derivatives and credit default swaps. He is betting on the decline of the U.S. economy he helped to create.

With different groups doing their part, these vultures are preparing to profit from the bursting of the following bubbles, including the consumer credit meltdown, the U.S. federal government debt crash and the U.S dollar crash.

The politicians who support the agenda of the chess players are those who voted for the Dodd Frank bill, both Republicans and Democrats. They take turns supporting some bills and opposing others.

Select Republicans supported NAFTA, other Republicans and Democrats voted for it because they believed that our companies should be free to move manufacturing and other operations to wherever they wanted to move them. They made a dive for low wage and low regulation in disadvantaged countries. The State Department loved it. We didn't mind, because they could produce manufactured goods cheaper. If we hadn't allow these companies the freedom to move, they might have moved their entire company to a country who would let them operate they way they wanted. We were right to protect companies’ freedom, but in this case, our principled decision to not interfere resulted in the flight of manufacturing out of the US. Democrats always supported organized labor. Their job was to drive manufacturing out of the country. Everybody did their job.

These scams are usually accompanied by urgency,(“we need do this immediately’), or pomposity, (“only fools oppose this”) or a lie (“Most Americans support this”). There is usually a bluff involved ((“If we don’t pass this, we will shut down the government”).

The US Communist Party has never abandoned the plan they established decades ago; it’s the same plan this group is using.

This Evil guys' group was surely involved in the creation of the 1992 Earth Summit, the global warming hoax, UN Agenda 21, ICLEI and Project 60. Obama is funneling billions of dollars into building the infrastructure that would allow for transit villages, and US insolvency.

Developing Countermeasures

Conservative Americans who oppose this regime have some of the pieces needed to challenge this Progressive advance. We have think tanks, tons of conservative talk shows, organizations, politicians and the Tea Parties. We need a coordinated game plan and the tools needed to dismantle this well oiled Progressive machine. We also need to be better chess players and poker players. We stop short when we merely identify the need to pass or repeal a bill or regulation. We need to think it through, so our moves are not countered by bluffs. We need a way to win.

Current Opportunities

Political

The federal government spends $1.6 trillion a year more than it receives in revenue. It also has departments and agencies that exist in violation of the Constitution and the 10th Amendment. These departments and agencies are killing our economy with their relentless pursuit of countless ways to obstruct commerce and they cost $1.6 billion a year to operate...perfect. If we closed these departments and agencies, we would balance the budget, comply with the Constitution, end the obstruction and the economy would improve. Unfortunately, the Evil Empire guys wouldn’t be able to profit from our demise...…unfortunate.

Investment

There are really two investor groups. There are those who own companies and the gamblers. Both groups have used “events” and value swings to profit. The 401k group is looking for somewhere else to put their money.

Liberal Factions

Ivy league graduates who won Rhodes or Fulbright scholarships have become suspect. Oxford is the seat of government managed economics. Conservatives prefer Milton Friedman and the Austrian economists..

Dismantling the Evil System

The Federal Government should pass a balanced budget amendment and end the need for the Fed’s printing press.

The Federal Reserve should be audited now and closed as soon as possible, to eliminate the slush fund. The market can set the interest rate and the Treasury can manage the currency ...and could report to the Congress.

Congress should abolish most of its committees and find enough time to read bills and clean up their act.

The rest of the noncompliant Federal Departments should be closed and these responsibilities returned to the States or the People.

The US should resign from the UN and move it to Brussels or just close it. The IMF and WTO should be abandoned and defunded.

Companies should handle their own relationships with customers and vendors in other countries. The introduction services performed by the State Department should be replaced by private consulting companies or banks.

All government to government US foreign aid should be defunded, including military aid, except for Israel. Noncritical foreign US Military bases should be closed.

Campaign laws should be changed to only allow registered voters to make campaign contributions and only to those who will appear on their Ballots. Special interests can run their own ads.

