Public sounds off at Bradley County Comprehensive Plan Charette: Strongly disagree!

A strong and loud message was sent to hired consultants McBride Dale and Clarion, and that message was “We do not want this Comprehensive Plan and we strongly disagree with your goals!”

Many that attended the Charette on April 17, 18 and 19th, 2012, in the Conference room at the Bradley Square Mall saw a charade of plans that encompassed the Northern, Central and Southern portions of Bradley County!

These meetings were to inform the public, receive public input and then compile that information from the public and present it on the 19th and display the results for all to see!

Well, the public came, the feedback received, but no compilation of that input was done!

When asked why there was no data being displayed on the 19th as promised and as part of the contract, Greg Dale on the 18th said we really dont have time to compile it! Then turned to those listening, “I was only joking!”

When pressed for a more definitive answer the reply was that the data was overwhelmingly negative! He led us to believe his thoughts, which led to these opinions, was that the data may have been skewed by a few in the room with a different agenda than his!

Mr Dale went on to say that he believes this is the strongest negative response he has ever seen and that he doesn’t ever remember a community coming together and flat out saying no to a plan!

On the 19th as concerned citizens gathered to see the compiled results! None! Nothing! Not a single item of compiled data, just a bunch of hired consultants standing in a mostly empty room with other bureaucrats boasting on how good their maps were!

The community has spoken and the community of Bradley County does not want this terribly expensive and heavy tax burden well into our future and our childrens future!

This meeting carried a sense of impending doom and a certain feeling that this was a done deal with or without public input! After all, paying 525,000 dollars of taxpayers hard earned money for a plan, it had better go forward!

It was no secret that I was there to object to this large overreaching plan but what surprised me was the fact that many from different socio economic back grounds came out in droves to “strongly disagree” also with this plan! I saw county commissioners, Lawyers, Doctors, farmers, and little ole people with a 1 bedroom shack on a few acres that just wanted to keep their property taxes intact with no government plan to intrude in their lives!

Many of those people attending were professionally and warmly greeted into the room but once the majority of them were voicing discontent they would soon be seen as the “enemy” or villified for daring to speak out against this plan! By the end of the Charette, I felt deeply divided in the room! The few yes men and women to one side and the NOs to the other.

As the Charade ended and the small crowd dispersed, we left the room unsatisfied that our voice was not heard nor were our ballots accumulated!

If the reason for not doing them was “too negative” then I suggest that this plan not go forward! At the very least return my taxpayer money because you have contractually failed to meet your end of the deal! You have not provided public input or feedback as promised on this Charrette!

Concerned citizens and the public need to know that this plan is not being well received in this community! So pack you bags and let the people of Bradley County choose their own future, not let the government choose our path for us!

This obvious avoidance of the citizens of Bradley County cannot be ignored!

The people have a right to speak up and file grievance with their government! I am doubting our government leaders know that or are pretending that right doesn’t exist!

Whatever the conclusion, regardless of how frustrated you become with those annoying citizens, we have every constitutional, American right to be there! To become vilified by our government and it’s hired consultants is a shame!

To ask the citizens of this County to essentially “sit down and shut up” by members of our own elected body, this is the real tragedy!

Bradley County, Chattanooga region receive their “Death, Color Zone” designations

This is an urgent notice to all citizens living in Bradley County and the Chattanooga Region. Your Mayors have voluntarily taken the necessary steps to place you into a specified “Death Color Zones! Your property rights are at extreme risk! YOU WILL EVENTUALLY LOSE YOUR PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS!

The Mayors of 16 surrounding counties in 3 States have knowingly, willingly and covertly placed you into your very own “Death, Color Zone!” Their willing participation to sign on with the Chattanooga Regional Growth plan with ICLEI, a well documented component in the implementation of Agenda 21, has put us at great risk and will have a long lasting effect on our county and region for generations to come.

Because of recent actions of a collective of Mayors at the direction of The Southeast Tennessee Economic Development Council, its Board Chairman, Bradley County Mayor Gary Davis and Cleveland Mayor Tom Rowland we have now have the Chattanooga Region ready for “Color Zone” designation. The “Biodiversity Simulation Map” or “Death Map” is being used as a guide!

Bradley Counties URBAN GROWTH BOUNDARY, the designated area being appointed by the Counties growth plan, will result into a herding of all citizens into these designated areas known as “Black Zone” color to include Hamilton County as another “black” zone!

