Levies and Government Change

Top down and global approaches are killing us. A vision or direction might come from the top but global solutions to regional and local problems brings us unfunded mandates, accountability requirements, and regulations that don't address our real needs.

The changes I would like are for gov to quit supporting the mega-industry idea and insist on smaller ones that tend to stay in America and stay local, putting local people to work. Competing with the world should be an industry wide concern but not a local focus. Obviously if we are not working we are not competing. There is a big difference between a standard for regulation and competition and public safety and a mega industry controlling the market (so called successful). Success at the top should not give the guys at the bottom a cause to riot.

The gov should encourage food production within the city, where ever it will grow, to stock food banks and give people stuff to do (called work). Mega-farm industry is killing our ability to sustain ourselves.

Lower the hurdles for small business to get started and exist. The present tax structure drains the resources from small operators in favor of the big ones who have a tendency to leave for cheaper but not greener (for us) pastures.

Raise the value of the dollar or lower the cost of living or lower the cost of residential property and renegotiate loans for that new lower value. It is unfair to hold us to the old loan agreements without the dollar value and jobs to pay it. Banks and industry should not destroy the "means" for us to live here. There should be a separation between sustaining dollars and investment dollars and be illegal to move funds from sustaining dollars for the speculation of markets. This is called a budget if you don't know.

There should be a level of health care every citizen can get for nothing, then some we can get for more, subsidized by insurance. We should put more research in de-toxing food, water, and air so that sickness, cancer and genetic defects that are slowly killing us is less a concern.

Then, service people working on temporary projects for clients on a 1099 status are taxed out of proportion to the income they receive. You have to declare yourself are a business owner when you are just a person doing a temp job. A business is one thing, temp work is another. I should not have to pay business taxes when I don't own a business.

Every town should have a public TV channel where briefing the citizens of activities, and directions is normal communication, and various civic groups can show us what's going on.

First up apply the tourniquet - Stop the foreclosure = eviction = sheriff sale stuff for a period til we can catch up to some of these shady lenders. Use Rokakis' LandBank proposal to allow government to recoup some cash from the growing number of vacant properties in the region.

Then - Fix the infrastructure - water, air, soil all need to be addressed outside of talks at NOACA. Lead eradication is of paramount importance.

If we continue to hedge our bets on conventions for health care professionals because we expect the populace to be ill, does that not require us to feed that funnel? (Not addressing many of the environment’s illness causing realities = not slowing the flow of illness to that end of the funnel.) By not addressing the causes we will be forever treating the symptoms. Who makes money? I realize that we have an aging population and as a result, health care is a huge industry, but it smells long-term fishy to me to invest so publicly in a plan that relies on people being sick. Maybe our elected officials should test out eating lower on the food chain for a year or so or test not feeding their own lawns with chemicals just to see what a healthier lifestyle feels like. It doesn't hurt.

How do we address the root causes of under performance in our urban schools (much of which can be attributed to lead poisoning), violence (much of which can be attributed to lead poisoning) in our streets, the cradle to prison pipeline?

How do we support a thriving and healthy Lake Erie and Cuyahoga River and River Valley and the entire watershed which we all share and rely on for life?

How do we begin to create green jobs associated with renewable energy? Will we need training programs like RAM Tech?

How do we support the growth of urban agriculture to provide work for urban unemployed individuals, local food that is healthy and affordable - not just fresh food during the summer and fall months, but grown indoors during the winter months and "put up" for the long winters - made available to NEO consumers beyond farmer's markets in restaurants, food pantries and grocery stores? I'm talking food production here. Pay attention to Brad Masi and Maurice Small.

How do we begin to educate the populace on the potential of free open source software and bridge the digital divide?

The funds being collected currently in Cuyahoga County* for a medical mart/convention center, if redirected to public infrastructure projects such as the currently overburdened RTA - what could that look like for all citizens of Cuyahoga County? If the transit systems throughout the region improved and connected could a consumer save on fuel? If food was grown and produced locally would we not be able to save fuel?

Yes - doing more with less. We averted a big one (hole in the budget) by stalling Cuyahoga County's plan to build new administrative offices, but we will have to go farther. We will have to devise a plan that looks more like Norm Krumholz's long forgotten Equity Planning imbued with many of the brilliant ideas being suggested by Terry Schwarz at the CUDC.

A meeting to revise building codes to allow for stormwater retention onsite - downspout disconnections to unburden our aging infrastructure, incentives for renewable energy not just listed in the $850 billion federal bailout bill, but actually in action via solar installations on rooftops of schools and public buildings and businesses and residences. Native vining plants growing on pergolas built over parking lots to shade massive stretches of pavement and reduce heat island effects providing way stations for birds and bees. Conservation easements for cemeteries and golf courses which involve strict regulation about the use of herbicides and pesticides. A ban on the use of herbicides and pesticides.

Forget the Opportunity Corridor and give those UCI visitors a rail pass - the Red Line runs right to the CCF and UCI. If they have to drive, give them a map.

These ideas seem to be discussed and forgotten. Maybe with the global economic crunch we can begin to revisit them. We're gonna have to learn to sew up that seam, glue that crack instead of tossing away those things that "break". We've got plenty that's broken, but we can't abandon it - we have to repair it because for the foreseeable future, it is what we have.

So, I say start where you are instead of dreaming of having something you don't have. We can be healthier, and we can save. Our parents did it during the Great Depression and 2 World Wars. We can too. It's not rocket science, but is does require action not just talk. It's time to stop the corporate welfare train in its tracks and get busy with the healthy, conservation minded welfare of all citizens. Instead of the old sales tactic - "make 'em sick, make 'em well", we need to focus on "make 'em well, keep 'em well". We can begin with whatever we have right here, right now. We can make stone soup and apparently it's time.

* If this is supposed to be an economic driver for “the region”, why aren’t surrounding counties participating. Is it an “I, me, mine” mentality among leaders in those counties or is it just a bad idea?

Now the big regional and "we don't have it" idea comes from the ODOT 21st century transport meeting - a maglev train connecting Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Columbus. Three centers of education, health care and culture. The technology is being developed in Pittsburgh. You had to stay til the bitter end to hear that one. Keep you eye on the future, but get busy with what we have now, now. We have to start today to put aside petty differences and do more with less. Less is what we have.

If the US is serious about change, then government must relentlouly adopt the great principles and systems of the private sector-World Class Businesses e.g. "lean" operations, waste elimination, plans with clearly defined initiatives(leveraged), timelines, task responsibilities and the PROCESSES relative to all the above.

The Key: Change is best fueled by trauma which is overcome by and quickly implementing new learning and new mental models.