Norb Leahy

UN Agenda 21 - Roots

Thesis

Many laws passed and government actions taken over the past several decades seemed just wrong to me. Some could be attributable to mistakes made amid pressures from special interests looking to profit or advance a cause, or both. But, in total, the damage caused by these laws and actions are too devastating to brush them off as random errors or "unintended consequences". We can find evidence of more sinister plans afoot. The US Communist party outlines the steps in its literature as far back as 1920. The creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913 might have been an isolated, greedy plot to finally establish a government-backed bank, but the rest is pure sabotage.

I believe, we in the US, have inherited a miracle that allows for personal freedom and initiative that enabled us to create the strongest economy, benefiting all citizens. We led the world in developing this free market economy throughout the 20th century. I believe we should abandon the minutia and refocus on restoring our private economy.

Setting the Stage

In 1960, our miracle nation began to unravel. Progressives set in motion a series of fundamental changes that caused the problems we face today. During World War II, the American film industry presented an innocent, moral image of Americans. This media along with the churches had established their moral code as a consistent standard. We were all encouraged to behave according to this moral code.

The Vietnam war was the pivotal error that gave counter-culture groups an excuse to rebel against “the establishment”, which included the media, churches, families and government. This was a sea change, affecting every industry and market in the US. Victimhood was the vehicle that propelled our rapid downward spiral.

There were legitimate complaints raised by these groups. The Vietnam war was not allowed to be fought to win and drug on, racial discrimination was wrong, sexual harassment was wrong, prejudice among churches was wrong, our political system was corrupted to emphasize trading votes for earmarks, the Mafia ran our labor unions, We did need to clean these up.

Instead, our institutions pandered to the radicals and made decisions that were unhelpful. This pandering cascaded into chaios as the Catholic Church launched Vatican II. As innocent as it was, it resulted in Nuns quitting their Religious Orders. Nuns did an outstanding job as Nurses, Hospital Administrators and Teachers. They held education and healthcare costs to a minimum with good outcomes. Those who replaced them received much higher pay and the rise of Healthcare and Education costs began. Vatican II didn’t help Europe either; these folks had their faith in God crushed by World Wars I and II.

Although overt racial discrimination was halted, the decline in our national morality totally destroyed black families. The media began to chisel away at the censors and Playboy magazine was launched.

Public Education and Healthcare costs have increased at double the rate of inflation and outcomes are worse. The US government continued to see itself as the world’s policeman and continued to overspend to fill its new, but unnecessary footprint. Our government is now technically bankrupt.

The UN began to see itself as a global government and looked for ways to increase its influence. The environmental movement provided the UN with the unlikely excuse that they should take over the world, because of “man-made global warming”. The is a hoax advanced by “political” scientists, using junk science to advance an attack on unlikely causes.

UN Agenda 21 – Implementation

I have been perplexed by our government’s decisions for some time. The create problems and then use that crisis to create more problems. They never solve the problems, because that’s not the plan.

Energy - There seemed to be no reason for the government to wring its hands over foreign oil, yet refuse to let us drill our own oil.

Housing - Civil Rights laws expanded beyond their bounds when HUD was formed and the Community Reinvestment Act was passed. This law and HUD regulations forced lenders to lend to un-creditworthy borrowers and unleashed the mortgage scams that created the 2008 Meltdown.

Banking - The bailouts were only possible because Progressives had tasked the Federal Reserve to save banks, no matter what the cause of their demise.

Debt - Government debt, after decades of over-spending and over-promising “entitlements” is now bankrupt and our economy is in the 4th year of the Second Great Depression.

Unemployment - Government continues to wring its hands over jobs and unemployment, but continues to refuse to deport 13 million illegal immigrants or even slow the pace of legal immigration that allows 1 million legal immigrants entry to the US every year. One deportation and a 3 year freeze in legal immigration would fix it.

Land – Government continues to buy land for national parks, wetlands, wildlife sanctuaries, and parks. But governments need to cut spending. It makes no sense.

Local Government - Local governments are refusing to maintain roads, sewers, bridges and water supplies. They are spending money on consultants, commissions and are creating long term land use plans and buying land even when voters object. They seem to be getting their marching orders elsewhere.

