OK. There is finally another Democrat president. Will this affect Jefferson? Do you think new policies will bring in needed dollars and help small communities pick themselves up by their bootstraps? What do you expect? What would you ask for?
Look, I firmly believe that most small towns will cease to exist in their present form unless they solve the ever-present population slide on their own. No amount of cash injected from the federal government will alter this trend, at least permanently.
Instead of looking for handouts, small communities need to be offering incentives and thinking of innovative ways of bringing a steady cash flow into their areas.
wns like Jefferson should have a laundry list of projects that would meet the requirements of any economic stimulus package. For the newer city council members in the audience, it would the last 20 years' worth of capital improvement plans.
The "To" of towns fell off because I had to log in again before I posted.
Maybe that railroad over/under pass of Iowa Highway 4 would be something to try to get federal money for the match.
As far as the population slide goes, in my opinion it goes back to kids growing up there having nothing to do, socially or employment-wise as they get older.
Jefferson will probably never attract a "home run" type of new company, they should be working their butts off to keep companies that are already there, there.
As a first time poster and my biggest pet peeves...If the stimulus package was to effect the Greene County Iowa roadways would that mean that we would actually have gravel put back onto the sandy mushy roads that are known as gravel roads? If you have traveled on any gravel road in Greene County you will notice the lack of gravel stones (Maybe some in the ditches or the edges of the road). In the spring and any melt or rainstorm you can get stuck on your county gravel roads! The County Engineers attempt to keep the quicksand from forming before it engulfs a vehicle or causes an accident usally after the worst has passed. ALSO would this mean that our paved county highways would be cleared of ice and snow before the snow also became ice (Like the last several snowstorms in city of Jefferson and most of Greene County). Oh well..hopefully they will make the plowing & clearing a bigger Safety priority and gravel roads better _before_ putting in a super highway such as is proposed in Carroll County.
You don't need to attract a "home run" company. I probably don't disagree with your sentiment, Rich, but let's start by attracting a small endeavor or two adding just a few jobs.
The wrong attitude would be to assume that if you can't hit a "home run", there is no reason to swing.
Rick: A couple of options of the "singles" variety: 1. Work with existing businesses to see if they have ideas on how they can expand their businesses. 2. Provide space for start-up companies of any kind for little or no rent. Maybe there's a high school kid from Paton with a good business idea.
Somebody has probably figured this one out already...but what about converting the methane from hog confinements into some other form of energy? Plus, the smell is greatly reduced at the same time.
I haven't looked at the stimulus bill in detail, and if I did, I'm sure it would scare me or sicken me. But that aside... if the government wants to spend our way out of a severe recession, I'd hope they'd put a lot of the money into projects with a long life or ones that yield savings year after year.
I can see rebuilding highways (interstate 80 for one) and bridges (anything that's due to be replaced). I would have liked to have seen increased fuel taxes to pay for those projects, though. Gas and diesel can fluctuate 20 cents or more overnight, so I figure you might as well raise the taxes on gas/diesel to pay for the road projects.
We need to get closer to being energy independent. It sounds like the electric power grid is due for a major redesign, and if that's the case, then I suspect that would have long-term effiency returns. Also, I'd like to see as many homes as possible have solar panels or other alternative energy systems installed. Solar panels can last for 20 to 30 years. Iowa has a head start on wind turbines. I'd like to see that expanded.
And, maybe, it's time to suck it up and spend a little money to get rid of inefficiencies, like Iowa having 99 counties when we'd do well with 33, maybe fewer. Fund the cost to close a bunch of couty seats and expand the fewer number that remain.
I doubt that small towns like Jefferson can count on the stimulus package helping them directly much at all. I agree with the posts above...people in small towns need to come up with ideas to start or grow small businesses. Do what you have to do make money. If you have to take a job out of county or even out of state for a period of time, then do that. Don't give up.
Boy, you really hit the nail on the head when you talk about Iowa's 99 counties.
Do you realize that there are only seven states with more counties than Iowa? We really desperately need to bite the bullet and reduce our county number by half.
It's going to be tough convincing folks that driving for 30-45 minutes to reach their courthouse is standard, but it needs to be done.
Also, the bill in the Iowa House currently forcing small schools to merge must be passed. We should start spending all of those massive education dollars on students, as opposed to faculty and administration.
Jtown struggles to attract any businesses, my opinion is that we residents are taxed to death already here. High taxes with nothing to show for it. Cntrycwgirl..I think you might have toked a lil too much of a fatty if you have found a quicksand road in the county. FYI Perkins lane isnt a county road.
I agree with anon. above about the taxes in Iowa. In Ankeny, I lived in an 1800 sq.ft. home on a 75ft.x 175ft. lot. Here in Atlanta my home is 5000 sq.ft. on two acres. Guess what? My property taxes are within $100.00 of what I paid in Iowa.
Getting back to the Presidential reference in the first reply...I'm 100% sure Rick B is smarter than the last President. Can only go about 30% with the current one.
Am I reading you correctly, Rich? It sounds like you are estimating my IQ to be about 30% of Obama's, or maybe in the 40 to 50 range, with Mr. Bush somewhere beneath that. Ouch.
