Category: City of Paris Texas

private-public opportunities are not allowed taxpayers

 

When private money is taken to spent on a public-private purpose, the private-public partnership is the epitome` of socialism. An example being the planned development in Paris, Texas, by the partnership of the Dallas-based Javelin Investment Group and the Paris Housing Authority.

Council members approved an eight-acre site for a multi-story 60-unit apartment for Section 8 families and private-pay clients by the group and the housing authority. By using this as an excuse, in its desire to show “progress”, the council also approved granting commercial and residential tax abatement on the 19-acre block owned by the private investors.

Go down to City Hall and declare your intention not to pay your property taxes for seven or ten years.

Javelin is in the business to make money.

The city is forcing taxpayers to give it to them.

The Paris Texas Chamber realizes that the nation is well on its way to socialism, but what brain freeze dreamed this nonsense up?

Why will a city provide private developers opportunities it will not allow taxpayers who have paid the bills for years? Instead, over just the last two years it increased the budget over 7-percent (roughly $5 million), dumping the responsibility for it on in-city residents.

There’s nothing fair or balanced – or even intelligent – about what Paris is doing; its merely a scheme to benefit the few by stiffing the majority; and cover the resulting manure pit with Happy Talk.

 

There’s no accountability.

Socialist Eugene V. Debs made a great-sounding speech in Girard, Kansas, in 1908, which became his public platform: “When we are in partnership and have stopped clutching each other’s throats, when we have stopped enslaving each other, we will stand together, hands clasped, and be friends. We will be comrades, we will be brothers, and we will begin the march to the grandest civilization the human race has ever known.”

(Dream on, brother, dream on!!!) But someone must make decisions. Debs never could agree on who that someone should be … he ran for president five times.

In his first race, in 1900, Debs was the candidate of the Social Democratic Party, which led to the formation of the Socialist Party. As its candidate in 1920, he received almost one million votes, 6% of the total.

In 2020, with the private-public State Capitalism partnership of Big Business and Big Government in full force, slightly over 50% of American voters cast ballots to increase the role of government.

Since 1900, millions of people who, voluntarily or non-voluntarily, entered a promised “democratic socialism” partnership have been killed by their government. The dead surpassed 30-million in China; 6-million plus in Germany; an estimated 12 to 15 million in Russia. Cambodia killed killed half its citizens. Other countries have slaughter hundreds of hundred thousands. And millions of people today live in human misery and enslavement under the same generic dream – the “democratic socialism” – of Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, and Indo-China and the Mid-East nations, and others, that seek control of resources and the means of production.

And there’s no accountability . . .

There’s not even an apology.

In recent years, both major parties have gradually endorsed many of the ideas Debs advocated. Its why the nation is absolutely divided – and $34-trillion in debt.

So what does this have to do with Paris Texas?

Suckers always believe that government can manage or guarantee happiness. But if we can’t do it for ourselves, how can those in government do it for us?

What Paris is doing reflects a wide range of misinterpretations of sound community and economic development, and a serious lack of a common knowledge of socialism’s devious and complicated evolution, and how it operates in practice across the political spectrum.

Those encouraging socialism are mentally-ill people who should never be in leadership positions.

Government favoritism – socialism – is wrong, whether in Paris or Austin Texas, or Nutland DC.

Or, any nation.

 

the city of paris  is adding a Public information (BS) Officer to the staff.

Paris needs a public information officer like a stray dog needs more fleas.

While years of weeds were still standing in some places and a new crop growing all over town, the City of Paris grew an assistant city manager and a deputy city manger to help the city manager to grow more government.

As the Paris Texas Chamber of Commerce previously asked, What did Paris need most, weeds cut or a larger city administration?”

Can anyone explain to local taxpayers why the city’s government is growing when the U. S. Census show that Paris has been losing population since 2000?

In the last two years alone, the city budget grew in excess of seven percent (at 3.5% compounded each year) which, in ten years, will add an estimated 40-percent to the taxpayer’s cost of government.

Over the last 2-years, have city services gotten 7% better? Were 7% of the city streets improved? Older neighborhoods improved 7%? Net jobs increased 7%? Have family net incomes across the board increased by 7%? In-city population increased by 7%?

And now, we’re adding a public information officer to tell us what?

 

Paris has been, and is, told a lot of things. Some are true; most are not. An example being, “No new taxes.” (Tax rates, like appraisals, can go down or up or stay the same. When appraised values go up, and rates stay the same, you still pay more. The increase is a new tax.)

Appraisals are guesstimates on market value, and when the guess is not correct, it’s wrong. A property’s actual value is only determined by its sold price, which has little to do with appraisal guesstimates.