UN Agenda 21 Goals

The 1992 UN Earth Summit produced a document called UN Agenda 21. This plan assumes that global warming is not a hoax and we need to drastically change our legal and physical infrastructure to “fundamentally transform” America. This was adopted by George H Bush, the hapless, in 1992 and became the policy of the Federal Government. The government planned and started the implementation.

This includes building the physical infrastructure that will eliminate automobile use and ensure that government will become the sole property owner; we will be renters. We will be herded into metro areas, connected by public transit systems. We will not use oil, gas or any “greenhouse gases”.

This transformation requires a level of economic decline that will make single family houses in the suburbs totally unaffordable for 95% or our citizens.

When Obama was elected in 2008, the implementation of UN Agenda 21 accelerated drastically. This implementation requires several steps.

UN Agenda 21 Implementation Requirements

A Long Financial Crisis – the bursting of the housing bubble and the 2008 Meltdown was the overture to the coming pop of the debt bubbles. Government spending will create more meltdowns – it’s the plan.

Sovereign Default - This is possible if we allow the government to spend itself into oblivion, Government expects the loss of our private property to be the price we pay for their bankruptcy. They will not allow us to dismantle them unless truly honest and savvy candidates are elected to every office in 2012.

Reduce “greenhouse gas - Government wants to increase our gas, electric, water and sewer bills 5 fold, double the cost of automobiles using CAFÉ standards, double the cost of home ownership with EPA regulations and high interest rates, continue to obstruct oil and gas exploration.

Land Grabs – Government is buying land for the Sierra club for wildlife preserves and as bailouts for land speculator friends, who find themselves in a bind. They are issuing bonds and going into debt to do this.

Asset Grabs - Government and its operatives will seize our retirement accounts and property if we lose our jobs or otherwise cannot pay our bills

Open Borders – This is included in Agenda 21, George Soros has advocated this and it’s happening despite our decade-long objections.

Climate Change – This is the central excuse for the wild spending on light rail, public transit, land acquisition, solar and wind incentives and EPA overreach.

The Money Pond - $615 trillion is being invested in bets that our global economy will collapse. You can go to any large investment company and purchase contracts that agree to pay you when other assets fall. Countries will default and fail one at a time, based on their insolvency. When banks stop lending these countries money and they can’t sell their bonds, it’s over. All government pensions and welfare payments will cease and the government will close. When we find out who takes over Greece, we will know our fate.

None of what government at all levels has done makes sense unless it is driven by UN Agenda 21 implementation.

To Voters

Many voters consider themselves to be moderates. I know you want to be nice to everybody, but now is not the time to send “moderates” to elective office. We are in a battle for our lives. I know it seems impossible to believe your freedom, property and safety are at stake, but in this case, you won’t see it coming until it’s gone. Remember how fast the 2008 Meltdown happened ? This will happen overnight, with the decision that “to save our country”, we are taking this drastic action. After that, only a military coup will save us.

If you want to reverse the cost increases that are planned to occur, you need to lean right this time. We believe climate change is a hoax and we have good reason to believe it. Our government continues to act like it’s real.

Despots have warned us what they would do. Hitler wrote “Mein Kampf”, Kruschchev said the US would rot from within. Bin Laden declared war on the US long before 911. Iran wants to annihilate Israel and Obama wants to “fundamentally transform” the US. Some of these guys actually tell you what will happen and what they will do.

To Everybody

You need to eliminate all debt and avoid taking on any new debt. You will lose your property if you have debt and interest rates spike or you lose your income. Our economy is poised to raise interest rates and cut jobs again. Use your dollar-based assets to pay your debts. Cash is king, especially for states, cities and counties; don’t offer bond issues until the fundamentals turn around.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

2012 MARTA Bailout Vote

Vote NO

We urge a NO vote in July 2012 on funding the $6.14 billion Atlanta Regional Transportation Plan. The funding for this plan is a 1 cent increase in our county sales tax for 10 years.

