Monday, March 19, 2012

Dreaming of Electric Sheeple

The resistance is in full swing. Download petitions and get updates at www.notaxpayerstadium.blogspot.com and www.facebook.com/nostadium.

So, Wilmington is "going green", again. And yet again it's in a totally minor and mostly symbolic way. Yet even so, it's still going to cost you.

City Council may allow Progress Energy to install and maintain two electric vehicle charging stations in the Market St. parking deck. Progress Energy will cover installation and maintenance costs for two years, at which time responsibility could, and probably would, switch over to Wilmington.

Wilmington will only supposedly pay for the electricity for people to charge their cars, an estimated $10 a year. This, of course, could be totally off the mark, and subsidizing this type of thing, which is already heavily subsidized, is not the role of government. Additionally, Wilmington will have to take out liability insurance with a cap of about $4M.

But that's not the real kicker. The kicker is that the money for installation and maintenance isn't really coming from Progress Energy. They apparently have gotten a Federal grant for this.

From the contract:
With respect to any marketing efforts including but not limited to logos, stickers, decals or signage made a part of equipment purchased or infrastructure established; or any printed materials or other marketing and/or outreach materials, activities, or web sites created under this Agreement, Host agrees: i) to consider erecting qualifying signage identifying the EVSE as “being funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act;”
You're paying coming and going. Don't you love the new definition of "capitalism"?

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Orwilmington

Up is down, left is right, and now a government handout is "entrepreneurship."

And the saddest part? Local officials seem to have no problem with it.

StarNews:


A spin off of the University of North Carolina Wilmington's entrepreneurship center could cost taxpayers some money.

The center's director, Jonathan Rowe, approached the city council Monday with the idea of the city helping to fund the start of the new center. He is seeking about $100,000 for the first year to rent a building, pay for water and electricity and some grant money for start-up businesses.

City council members were open to the idea but said Rowe needed to also ask the New Hanover County Commissioners to chip in. The center, which was created in 2010, helps connect start-up companies and small businesses to sources of expertise and funding. The center, now located on campus, has reorganized as UNCW Entrepreneurship Center LLC and will also seek private donations.

Rowe said Monday he can get businesses to donate computers, Internet and phone service but he needs help getting the center up and running. He added, the goal would be to make the center self-sufficient in two years by leasing part of the space to existing businesses.

Mayor Bill Saffo said if the city does donate money to the center, he would want to establish benchmarks.

The biggest question, in a time when the city faces a nearly $13 million budget shortfall in the coming fiscal year, was where the money would come from.

"We're looking at budget shortfalls. We've got to county every penny," Councilwoman Margaret Haynes said. "The concept, I'm OK with. It's just the money. How are we going to pay for it?"

Rowe has been in talks with City Manager Sterling Cheatham who suggested locating the center downtown. Cheatham said this could be the city's way of investing in small business incentives, a priority the mayor laid out in his state of the city speech earlier this year.

[...]Councilman Neil Anderson suggested the city reevaluate the money it gives to existing economic development organizations to see if the resources are being spread out as they should. (Which is not the same, far from it, from questioning in principle.)

Councilman Charlie Rivenbark said the city spends less on economic development than other cities its size or smaller.

"It's pitiful what we spent on it," he said. (Aww, boohoo, Charlie)

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Wilmington Taxes Man $400k Because They Don't Like His Business

Yup. It's true. Don't you love that you live in the day where government thinks they can do whatever they want to you?

WECT:
The manager of a sweepstakes parlor plans to sue the city of Wilmington over his tax bill.

Leo Daniels, of 777 Sweepstakes, says he received a letter from the city earlier this week saying that he owes more than $400,000 taxes.

A city spokesman says an ordinance says parlors are taxed every six months per machine.

Daniels says this is his first tax bill, which amounts to more in taxes than he makes in a year.

The city spokesman says six sweepstakes parlors received the same letter this week regarding their back taxes owed to the city.

Also, this guy Leo Daniels isn't some sort of bum. He's involved in other businesses and owns the agency that is doing the extra casting for Iron Man 3.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Winston-Salem's Stadium Experience

Looks like they were right where we are (but with a less expensive stadium) four years ago.

StarNews:

In 2007, Winston-Salem City Council meetings sounded similar to recent ones held here.

Residents attended a meeting in January of that year to speak for and against building a minor league baseball stadium, some disapproving of the city using taxpayer dollars for the project, according to the meeting’s minutes.

The city initially contributed about $12 million to Brookstown Development Partners LLC and Sports Menagerie LLC to build the stadium, where the Winston-Salem Dash now plays.

But later, when the developer had trouble securing financing because of the economic downfall in the middle of 2008, the city council voted unanimously to give an additional $15.7 million to finish the stadium’s construction.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

One Reason Why NC Is Out of Work

The resistance is in full swing. Download petitions and get updates at www.notaxpayerstadium.blogspot.com and www.facebook.com/nostadium.


What does it take to become a private investigator in NC?
Three (3) years experience within the past five (5) years in private investigative work, OR three (3) years within the past five (5) years in an investigative capacity as a member if a law enforcement agency.
That's right. To become a private investigator, you pretty much already have to be one. What about if you want to be a land surveyor?
College Graduate, with Bachelor of Science (BS) in Surveying.