Adding two new assistant city managers have certainly increased the city’s administrative costs over 7% — and we’re now adding a Public Information (or BS) Officer, who will spend 30–percent of their time telling us how things are going good in Paris, 33.5-percent covering up for city managers and assistants and council members, 66.5–percent in liaison (politicking) with friends to get their stories straight, and 90-percent of the time hoping some of us believe (him, her, or whatever alphabet they prefer).

 

The weeds keep standing, litter continues its decorating of streets, cars and other vehicles are parked in front yards, junk is in open view, and Paris increases the city budget to assure an administrative control overload.

It is in development and implementation of policies that encourage private business investments in local families and neighborhoods, which keep the economic gates open to equal economic opportunity, are how communities are more likely to achieve success.

Government is like tying one end of a 100-foot rope around your neck and the other end to an 18-wheeler leaving a Kerrville, Texas, truck stop on its way to El Paso – 490 miles and 7 hours and 30 minutes away on Interstate 10. The first 200-feet are not so bad.

But when that big rig starts hitting the posted 80MPH speed limit, you begin to lose tract of things.

And government has no speed limits of its own.

But it sets the speed limits we’re demanded to follow.

                                                    return to Paris Texas Chamber of Commerce

Links:

    The Big Myth

       A Good Example of Bad Government

     Trash Pick-up

All local government is ideology

At its core, ideology is identity . . .

Too often, local governments – those we elect – end up listening to and carrying out  recommendations of staff bureaucrats, which raises some interesting observations:

For decades we’ve been “educated” to believe that local elections are not partisan, so no party affiliations are disclosed, as party labels might sway voters.

So the potential for local government officials to sway elections in their party’s favor seems obvious.

Special interest groups that put government interests ahead of taxpayers have long held sway over local elections. They want them to be officially declared nonpartisan – because party labels will sway voters.

Any faux outrage over partisanship entering local government elections is hilariously hypocritical.

Some of the indignation comes from those who routinely accuse others of being partisan because of their policy beliefs, their ideology. But they insist that their positions are not partisan.

Partisanship may most often be associated with party identity but, at its very core, it’s ideology

We all have an ideology – a collection of beliefs and ideas – but some people criticize someone with whom they disagree as an “ideologue ’… just as they apply a negative connotation to ‘partisan’ while extolling their own partisan ideology by claiming that they ‘just follow the science/experts.’

But cooperation between elected officials belonging to different parties is more likely to assure more transparency and better government.

The absence of party labels confuses voters; a voter who must choose from among a group of candidates whom he or she knows nothing about will have no meaningful basis in casting a ballot.

Today, local government is political.

Affable, cheerful, sincere, political-partisans that we elect are given the authority and responsibility to spend our dollars wisely, to make decisions that benefit each citizen equally, and to assure that our schools are teaching the values of limited government and equal economic opportunity in a society that requires personal accountability.

Unfortunately, those we elected have failed us for decades.We have allowed their political identity to hide behind a ‘nonpartisan’ facade.

They’ve listen to and allowed the “good government” professionals – the city managers, school administrators and the political opportunistic – those who benefit personally and professionally – to lead the process of setting the policies and making key decisions they want . . .

The reason we elect so many of the partisans is because they’re nice people; they mean well. Some just fail to understand, however, that the first part of their job is to ride herd on those whom we pay to carry out the policies to meet goals that benefit all of the community.

Too many of these seats are conceded to those who are part of the crowd who believe government is good and there should be more of it. It’s why Texas has the second-highest local debt nationally, and the 4th highest property tax rates in the nation.

Governmental staffs and the professional educationalists want these problems ignored.

When its for “the children” and “community” or “economic” development, there is no end that these partisans see to the use of taxpayer’s money.

When most of us think of government, we think of civil government with its various laws and controls.But local government is, like all government, ideology.

But in the most basic of terms, there are essentially two kinds of government – internal and external. Internal government or self-government is the most important and always shapes the nature of external government.

Self-government comes from the heart and the conscience, one’s character, motives, affections, and convictions of life. Self-government affects everything in a person’s life – the way one relates to his fellowman – his speech – his aspirations – his conduct – his hopes – his future.

Every sphere of civil local government is a reflection of this internal sphere.

Shouldn’t we ask ourselves why government keeps expanding?

In fact, the more self-government the people possess, the less external forms of government are actually needed.

No government can be good – or just – unless its citizenry and rulers have learned to govern themselves.

Paris Texas seems to fear what kind of town it needs to be . . .

return to the Paris Texas Chamber