Transportation Investment Act of 2010

The Transportation Investment Act of 2010 actually took the future Georgia's transportation out of voters’ hands and turned it into a political football controlled by an unelected commission. Prior to this new law, the Metro Planning Commission only screwed up the roads in DeKalb and Fulton counties and the City of Atlanta. Now it will screw up the surrounding counties.

What Prompted the Change

Public transit, the MARTA train and bus system, is technically bankrupt and requires tax subsidies of 83% to fund its $750 million a year budget. For decades, the federal government has been MARTA’s sugar daddy. Now the federal government has run out of other people’s money and MARTA either has to close, shrink or find another source of revenue. It wants the surrounding counties to fill the void, expecting that federal funding will actually stop in July 2012 when we hit the Debt Wall,

Meanwhile, Obama, in his rush to implement UN Agenda 21, pushed light rail along with his other unsustainable “green” scams and tied all federal funding to light rail and public transit spending. Having been trained to chase after federal dollars, our politicians rushed to get the last federal giveaway, so in a really bad move, the Georgia Legislature and Governor pushed the law through. We are just now learning what a boondoggle this is.

Transit Heavy

The current $7.22 billion plan includes $6.14 billion for “regional improvements” and $1.1 billion for “local improvements”. The transit projects in the current plan will cost $3,323,392,377. Transit is over 50% of the cost of the plan, yet citizens view transit as unnecessary, low use and too expensive. Citizens in each county also resent the fact that they could reject the plan as a county, but if a majority of the 10 county regional voters vote yes, this tax and spending plan will become law.

We believe all Transit should be private and self supporting. MARTA should not be allowed to expand its footprint, because it requires $630 million in subsidies to meet its $750 million budget. If this Plan is approved by the voters, subsidies will double. MARTA needs to increase its prices to $6.50 per ride to break even.

The assertion by proponents that we need public transit, MARTA trains and buses and light rail in Atlanta because it brings "development" to the region is not true. They bought that lie in Spain and now it's bankrupt because it blew all of its money on this scam.

Violates County Sovereignty

I don’t remember voting to establish the Georgia Regional Commissions in last election. It is another layer of government and voters should be allowed to vote for its creation. We are not allowed to elect members of these commissions; they are appointed by the Governor.

Before this law was passed, cities and counties were responsible for their roads. The Georgia House and Senate and Governor passed the law establishing the Regional Commissions with no voter input. This law usurps city and county sovereignty and removes voters from the process. Counties cannot opt out.

If we vote NO, we could reject the plan and the structure. It is the only way to put this unaccountable beast back in its box. If the 1 cent sales tax is passed by a majority of voters in the 10 county region, whatever the Commission decides as a final plan will be imposed. It will make that decision after the Plan passes.

If it does not pass, they may still have the authority to control transportation and they will do nothing. Worse, they may not allow cities and counties to fix their roads themselves, now that it is legally our of their hands. At that point we would need to petition the Legislature to repeal the establishment of the Commissions. The argument that the commissions are needed just isn’t true.

GDOT Incompetence - HOT Lanes

Somehow, our useless HOV Lanes are being turned into Toll lanes without a vote. A private company will “partner” with the government, if the government promises by contract to allow all alternate routes to deteriorate, to “encourage” everyone to use the Toll Lanes. This should not stand. The HOV Lanes should have been dismantled and the lanes returned to general use. It's time to dissolve the non-elected "planning commissions" and return accountability to our local and state elected officials.

Voters Not Convinced

Don't believe the well orchestrated spin by the Atlanta Journal or your elected officials. This violation of sovereignty has made voters suspicious. Like the federal stimulus bill, the ARC project list is a Liberal wish list, packed with transit cost. Seeing our city council reps and county commissioners appointed to the commission and volunteering to be cheerleaders for the plan is convincing us to replace them along with those in the Georgia House and Senate who voted to establish this ARC in 2010.

