WRRB/Telegram District City Council Forum 10/18
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This forum is for all district council candidates; all candidates are here
today. Format: 14 total questions, 4 questions across districts (for all
candida...
6 months ago
23 comments:
I thought the event was a joke. All people with complaints and no solutions. People say the MA government overspends but the Governer is cutting spending left and right. Then when things get cut people complain, so the alternative is to raise taxes to keep things from getting cut. Then they complain MA taxes too much. People want it both ways, they want nothing to get cut and no taxes. Imagine what this state would crumble to if we abolished the income tax in the last election? Many of the luxuries that people enjoy in this state (and take for granted) would dissappear in a heartbeat. I guess I just want to hear some solutions and not complaints from people who have time to stand on a street corner and ruin my commute time.
Al:
Where is the Governor cutting spending left and right???
Revenues are coming in much less then the Commonwealth has predicted and they have cut back on the monies that they were planning on sending to cities and towns. These are the only cuts that I know of?
Bill
So I am minding my own business at 07:11am this morning and while station surfing on the radio I hear Peter Blute mention..."we have a twitter message from Bill Randell stating he was there and there were over 2000 people there..."
You sure get around, Bill !!!
:-)
Harry T
Worcester, MA
Al,
Are you one of the complainers, someone with a solution, or worse, neither? Can’t tell from your comment.
Zimage where are you??
Lurking...
And basking in the glow of CitySquare opening in the Fall of 2011...!
meeting paulie and harry friday 6:00PM at Evo
I owe you a drink
FYI, the number of state employees has grown from 115,100 in January of 2007 to 117,400 in January of 2009. Help me understand how the extra 2,300 employees enhanced all the "luxuries" I receive as a citizen of the Commonwealth.
Bill,
I'll have to take a rain check; I'm working Friday starting at 6.
And Foley says Hi!
Luxuries we take for granted. please gimme a list of them.
"ruin my commute"...........mmmmmmm now this happening has been aired for weeks .....so If Lincoln Sq was on my commute that Day I would plan on avoiding it??.....and speakign of ruined commutes ( travel)......I spent 48 mins at Weston toll plaza Sunday sfternnon and I was one of the lucky ones who go there realtively early............and 9 more mins at Allston/ Brighton (Paulie's Exit [g[)...thats 57 mins stuck in trafiic b/c the "luxury" of the turnpike was so great Easter afternoon...........time to run both these clowns off of Beacon Hill........ Deval and Tim (Bar Exam) Marray............together can......create 2 hours traffic jams...and the property tax cut that Deval touted on the campiagn trail......????
All are you on a public or private payroll?
And oh by the way, never mind the Turnpike Easter fiasco perpetrated by the hourly Turnpike hacks and then blamed on the people of the Commonwealth by the Hack and Chief of the Turnpike because not everyone has Fastlane, explain to me why when I drive into Boston 3 days a week and get to the Newton Weston toll the 3 non-Fastlane lines have shorter lines than the 3 Fastlane lines. Maybe if the Hack and Chief got rid of two of the non-Fastlane lines (and the two associated salaries) it would prompt the drivers who brought the Easter fiasco on themselves to get a Fastlane transponder. The Hack and Chief must not have to drive through the Newton Weston tolls.
Jahn, the commute time was more of a joke. I can't believe that is the one thing from my paragraph that you decided to attack. Listen, I don't have the answers and I admit that. But that display yesterday was a little much.
Rich, I was referring to a hypothetical state where the state income tax was abolished. If there were zero state income taxes, many luxuries would disappear. I never said your luxuries are enhanced because Deval hired an additional 2300 employees.
But Rich I do agree with you on the tolls. I travel from Newton to Worcester 5 days a week. I feel ya on that one.
Al:
First off thanks for answering the questions. Appreciate that.
Can you tell me what spending cuts the Governor has made other then cutting the aid to towns and cities?
Bill
You are right, he's only made the
9c cuts. He hints to either making further cuts or raising taxes (hence the reason for the display yesterday). Okay so we don't want the tax or toll increases, so what do we want to cut? That is my question i guess. If you are protesting tax increases and big government spending, then you are in support of budget cuts. It's one or the other. So what do those protestors want cut is my question. I saw all kinds of signs saying "please stop taxing us", but i didn't see any signs that said "please cut this"
"Imagine what this state would crumble to if we abolished the income tax in the last election?"
So the voters abolish it and teh legislature just votes it back into existence 60 days later......
And then when i pass through toll plaza on Sunday the Prozac/Paxil injesting toll taker is laughing and singing to himself........at 28$ per plus probably 14$ more or $42$/hr if he's on O.T. Now that's a luxury that I'd love to the TT'er to do without ....and shouulda been Dunne away with in 1984 per origainal pike planning.....kind alike Dukakasis's temporary increase in the sales tax from 3% to 5% back in 70's ya right
Your right I'd enjoy that luxury too. But if you get that luxury, you just lose the luxury or driving on maintained highways. There is no way to pay for maintenance if no tolls. So you just trade one luxury for another. There is no easy answer. One thing will impact another.
Al,
Unfortunately the message that got sent when Question 1 was defeated was business as usual down on Beacon Hill and now we are all paying, and probably will have to pay more, for it. For me, the Tea Party is an extension of what Question 1 really meant, No More Big Government....regardless of what side your on.
Al:
For starters:
1) Privatize the Mass Pike
2) Privatize MassPort?
3) Lower the taxes on items like cigarettes where we have lost tons of revenues when people go to New Hampshire to buy cigarettes.
4) Stop giving more money to build more low income housing.
Bill
Al, Sorry but I fail to see driving on a well maintained highway as a luxury.
The laws require me to properly maintain my house & yard & sidewalk (shoveling).......it's not a luxury to me. It's like saying that changing my car oil every 5000 miles is luxury.....it's necessity.
Al, did u check the box on your MAss tax return to voluntariy pay taxes at a 6% rate as opposed to a 5% rate?
how about cutting in half our social service payouts-housing,medical,legal,food so that we are not so desireable to every person on the dole...here is a cut
How about utilizing some of the warm bodies that are on these social service programs instead of just having them percolate at home all day long....here is a cut or used to make a cut
How about making sure that all of these formah Pols do not end up as administrators of colleges at 100's of thousands of dollars and then having pensions of 100's of thousands..here is another cut
How about making MBTA workers retire like the rest of us and not after only 25 years..another cut
Shal I go on Al...I can
good point but MBTA drivers retirment was 23 years..can ya believe it.......but dont ever expect any meaningful reform in the statte pension arena......b/c you really think the state legislators who are part of thsi retirement system are going to cut their own bennies in any meaningful way ??????
How about illegal immigrants not being allowed State Welfare benefits?
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