Let's see if you remember "who said what?"about the debt crisis(?) in 2006?

Please put on your thinking caps and tell us who made this speech on the floor of the United States Senate in March of 2006?

"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure,” he said. “It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here.’ Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.”

Are you stumped as several people have been? Well please click on the header for the answer. (hint, it's a current Washington insider.)

HUMM!

Tom Ford

NO. 919

Live Blog of the Alderman meeting 7/26/11 (click here for the "PATCH" feed please)

If you don't know about "The Patch" and it's editor Ms. Jean Whitney please click on the header for an exceptionally well done running Blog of the Crestwood BOA meeting.

Ms. Whitney makes it possible for ALL Crestwood Citizens to follow along in real time as the events of the BOA meeting unfold. As I read the comments I was struck by some interesting remarks by Alderman Duncan who clearly has no use for "paperless."

As for me I think it's great, no pile of papers to shuffle through or loose, only your lap top or desk top to back up and it's there at all times for your perusal. Alderman Duncan seems to have a problem when it comes to that sort of thing as she clearly worries about a "virus" being transmitted from A to B. Now for some years now there have been some really great virus protectors on the market that will prevent that, so if she doesn't already have one, I suggest she get one soon. By the way Alderman Duncan, Virus's can be sent BOTH ways which is why the City has a virus protection installed (as do most people.)

Now I know that your also concerned with filling up your personal computer, but face it, you won't use a Gig of space in three years, so that should not give you pause at all.

All in all I see no reason to not go "paperless" in Crestwood as even the banks are doing it. I do think I would object to Alderman Beezley calling me a "dinosaur" though, but hey that's between you two.

Tom Ford

NO. 918

Reverend Joe Wright opens the Kansas House of Representatives with a prayer.

From a reader who thought all of us would like to hear the Pastors prayer in the Kansas State House. I have seen this before, but now is a great time to share it considering the current state of the Nation.

Thought you might enjoy this interesting
prayer given in Kansas at
the opening session of their House of Representatives (January, 1996.) It seems
prayer still upsets some
people.. When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open
the new session of the Kansas House, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:


"Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask
your forgiveness and to seek your direction and
guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those
who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we
have done.

We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed
our values.

We have exploited the poor and called it
the lottery.

We have rewarded laziness and called it
welfare..

We have killed our unborn and called it
choice.

We have shot abortionists and called it
justifiable.

We have neglected to discipline our
children and called it
building self esteem....

We have abused power and called it
politics.

We have coveted our neighbor's possessions
and called it ambition.

We have polluted the air with profanity and
pornography and called it
freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values
of our forefathers and called it
enlightenment.

Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts
today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.
Amen!"

Tom Ford

NO. 917

Marxism in America today? Well when you click on this header to view the retired Green beret General's comments it should get somewhat lively indeed!

Please watch this video by clicking on the header and then tell us your reaction. I an going to reserve my comments until you all have your opportunity to comment!

Conservative or liberal we all have a stake in America, and if this man is correct we owe it to our children and grand children to stop this menace in it's tracks!


Tom Ford

NO. 916

Brentwood Firefighters compensated for time they didn't earn! (Click here for the story please.)

This "sham" time payout has been going on for twenty four years over in Brentwood, and "it just came to light" after an audit of the City Administrators computer a couple of months ago.

Mr. Kurt Becker of Firefighters Local 2665 is quoted as saying that as soon as he knew about it he realized that he needed to work for the City to make it right. Now that is the right thing to do for certain but, how did it take twenty four years for ANYONE in Brentwood to "just become aware of the anomaly?"

I wonder if any of the Firefighters we saw at the last election working the poll's were on "overtime" from Brentwood, and would anyone tell us if they were, and if not why not?

At any rate Mr. Becker has done the right thing in coming down on the side of Brentwood, and you can't help but give him the credit for it. I for one am very happy that we have the oversight in place to insure this NEVER happens in Crestwood, we do don't we?