13 comments:
We finally have a president younger than me.
Look, I firmly believe that most small towns will cease to exist in their present form unless they solve the ever-present population slide on their own. No amount of cash injected from the federal government will alter this trend, at least permanently.
Instead of looking for handouts, small communities need to be offering incentives and thinking of innovative ways of bringing a steady cash flow into their areas.
wns like Jefferson should have a laundry list of projects that would meet the requirements of any economic stimulus package. For the newer city council members in the audience, it would the last 20 years' worth of capital improvement plans.
The "To" of towns fell off because I had to log in again before I posted.
Maybe that railroad over/under pass of Iowa Highway 4 would be something to try to get federal money for the match.
As far as the population slide goes, in my opinion it goes back to kids growing up there having nothing to do, socially or employment-wise as they get older.
Jefferson will probably never attract a "home run" type of new company, they should be working their butts off to keep companies that are already there, there.
As a first time poster and my biggest pet peeves...If the stimulus package was to effect the Greene County Iowa roadways would that mean that we would actually have gravel put back onto the sandy mushy roads that are known as gravel roads? If you have traveled on any gravel road in Greene County you will notice the lack of gravel stones (Maybe some in the ditches or the edges of the road). In the spring and any melt or rainstorm you can get stuck on your county gravel roads!
The County Engineers attempt to keep the quicksand from forming before it engulfs a vehicle or causes an accident usally after the worst has passed.
ALSO would this mean that our paved county highways would be cleared of ice and snow before the snow also became ice (Like the last several snowstorms in city of Jefferson and most of Greene County). Oh well..hopefully they will make the plowing & clearing a bigger Safety priority and gravel roads better _before_ putting in a super highway such as is proposed in Carroll County.
You don't need to attract a "home run" company. I probably don't disagree with your sentiment, Rich, but let's start by attracting a small endeavor or two adding just a few jobs.
The wrong attitude would be to assume that if you can't hit a "home run", there is no reason to swing.
Rick: A couple of options of the "singles" variety:
1. Work with existing businesses to see if they have ideas on how they can expand their businesses.
2. Provide space for start-up companies of any kind for little or no rent. Maybe there's a high school kid from Paton with a good business idea.
Somebody has probably figured this one out already...but what about converting the methane from hog confinements into some other form of energy? Plus, the smell is greatly reduced at the same time.
I haven't looked at the stimulus bill in detail, and if I did, I'm sure it would scare me or sicken me. But that aside... if the government wants to spend our way out of a severe recession, I'd hope they'd put a lot of the money into projects with a long life or ones that yield savings year after year.
I can see rebuilding highways (interstate 80 for one) and bridges (anything that's due to be replaced). I would have liked to have seen increased fuel taxes to pay for those projects, though. Gas and diesel can fluctuate 20 cents or more overnight, so I figure you might as well raise the taxes on gas/diesel to pay for the road projects.
We need to get closer to being energy independent. It sounds like the electric power grid is due for a major redesign, and if that's the case, then I suspect that would have long-term effiency returns. Also, I'd like to see as many homes as possible have solar panels or other alternative energy systems installed. Solar panels can last for 20 to 30 years. Iowa has a head start on wind turbines. I'd like to see that expanded.
And, maybe, it's time to suck it up and spend a little money to get rid of inefficiencies, like Iowa having 99 counties when we'd do well with 33, maybe fewer. Fund the cost to close a bunch of couty seats and expand the fewer number that remain.
I doubt that small towns like Jefferson can count on the stimulus package helping them directly much at all. I agree with the posts above...people in small towns need to come up with ideas to start or grow small businesses. Do what you have to do make money. If you have to take a job out of county or even out of state for a period of time, then do that. Don't give up.
Boy, you really hit the nail on the head when you talk about Iowa's 99 counties.
Do you realize that there are only seven states with more counties than Iowa? We really desperately need to bite the bullet and reduce our county number by half.
It's going to be tough convincing folks that driving for 30-45 minutes to reach their courthouse is standard, but it needs to be done.
Also, the bill in the Iowa House currently forcing small schools to merge must be passed. We should start spending all of those massive education dollars on students, as opposed to faculty and administration.
Jtown struggles to attract any businesses, my opinion is that we residents are taxed to death already here. High taxes with nothing to show for it.
Cntrycwgirl..I think you might have toked a lil too much of a fatty if you have found a quicksand road in the county. FYI Perkins lane isnt a county road.
I agree with anon. above about the taxes in Iowa. In Ankeny, I lived in an 1800 sq.ft. home on a 75ft.x 175ft. lot. Here in Atlanta my home is 5000 sq.ft. on two acres. Guess what? My property taxes are within $100.00 of what I paid in Iowa.
Getting back to the Presidential reference in the first reply...I'm 100% sure Rick B is smarter than the last President. Can only go about 30% with the current one.
Am I reading you correctly, Rich? It sounds like you are estimating my IQ to be about 30% of Obama's, or maybe in the 40 to 50 range, with Mr. Bush somewhere beneath that. Ouch.
The way I read is that Rich is saying that Obama is 179% smarter than you, Rick.
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