AJ Smith's "District Discussion"

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Tonight’s (Tuesday’s) “District Discussion”, hosted by AJ Smith, was quite interesting.
There were a six people in attendance, in addition to AJ, and the three most interesting (at least in my view) points discussed were:
1. The $500/week problem that the city has checking the chlorine at the Douglass Spray Ground was discussed, and at least in our collective view, closing the spray ground several hours earlier to avoid this State-required check was not an option. A solution was suggested, however. Some responsible person, often a City employee, is at the Sonny Hill Community Center (right across the street from the Douglass Spray Ground) to secure that facility, at or near the same time that the chlorine needs to be checked at the spray ground. The chlorine checking procedure is simple, takes only a moment or two, and can be learned quickly and easily. Why not have the same person that closes the Community Center check the chlorine?
2. The statement in the April Health Board Minutes of Meeting regarding: “The main revision of the rules is regarding spray grounds. We have two located in Middletown, Smith Park and Douglas Park; however, only Douglas is licensable.” was discussed. Ms. Phillips explained that only Douglass is licensable because only spray grounds with re-circulating water systems are licensed by the state. The spray ground at Smith Park is a run-off type that does NOT re-circulate the water, therefore no license can be issued nor is one necessary.
3. A discussion that began about the new Section 8 administrators soon morphed into a discussion of Section 8 itself when someone mentioned that some Section 8 tenants get paid to receive Section 8 housing assistance. Some in attendance were unaware of this and asked for clarification. It was explained that some, not all, Section 8 tenants not only get their housing entirely rent-free, but also get a check from the Housing Authority in addition to that.

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Mike_Presta Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Council Joined: Apr 20 2008 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 3483	Post Options Post Reply Quote Mike_Presta Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: AJ Smith's "District Discussion" Posted: Jun 15 2011 at 12:26am
	Tonight’s (Tuesday’s) “District Discussion”, hosted by AJ Smith, was quite interesting. There were a six people in attendance, in addition to AJ, and the three most interesting (at least in my view) points discussed were: 1. The $500/week problem that the city has checking the chlorine at the Douglass Spray Ground was discussed, and at least in our collective view, closing the spray ground several hours earlier to avoid this State-required check was not an option. A solution was suggested, however. Some responsible person, often a City employee, is at the Sonny Hill Community Center (right across the street from the Douglass Spray Ground) to secure that facility, at or near the same time that the chlorine needs to be checked at the spray ground. The chlorine checking procedure is simple, takes only a moment or two, and can be learned quickly and easily. Why not have the same person that closes the Community Center check the chlorine? 2. The statement in the April Health Board Minutes of Meeting regarding: “The main revision of the rules is regarding spray grounds. We have two located in Middletown, Smith Park and Douglas Park; however, only Douglas is licensable.” was discussed. Ms. Phillips explained that only Douglass is licensable because only spray grounds with re-circulating water systems are licensed by the state. The spray ground at Smith Park is a run-off type that does *NOT* re-circulate the water, therefore no license can be issued nor is one necessary. 3. A discussion that began about the new Section 8 administrators soon morphed into a discussion of Section 8 itself when someone mentioned that some Section 8 tenants get paid to receive Section 8 housing assistance. Some in attendance were unaware of this and asked for clarification. It was explained that some, not all, Section 8 tenants not only get their housing entirely rent-free, but also get a check from the Housing Authority in addition to that.
	“Mulligan said he ... doesn’t believe they necessarily make the return on investment necessary to keep funding them.” …The Middletown Journal, January 30, 2012

Mike_Presta Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Council Joined: Apr 20 2008 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 3483	Post Options Post Reply Quote Mike_Presta Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jun 15 2011 at 12:58am
	There was a fourth item of interest, at least to me. Aj asked me if I had yet watched the City Council work sessions on Blip TV. I responded: No, I didn't know that they were on Blip TV, that I hadn't heard it announced during the regularly televised portion of any Council meeting, nor had I read anything about it in the local newspaper, so how would I have known that it was there??? He replied: "Well, they are, and at least the last two are there." I thanked him, and suggested that he mention this during his next Council Comments. NOTE: I have checked the Blip TV archives, and the last two work sessions are listed. I plan to watch them shortly. You can find them here: http://blip.tv/tv-middletown (scroll down)
	“Mulligan said he ... doesn’t believe they necessarily make the return on investment necessary to keep funding them.” …The Middletown Journal, January 30, 2012

LMAO Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Citizen Joined: Oct 28 2009 Location: Middletucky Status: Offline Points: 468	Post Options Post Reply Quote LMAO Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jun 15 2011 at 1:16pm
	I watched them and it is the same ole BS you see on TV Middletown.Just seeing them on TV makes me cringe.I would love to be at the GATE when there asked by God,Why are you worthy in entering? God doesnt like theifs or liars.