[This degree must contain a minimum of 45 semester hours (or quarter hour equivalent) of surveying subjects.]

[...]After successful completion of the Fundamentals Examination, and upon completion of a minimum total of two (2) year of progressive practical land surveying experience, one year of which shall have been under a practicing Professional Land Surveyor (PLS), applicants are eligible to apply for the Land Surveying Principles and Practice Examination (Exam II).
There are different routes for people, but this is if you already have a four year degree in land surveying. Can you say racket?

NC licenses 176 occupations, including pest exterminators, telecommunicators and milk testers.

While that might "Mmmm good!" for the people who already have the licenses, it's not good for the overall economy.

Licensing is a form of government-granted cartel. It keeps people out of the market, thereby raising prices and potentially lowering quality.

What does the actual research say on licensing?
The most recent study, from 2008, found 23% of U.S. workers were required to obtain state licenses, up from just 5% in 1950, according to data from Mr. Kleiner. In the mid-1980s, about 800 professions were licensed in at least one state. Today, at least 1,100 are, according to the Council on Licensure, Enforcement and Regulation, a trade group for regulatory bodies. Among the professions licensed by one or more states: florists, interior designers, private detectives, hearing-aid fitters, conveyor-belt operators and retailers of frozen desserts.

[...]Mr. Kleiner, of the University of Minnesota, looked at census data covering several occupations that are regulated in some states but not others, including librarians, nutritionists and respiratory therapists. He found that employment growth in those professions was about 20% greater, on average, in the unregulated states between 1990 and 2000.

Licensing can also drive up costs to consumers. Licensed workers earn, on average, 15% more than their unlicensed counterparts in other states—a premium that may be reflected in their prices
, according to a study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research and conducted by Mr. Kleiner and Alan Krueger, an economist at Princeton University.

[...]But whether licensing guarantees better-quality work is an open question. Several academic studies in the 1970s and '80s found that licensure boosted quality in professions such as dentistry, optometry, plumbing and real-estate sales. More recent studies have found no evidence that licensing improves the quality of teachers or mortgage brokers.

It's harder to measure quality in more subjective fields such as interior design or hair styling. But a look at consumer complaints about manicurists suggests licensing doesn't necessarily correlate with quality.
Eliminating licensing can increase employment in those fields by up to 20%, lower price by approximately 15%, all without a necessary loss in quality.

Why are we standing for this anymore?

Monday, February 20, 2012

More Facts and Figures Against the Taxpayer-Funded Stadium

The resistance movement is in full swing. Join us, get updates and details at facebook.com/nostadium


StarNews:

The Atlanta Braves ranked 27th out of 30 clubs in their (farm) system for winning percentage in 2011; 15th out of 30 clubs for fan attendance.

They are second-worst in the National League in several categories and second worst in Major League baseball in others.

StarNews (Chad Adams):

The old Meadowlands stadium was demolished even though taxpayers are still on the hook for part of the $110 million cost of construction. The new world champion Giants needed a new place to play.

Folks in Seattle, Philadelphia and Indianapolis are still paying for their stadiums that have also been torn down, according to The New York Times. The Times also documented that Houston, Memphis, Pittsburgh and Kansas City, Mo., are paying for stadiums/arenas that have been abandoned by the teams for whom they were built.

Even the Florida Marlins bilked taxpayers to the tune of $2.4 billion after telling local folks that they didn’t have the money to build a stadium and would leave without it. Turns out the Marlins had plenty of money to cover a significant chunk of the stadium but didn’t want to.

But those are big cities with big names, one might say. True, but even here in North Carolina we have our share of taxpayer sport bilking. Winston-Salem and Forsyth County funded a stadium they were told would cost $22.6 million, but cost overruns have pushed that figure to almost $50 million now. Leaders claimed the ball stadium a success in their first year, but that became laughable when the Winston-Salem Dash would not reveal their expenses, citing “trade secrets” when asked.

In spite of promises to the contrary, a new team signing a lease doesn’t bind them to the taxpayer obligation. The lease could be broken, but the taxpayer obligation would remain.

Stadium petition:
http://www.scribd.com/ben_mccoy_8/d/81953051-Stadium-Petition-FINAL-Contact-Sheet

Limiting city spending petition:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/81958234

Increased transparency petition:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/81958289See More

Friday, February 17, 2012

Reading Assignment: Publicly-Funded Stadiums Create Economic Liability

The resistance movement is in full swing. Join us, get updates and details at facebook.com/nostadium 

In light of our city's wishes to be the next big losers on that long gray line of failed taxpayer-funded stadiums, here are some very real and very serious stories and research about real-life scenarios out there concerning taxpayers who wish they didn't have the enormous responsibility and liability of buying failed stadiums.

Please read and pass this on to your neighbors in and around Wilmington:

http://www.fieldofschemes.com/news/archives/mls/portland_timbers/

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/9599955-573/cubs-minor-league-peoria-team-losing-major-money.html

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/oped/2011/nov/13/tdopin02-how-harrisburg-borrowed-itself-into-bankr-ar-1453606/

Even a very leftist magazine appropriately entitled The Progressive comes down hard on this issue: http://www.progressive.org/mag/zirin1208.html

Previously posted, but needs a second read: http://www.stadiummouse.com/stadium/economic.html