Shopping Ditz.

Mainstreet Cleveland is working tirelessly to promote downtown shopping for Christmas. One of their latest promotions 'Shopping Daze' is designed to get people to spend money in the Five Points area. It is good for a healthy local economy to spend earnings within the community, so the idea is great but as so often happens in Cleveland, we get the wrong people in charge and they ruin what otherwise could have been a boost for local merchants.

Mainstreet, in their wisdom have decided that segregation is the way to go. All downtown merchants can benefit from the promotion but Mainstreet will mark their preferred stores with specially colored balloons to let shoppers know which ones they endorse.  Mainstreet Cleveland is not a government agency and therefore has no authority to control business activity downtown. Any business has the same right to display balloons.... endorsed by Mainstreet or not.

Also, because of the segregation, shoppers have a right to boycott businesses with balloons, which could promote a quandary for Mainstreet members.

It can't be good for the revitalization of the Five Points area to divide businesses into groups this way, those in the clique and those not. It seems that Mainsteet is confused on what it's mission is and how to achiev

What do you think?

Something good

For every klutz we have screwing things up in our community we have a dozen efficient and under-appreciated public officials that rarely get publicity. Because of the mess the few create, this small paper rarely has space to honor those serving the community beyond the call.

Rick Smith, Financial Officer for the Bradley County School system found a duplicate budget expense for school repairs during his accounting audit.  Instead of channeling the money into another line item he notified the county executives office. $424,000 of the $817,800 was repaid back into the County General Fund which could help balance next year's budget, easing the taxpayer burden.

It feels good to publish a positive report on Bradley county school spending for a change.

What do you think?

The weekly bashing

Fearing for my health I was apprehensive clicking onto the Bradley News Weekly's website but I feared my wife more, so complying with her demands I tapped the mouse. 

As it turned out it was an uplifting experience... no, not because I had discovered latent socialist tendencies but because the interactive mail they have been receiving confirmed my belief that the Weekly's editorials don't reflect their readers sentiments.

It is hard to believe that the staff actually read what's on their site because they are still trying to persuade readers to embrace their far left doctrines when it's obviously having little effect.

My hat is off to the people of Bradley County for not being swayed by the endless stream of left-wing propaganda.

What do you think?

Finally

Councilman David May was quoted as saying that people don't seem to understand the workings of the city charter and - here we go again - they need to be educated.

OK Mr. May, please define for the people the word 'remaining' as it pertains to the sentence "Any vacancy in the city council shall be filled by appointment made by the remaining members thereof," found in C16, Section 7 of the city charter.

I will be happy to print your response in the December issue.

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