Mike_Presta Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Council Joined: Apr 20 2008 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 3483	Post Options Post Reply Quote Mike_Presta Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jun 15 2011 at 6:48pm
	The 6/6/2011 work session started out with Law Director Landen proposing a scheme to put a large contract for the construction of sidewalks, curbs and gutters on the motion agenda in violation of the City’s own internal rules. Once again, our Law Director shows us that the rules are only to be followed when they work the way City Hall wants them to work. When the rules get in the way, the rules be damned. Much time was spent discussing the Sunset Pool demolition. I now understand why they didn‘t want to discuss this in an open council meeting. No one asked the really difficult question: Do we have too many people on the city staff??? Do we have people with so little to do that they have to go searching for work, such as demolishing the swimming pool??? I thought that the City staff was lean and mean and over-worked. Why are they searching out extra work, such as demolishing Sunset pool, and when is such a busy staff going to find the time to accomplish this work??? Perhaps we need a City Manager who can properly assess the city work load, evaluate the size of a city staff necessary to efficiently perform that work load, and lay off the unnecessary staff. Wouldn’t that go a long way towards solving the budget crisis??? Adding more red light cameras was specifically mentioned as a “revenue enhancer”. Perhaps we could find a use for city council chambers to be leased out as a “revenue enhancer”??? Council does not seem to like using this fine facility, and since they never listen to citizens anyway, watching the meetings on BlipTV, taped from a conference room--or even from the city garage--would free up the under-utilized council chambers for commercial lease in our “booming” downtown. Perhaps Cinci State would like to use it as a lecture hall???
	“Mulligan said he ... doesn’t believe they necessarily make the return on investment necessary to keep funding them.” …The Middletown Journal, January 30, 2012

VietVet Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Council Joined: May 15 2008 Status: Offline Points: 7008	Post Options Post Reply Quote VietVet Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jun 16 2011 at 6:45am
	Gilleland needs to go for these and many other reasons and she needs to take her fellow destructors of this city with her....one way.....out of town. She is the wrong person to run city, bad for the moral in the city building, and, in general, allowed, under her command, for the city to become a declining population ghetto. Now wait a minute Mike.....do you mean to tell me that the red light cameras were for "revenue enhancement" and not the bull shoveled by the police chief and other city leaders about them being for the public safety. I remember the outcry when some of us suggested early on, that it was another way for the city to fleece money from the citizens. Now, it is talked about freely as being all about the money? The truth finally surfaces. Too many people on the city staff? When the exit door swings both ways and people who were "let go" come in the back door in another position, it isn't really downsizing is it. Kinda hard to have any credibility when you tell the citizens that money is tight, there is a lean budget, less services will be provided, you are cutting positions, cut the people for show and then bring 'em in the back door in another role. The city council chamber? Let Ann Mort use it as the PR guru, to show all the new businesses and potential residents who arrive daily all the amenties this town has. Comfortable seating, full-size screen on the wall, Mort could bring in a nice catered meal for them before the bus tour begins to see the Section 8 housing, the vacant businesses, the blacktop-going-to-gravel roads, the ghetto housing, sunken bikepath, the deserted downtown area, the vacant "shovel-ready sites, and the overall appearance of a dying town. I'm sure they will be impressed. Then, when it is all said and done, she can exaggerate the numbers that attended these sessions. Since council wants to meet off camera and in semi-seclusion, with no citizen involvement, I would suggest having their sessions under the West Middletown bridge in the late night hours. Limited audience, limited seating, limited debate, limited opposition, secretive agendas, a nice river stench that signifies their intentions, all of their desires, wrapped up into one easy situation.