(Memo to Alderman Duncan, Beezley, Pickel, and Foote. This is one reason why the auditors we hired requested we have an oversight of ALL Crestwood funds, including the Sappington House Foundation funds that Crestwood doesn't have access to but remain an ASSET (?) on our books. Not because they or anyone else think there is a problem, but rather to insure there never will be.)


Tom Ford

NO. 915

Crestwood Courts a better place for the Walmart super center? Ms. Celia Kneip thinks so. (click here for her letter to the South County Times.)

Ms. Kneip makes a lot of sense with her reasons to have the Wall Mart that some in Shrewsbury do not want relocate to Crestwood Courts. Of course we have no say in this matter, but if the argument against the store in Shrewsbury continues the owners of Crestwood Courts may wish to take a look.

One small problem for the Courts is that we cannot afford to give out any more tax incentives like TIF, CID, or TDD's to the developer as were tax increment poor as we speak.

At any rate we do have at least one citizen concerned with economic development in Crestwood, so please join me in congratulating Ms. Kneip for a good idea, workable or not!


Tom Ford

NO. 914

What should a reasonable and prudent citizen expect in the way of answers from their elected Representatives?

I posed a simple question to the entire Board of Alderman (via their email) a week ago reference the CID for the failed Pulaski Bank project at Sappington Square. This question was also posted right here on this Blog and for those of you that read it I believe you will agree it didn't take the Supreme Court to answer it!

To date I have received answers (some printed here, some not) from Alderman Foote, Miguel, Wallach, Duchild, and the Mayor. Extremely conspicuous by their absence are Alderman Pickel, Duncan, Beezley, and Knarr!

Two of these people "represent" Ward Two, and as such owe the citizens of the Ward the pleasure of an answer. The others were elected in their Wards and I believe owe their answers to their constituents as well as the rest of us.

You see when a person runs for office they should realize that they are responsible to ALL the citizens of their community, not just to their friends! I for one am sick and tired of the "ruling class mentality" put forth by these persons who believe they are above the great UN-washed and thus not responsible for their actions or to answer for them!

I believe the next BOA meeting will be the correct place to put them on "front street" and let them tell us why they do not believe we should be answered. Perhaps the papers will have the same question with a few more tossed in for good measure!


Tom Ford

NO. 913

Richard Franz a Mehlville School Board member and good friend has requested that this info be posted here. Please contact them for more.

Residents and taxpayers of the Lindbergh School District,

"The Mehlville Community Taxpayers Association (MCTA) is a non-profit grass roots organization dedicated to fighting against control of our local school district by all special interest groups and committed to representing the taxpayers of the Mehlville/Oakville community in all facets of public financing issues. Our group includes members from all areas of the local community including a number of former school board members.
In light of recent developments in the Lindbergh School District including the passage of the newest tax increase, we realize there are groups within the district who may be wondering how to fight back against the ever growing desire of the school district to raise your taxes.
The MCTA successfully fought the Mehlville districts attempt to give the (now retired) school superintendent a $45000 pay increase and helped defeat an .88 cent school tax increase in November of 2010.
Taking back control of your school district can be done!
If you’re interested in finding out more about the MCTA or how you can organize or join a group to address these issues in the Lindbergh School District,"

contact MCTA founding member Ken Meyer @ 314-401-1657, visit www.mctainfo.blogspot.com or e-mail to mctainfo@gmail.com.

Your questions and comments should be directed to Mr. Ken Meyer at the contact information above.


Tom Ford

NO. 912

An open letter to the Board of Alderman reference the "Sappington Square CID" request by Pulaski Bank.

Subject: The Pulaski bank CID request.
Date: Jul 7, 2011 1:48 PM


As you are aware the City of Crestwood is being asked to grant a CID District for the area known as "Sappington Square" at Watson and Old Sappington Road. The CID (if granted) would keep the tax rate at 9.42% for the entire center, a move which I firmly believe will be detrimental to ALL the retailers now there.

