Saturday, March 15, 2014

Middleboro - The New Twilight Zone

Middleboro has priorities and we will soon see if building a 12.7M cop shop is one of them. This, of course, comes on the heels of defeating and override of 2 and ½ directed towards education. In Middleboro we throw the book at them since it is more important than reading a book. You examine the profiles of each town in Plymouth County and Middleboro is firmly entrenched at the bottom on most statistical categories - unemployment, college educated, median income…..
Not to be done Middleboro may have a second chance to vote on education. The high school need to be expanded or is it renovated or is it both? That will mean another debt exclusion. The high school is barely 40 years young, so one can fully understand the need to update it.
The TM that will have a shout out on the cop shop will once again clearly demonstrate town meeting is the purest form of special interest. Their vote will be a stuffed ballot with, to no surprise, the local police calling out as much support as possible. And if you wish to speak out? TM should be electronic. Wait! This is Middleboro. Nice to remain in the 19th century.
There is an informational video on the police website to show just how pathetic the structure is. IMHO, that is justification for taking a wrecking ball to the structure rather than piling on money to “restore” it. The video itself is about as objective as a Michael Moore movie.
There is also another video that has a presentation regarding the 12.7M projected project. Now I understand they are going to have a gym. Looking at some of the officers this is a wonderful idea and maybe a nutritionist and diet specialist can be in the mix? Now I understand that the police union is going to pay for the gym. Does that mean they will also be paying a monthly rent for that space? Missed that.
With public safety you can wave the “Bloody Shirt” just so often and then it loses impact.
Next up is the fact that the RMV fees will now go up 20%. Why? Feed the machine, of course. The registry is the proverbial cash cow and the extra dough goes elsewhere. The major target in this latest heist is the MBTA. Of course, lest we forget roads and bridges. That is just another pile of manure. Back years ago when bonding was finally payoff on the Massachusetts Turnpike another little fiscal sleight of hand took place to keep that a toll road. Of course that money was going to (drum roll please) - roads and bridges.
The Callahan Tunnel project in Boston will come in under budget and ahead of schedule. Maybe that company should build the cop shop?
Then, you have the state reviving the “Taxachusetts” slogan. Something called the Tax Fairness Commission has resuscitated the graduated income tax. How laughable can you get? Fairness? What a pile of BS. The whole idea is, once again, raise revenue. The machine needs money to run. At least the sales tax is not being raised - again.
Money is behind the various exotic gin mills being proposed across the state. Make money for profiteers and, of course, the money to feed the machine. What the Tax man, and woman, does not grab the pinky ringed casino crowd will. And, why stop with the gin mills? Step right up pot shops! As usual the connected get the licenses.
With pot licenses some of the money goes to drug programs. With casino money some will go to gambling programs. Seems rather strange.