A dash to one of my favorite local sunset nooks
Reply
Downtowners complaining to the Internet because the City of Bismarck won’t clean sidewalks for them
“The DBA is asking the city to PLEASE SEND SOMEONE TO CLEAN UP DOWNTOWN Bismarck! It has not been taken care of in months. Dawn and Kate cleaned 4th and Broadway this warm afternoon. We don’t care where you get the help or money, just do it. The city “OWNS” the area and therefore should be taking care of it. With Urban Harvest starting, let’s show everyone the great city center. Pass this along!”
That’s really interesting. The City “owns” the boulevard and sidealks in front of my property, but I have yet to see someone come by and mow or maintain it for me. When someone throws trash on it, I don’t see a city worker come by to pick it up. When the snow flies in the winter, I’m the one driving the snowblower around to clear my sidewalk, driveways, and those of my neighbors. This includes rental property that I own. That’s fine; I’d rather take care of it myself…and I expect the rest of the property owners in Bismarck, including downtown businesses, to abide by the same standard! Is that so wrong?
If the DBA wants downtown Bismarck to be maintained, I respectfully submit that they look in the mirror. The property owners are responsible for the sidewalks and boulevards in front of their property. Isn’t it enough that the costs of beautification efforts for the downtown area have been spread out among all Bismarck citizens? If the businesses downtown don’t have the time to maintain the sidewalks adjoining their property, it’s time to hire someone to do so.
This comes from an organization that told the Boy Scouts and other charitable organizations that they couldn’t sell beverages with concessions at the annual street fair. When the no-beverages policy first started, I heard from Boy Scout parents who were floored and feared how that would impact their fundraising efforts for the Scouts.
So, after taking money from the Scouts and other non-profits, the Downtowners want the violins of sympathy to start playing for them because we taxpayers aren’t paying to have someone clean their sidewalks for them? Are they serious? I guess we’ll see. I think it takes a serious lapse in judgement to even suggest such a thing. In any case, I think they may have a hard time getting people to sympathize with them.
Here’s one for you, Downtowners: the next time I see a City employee cleaning or maintaining my sidewalks or boulevards, I’ll ask them to take a trip downtown and perform the maintenance downtown Bismarck businesses are apparently unwilling to do…or think they’re entitled to have someone else do for them for free.
Barnstorming our cities through Tuesday
Washington Times catches up with me on Earl Pomeroy’s ties to Big Labor
I’m up to here in filthy Labor Union money!
I’ve been decrying Earl Pomeroy’s indebtedness to big labor unions for longer than I can remember. Just last week I posted about this, so scroll down if you missed it. Labor unions, which represent less than seven percent of North Dakota’s workers, are the majority of Earl Pomeroy’s top career-long contributors. They’re bankrolling a lot of those ads for Earl that are flooding the airwaves lately. And they’re getting what they paid for!
I’m glad to note that finally the mainstream media is picking up on this, most notably this article in the Washington Times. They’re connecting the dots too, and it’s really not that tough once someone starts paying attention. The problem (and reason why North Dakota elects Pomeroy, Conrad, and Dorgan) is that nobody has been paying attention for a long, long time. Times have changed, and they don’t bode well for Earl.
The legislation mentioned in the WT article can be summed up like this:
– First, Labor unions wrangle and cajole benefits from employing businesses like a giant tick bleeding a dog dry. They do whatever they can to force these employers to provide benefits far and above what normal working families receive, and which are in many cases unsustainable.
– Next, when they’re on the verge of bringing the employer to the point of closing up shop and leaving all those union employees to twist in the wind, they go to folks like Earl Pomeroy to write up a government bailout.
– In the end, the business gets screwed, the union hacks get what they want, we taxpayers get the bill, and Democrats get money and rent-a-thugs for their election campaigns.
We’re watching, Earl. We’re doing the math and watching your every move. You’d better start looking for a new job come November. Maybe one with a big, fat labor union benefits package!
‘Til the Storm Passes By
On a 9:30 taco run I stopped to take some video and a brief time-lapse of this storm as the clouds continued to boil in the eastern sky. The light changed while I was shooting so there’s a little bit of flicker as things adjust, but that’s the nature of time-lapse I suppose. Enjoy:
Storm from behind
Earl Pomeroy once again votes AGAINST North Dakotans, FOR the labor unions that bankroll him
Anyone see a trend here? The labor unions own Earl. He represents them, not you.
In an effort to silence political speech they don’t want heard this November, the Democrats are ramming through legislation to stop organizations such as the grass-roots “TEA-Party” style groups from making their collective voices heard in the fight to save our nation and our freedom. Among the distinguished enemies of free political discourse: our own Earl Pomeroy, naturally.
Who’s fueling the engines of President Obama and the leftist Democrat Party in their attempt to “remake” our nation? Labor unions. Public sector labor unions in particular, but they’re all in the same boat. Guess who gets an exemption from this new law they’re passing? If you said “Labor unions” you’re wise to the game the Democrats are playing.
It’s no wonder that Earl Pomeroy represents Big Labor instead of North Dakota; after all, look at the list of his top donors throughout his political career! Every one of those check marks indicates a labor organization bankrolling Earl Pomeroy’s re-election and buying his votes.
By the way, labor union representation in North Dakota is still under seven percent according to the government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Even if every able-bodied union member in North Dakota was sending regular checks to Earl Pomeroy, they couldn’t compete with the out-of-state interests that own him.
It’s time to get Earl Pomeroy out of office. He has NOT represented North Dakota well over the past seventeen years. He’s a rubber stamp vote for the leftist Democrat Party. Send this post, the graphic, or a link to Earl Pomeroy’s donation information on opensecrets.org to your friends and family. Educate your fellow North Dakotans on what Earl Pomeroy’s been getting away with for nearly two decades. Let’s toss him out of office and elect someone who will represent North Dakotans and our interests instead of big out-of-state labor unions who want to wreck this nation and don’t care what happens back here in North Dakota!
Blue, green, and rust
Memorial Bridge musings
This brought to mind the fact that this bridge is fantastic in every way EXCEPT for the absence of a sidewalk on the north side! Thanks to this omission, it’s darn near impossible to get a clean sunset photo during the summer, since one must look northward to do so. I say “almost” because I still have my ways…
Prairie dog “squee” (with bonus nom)
I got my own little “squee” moment this weekend with my kids at the Dakota Zoo. This little baby prairie dog was poking around right by the glass where my 2 year old could watch him. He was so adorable I had to wait until he did something cute, like starting to nom some corn!