The speed with which this plan is moving combined with its complexity makes “railroading” an appropriate metaphor for this disaster.. To add to this credibility gap, the long maligned Georgia DOT was enlisted to design this plan, guaranteeing that a bad plan will be implemented badly. The Georgia DOT is not highly regarded by the voters. We’ve seen their “innovative” HOV lanes, stop lights at entrance ramps, refusal to widen roads, the new Toll lanes, the proposed left-lane highway ramps and roundabouts. The Georgia Legislature has squandered all of its revenue on Education and Medicaid. Meanwhile, we are told the $7 billion Toll Lanes are being built, without being voted on. Toll charges are rumored to reach $7. When the confusing signs are all installed, it will be impossible to drive around Atlanta because of the 10 fold increase in accidents.

ARC Desperation

Neglect of Atlanta Metro roads and highways for the past 30 years has driven drivers to desperation. The ARC proponents are counting on our desperation to result in a yes vote from the 10 county region. With 5% using trains and buses to commute and 95% using cars, it’s difficult to understand why half of the $6.14 billion in this 1 cent sales tax hike goes to public transit. The ARC proponents are desperate to avoid answering that question.

They are having meetings to promote the plan. They are using the Delphi Technique to get the answers they want. One question asks: Would you rather walk or ride a bike ?

When I asked if they considered extending US-29 to I-75 and I-85 south of Atlanta to give interstate traffic an alternate route around Atlanta, the DOT guy said the problem was that there is a railroad track it would have to cross. God help us !

The creation of Regional Commissions appears to be a desperate attempt to bail out a bankrupt MARTA, install more low use, public transit and give Obama some light rail monuments to his stupidity. And this was brought to you by our Republican State government. God help us !

It’s clear, government can no longer be trusted to maintain our roads. I can buy a nice used road grader for about $38,500 and I may have to do that. The problem is that our tolls, gas taxes and car license tag fees go to the government and maybe that needs to change. Those taxes aren’t all spent on road maintenance.

I get the feeling that government doesn’t want us to drive cars. I know they don’t want us to fly in airplanes. I think they want us to live in transit villages and grow our own food without violating the EPA dust ban. It would be like living in the 20th century in the USSR and then going broke.

What Would Work

We need to repeal the Transportation Investment Act of 2010 and dismantle the Toll lanes. MARTA will need to raise rates to $5 a ride and tighten its belt, or get DeKalb, Fulton and Atlanta to vote to increase the sales tax subsidy to 2 cents, or a combination of cuts and tax increases, or sell its assets to a private transit company. We prefer private transit. If the tax increase fails to pass, the 8 surrounding counties are off the hook.

We believe expanding US 29 to intersect with I-85 and I-75 south of Atlanta would provide an alternate interstate by-pass route that would remove traffic from I-285.
We believe our cities are responsible for our roads and will vote to improve them on a city by city, road by road basis. Voters in unincorporated county areas look to the county to fix their roads. We want our tax dollars to go to fixing our own roads.

We don’t want to expand a failed public transit system to soak up tax dollars. Town Hall meetings so far, have confirmed this. When citizens reviewed the projects and costs, they wanted to eliminate the public transit projects.

With no federal funding for transportation, the State of Georgia will need to reduce it’s “investment” in public education and Medicaid (sand holes) and fund state roads and interstate highways maintenance if necessary. This U.S. government bankruptcy has consequences.

Things to Consider

A yes vote on this tax will mean that we accept this new layer of government, run by a board and director we didn't elect, with authority that will make it impossible for us to determine our own transportation infrastructure.

Voters should realize that this additional 1 cent increase in sales tax will cost us $6 billion over the next 10 years and may be extended beyond that, just like the GA-400 toll. We would be better off spending the entire $6 billion on roads and nothing on transit and doing it on a county by county basis by accountable, elected officials.

Each voter should base their vote on whether or not they will ever use trains or buses. They only go where they go and so far, that hasn’t been where we needed to go. We mostly use cars and public transit utilization has always been low in the Atlanta Metro area. Even with federal bribes, we cannot imagine the plan would pass in its current form. If transit subsidies could be removed and federal funding could be preserved and counties were allowed to remain sovereign, we think a roads-only plan would pass.