I was on the Pulaski Bank web site to see how they were weathering the current economic storm, and found that they are paying dividends on a regular basis. Now to me that says that there s really no need what so ever for the City of Crestwood to grant them a CID to help with their failed loan to the previous developer.

I think we can all agree that a bank the size and strength of Pulaski has far more opportunities to correct this anomaly in their judgment than we the citizens of Crestwood do. Our tax base is drying up and placing higher taxes on certain shopping outlets will further cause undo strain on the businesses we now have and cause new growth to slow to a stop.


I am well aware of the comments to all of you by Mr. Kevin King reference what he and the bank may do if we fail to grant the request to his client, but that said I am reminded of the saying "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute!" So as for me, I say let him do what he wants to, show him we are not here to grant reparations to failed projects.

In closing please allow me to request an answer from each of you as to how you currently see this CID (and any value to Crestwood,) knowing that there will be NO RETAIL on that space and no "cut through" but rather another Bank.

Your kind and attentive responses are greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,


Thomas C. Ford
Crestwood, Missouri

I am in hopes that the the Alderman will respond to ALL of us via this forum (or via email to me which I shall print here) as this is an extremely important topic for the future of our community. Consumers are going elsewhere to shop now, if another 1% is allowed to stand that will increase the flight to other areas with lower taxes!


Tom Ford

NO. 911

The 4th of July is Independence day in America (please click here for fun and facts for the whole family!)

Happy Birth day America! Yes, we all hear that said once a year but what does it really mean? Well for many of us it's time to BBQ with friends and family by our side or to visit friends and relatives.

Have you ever wondered just what the signers of that Declaration of Independence had to endure during and after they met to sign it? Click on the header for some facts that may well astound you. This was no walk in the park by a long shot. The King was none to happy with the idea of loosing a colony, and the signers knew it but persevered anyway.

Through the years this Republic has weathered great travail such as the Civil War (July 3rd. is the anniversary of the last day of the Battle of Gettysburg when Picket's charge was ordered,) and all wars since then. Our young men and women have always answered the call to preserve our cherished freedom, and they still do it willingly today.

Tomorrow when your having the Birthday celebration take one last look back for those who have given us the freedom we hold so dear, thank them, and thank Almighty God for what has been called our "unique experiment" known as Liberty!

Tom Ford

NO. 910

Alderman Mimi Duncan makes a feeble attempt to cover her actions at the May 24, 2011 BOA meeting (click here for her letter to the editor.)

This is a classic folks, not only does Ms. Duncan refute her own statement that she "will not Govern in the media," she pens her own version of what transpired at that meeting!

She tells us that she received a phone call from Mayor Schlink to tell her about his being called away on business and telling her who his choice for his replacement was. At this point Ms. Duncan might I remind you that YOU ARE THE BOARD PRESIDENT and that is proper procedure!

She further states that if she had a nominee she would have called all the other Alderman to tell them who it was. Neat, but how does she know that was not in fact the case here? And by the way Ms. Duncan you took out the paperwork to run for mayor with great fanfare, but never went so far as to file! Get cold feet in the middle of winter did you? Please allow me to recommend a product called "Toasty Toes" that will help with that.

Now we move into the realm of the actual vetting process where she states that "people from the floor" were allowed to make comments. Neat except it never happened unless Ms. Beezley got up and went to the podium because she launched into a diatribe against Mr. Mosby on the spot and effectively shut down the debate.

Now other than this I see she has still never answered any of the questions as to why she voted as she did (anti Mosby.) Ms. Duncan don't you think any of us have a memory or can listen to transcripts or read the running blog on the Patch"

I really think that the strain of Governing has taken it's heavy toll on Alderman Duncan, and she may well wish to resign to "spend more time with her family."


Tom Ford

NO. 909