DeKalb and Fulton counties should fund their own public transit or make it self-supporting. All other surrounding counties should not be burdened by Atlanta transit costs. Cities and counties in the Metro area need to divert funds from non-core expenses to roads, bridges, sewers and water and become self-sufficient.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

Park Bonds I

Go to the City of Dunwoody website and look at the 2012 Budget Plan 9-13-11 pdf and scroll down to the line item budget. Then consider the pending Park Bonds. If the annual interest rate on a total of $66M in Bonds is 5% and payable in 30 years, the Park Bonds would create a $128 million debt. About half of this debt cost is interest.

If the Park Bond Issues pass, the $4.3 million a year debt service for the next 30 years should be viewed as Parks expense. This makes Parks the largest budget item at $6.5 million a year. Police comes in 2nd at $6.2 million a year. More parks require more police. Parks and Police could consume future budgets to the detriment of road and sewer maintenance. Public works comes in 3rd at $4.6 million.

Given our poor economy, it is prudent to assume that Dunwoody city annual revenue could hover around $20 million for several more years. If you add $6.5M, $6.2M and $4.3M you get $17 million. That is just $3 million less than the current city budget. We might get $7 million from DeKalb (see blood and turnip), but that’s a one-time payment, if and when we ever get it.

I don’t expect a retail surge any time soon, so the revenue we get from PCID might stay the same if we’re lucky. I do not expect a surge in apartment demand, I do expect government job hiring freezes, budget cuts and layoffs after 2012. I expect more private sector layoffs, lower home values and inflation as well. I wouldn’t even consider voting for the City of Dunwoody to take on any debt for a decade. I certainly plan to vote NO on both Park Bonds to avoid taking on a $128 million, 30 year debt.

Many economists predict a second recession. The Eurozone is falling apart and could put the entire world economy in depression.. Any number of bad things could be in our future. Tax revenues could drop with housing and retail remaining in the doldrums or worse.

There is economic danger on the horizon. This is not the time for Dunwoody to go into debt. We are a young city still trying to get on our feet. We haven't even had time to build an emergency fund. We have proven that we can run the city’s basic services with current income. Let's continue to prove we can survive a recession before we stick our necks out and go into debt.

It’s time for the City Council to determine priorities based on utilization. I think we all use roads, bridges, sewers and water from DeKalb. I think everything else is low use and shouldn’t be the top two expense items. I think the City squandered its revenue on low value activities and unsustainable, UN Agenda 21 compliant Master Plans that certainly don’t advance our freedom or protect private property rights.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

Sunday, September 25, 2011

City Spending

Letter to Editor, Dunwoody Crier 9-14-11

Reasons I am totally against Dunwoody going further into debt:
- City is too young and inexperienced to spend so much so rapidly.
- As surrounding areas deteriorate, Dunwoody will be affected…we will have no choice.
- Many once proud, majestic cities now look like third world countries by over spending.
- Take a drive off your regular path and look at the number of businesses closed! I did recently and was shocked! Be sure and do this before you vote to indebt Dunwoody!
- 13,746 households each paid $1,164 for PVC park land. Proposed $33 mil would mean almost $2,400 more for each household. The TSTOP will mean even more.
- In addition to the initial cost, imagine the expense for government workers for upkeep (just the thought sends a shiver up my spine!).
- A bargain is a bargain only if it is for something you need, not want.
- No matter how much Dunwoody pride we have, we do not live in a bubble with a generous benefactor waiting to refill the coffers once they are depleted.
- Being optimistic with sweet, happy, positive thoughts will not eliminate financial crises.
- Spending will not eliminate debt.
- World economic conditions have shown no improvement in 4 years—getting worse!
- We had better take control over what we can vote on as we do not have any control over slight of hand tax laws being considered/passed on the national level.
- Not bankrupting the future of the children is a much better gift than a bigger park or a closer soccer field.

Sorry if you don’t like my Scrooge attitude, but we had better pay attention and not let a few emotionally driven people convince us to go with the flow because it will be good for us later. Well, after 4 years of things getting continually worse, our later is NOW!!

Jeanette Smith, Dunwoody GA 30360