This “Black Zone” color designation means this will be a population area only! The “Red Color Zone” is reserved for the more rural areas and will be uninhabitable consisting of mostly National Parks, forests and recreation areas!

You can clearly see Polk County and other counties in the region fall into the “Red Zone!” The “Red Zones” and it’s citizens will eventually be displaced into “Black Zones” better known as the Urban Growth Boundaries! If you are doubting this plan, does it surprise you that every county in the US has a “Comprehensive Growth Plan” of some kind with a specific Urban Growth Boundary! The reason for that is explained in this article.

The Wildlands Project and UN Convention on Biological Diversity Plan to Restore Biodiversity in the United States!

See the map and the following paragraph on this site! See where your home will fall within the “death zone!”

http://www.discerningtoday.org/wildlands_map_of_us.htm
 
You may purchase an 11″ X 17″ laminated print of this map for $13.00
 
The Wildlands Project would set up to one-half of America into core wilderness reserves and interconnecting corridors (red), all surrounded by interconnecting buffer zones (yellow).

No human activity would be permitted in the red, and only highly regulated activity would be permitted in the yellow areas. Four concerned conservative activists who now make up the board of Sovereignty International were able to find UN documentation that proved the Wildlands Project concept was to provide the basis for the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.

They used this information and this map produced by Dr. Michael Coffman, editor of Discerning the Times Digest and NewsBytes and CEO of Sovereignty International, to stop the ratification of the treaty an hour before its scheduled cloture and ratification vote. (See Congressional Record S13790)

Since the treaty was stopped, tens of thousands of Americans have used this map to expose environmentalist’s efforts to implement this diabolical agenda piecemeal local(plan), just as President Clinton did by setting aside millions of acres of public and private land. © 2000 Discerning the Times Digest and NewsBytes. 

Taken From: The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, Article 8a-e; United Nations Global Biodiversity Assessment, Section 13.4.2.2.3; US Man and the Biosphere Strategic Plan, UN/US Heritage Corridor Program, “The Wildlands Project”, Wild Earth, 1992,. Also see Science, “The High Cost of Biodiversity,” 25 June, 1993, pp 1968-1871 and the Border 21 Sidebar of NAFTA. The very high percentage of buffer zone in the West is due to the very high percentage of federal land.

With the assistance of clumps of HUD housing and grants in the multiple millions this will much more easily be a reality. Your recent MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) signed by our region, will use millions of tax payers dollars to herd them into Urban Growth areas! Your willing participation with HUD, the EPA and DOT along with other NGOs (Non Governmental Organizations) while forging Public Private Partnerships with the Chamber of Commerce, you are willingly putting everyone you represent at great risk!

Look below, and see where your decisions today will leave the many people you represent!

Agenda 21 and the United Nations and many “green movements” and many “useful idiots” of our elected conglomerate have a plan that moves people into zones and the 2035 BCC Strategic Growth Plan clearly recognizes this and gives it several names, but the death map demonstrates this designation as “Color Zones which reflect property owners being forced from their property and into a “human Settlement” within a “Rural, urban or designated growth area represented as a color designation on the map.
The Counties you represent will fall into these ominous colors and represent a redistribution of our populace to make it in their minds the most “sustainable.” After all, “Urban Sprawl” is a formidable enemy to sustainability and its goals that come with it!

The color zones are recognized by color schemes and their designations are in parentheses as how it will fall on the Biodiversity Map after our counties are manipulated according to this Agenda 21 plan and the will of our negligent self saving Mayors!

RED- No human presence!
YELLOW- Buffer zone around Red area with very controlled limited access!
BLACK DOT- Where people in red and yellow areas will be relocated (human settlements)
TENNESSEE:
Polk County (red)
Bradley County (Red and Yellow)
Cleveland (Black dot)
Hamilton-Chattanooga (Black Dot)
Bledsoe (Red and Yellow)
Rhea (Red and Yellow)
McMinn (Mostly Yellow)
Marion (Mostly Red)
Sequatchie (Red)
Meigs (Red)

ALABAMA:

Jackson County (Red)
Dekalb (Yellow)

GEORGIA:

Catoosa (Red and Yellow)
Murray (Red and Yellow)
Walker (Yellow)
Dade (Yellow)
Whitfield (Yellow)

Notice where the Black Dots fall! Who are the noticeable recipients that will receive the bulk of the population growth? Yes, Chattanooga/Hamilton and Cleveland/Bradley County and the appointed leaders, Mayors Rowland, Davis and Littlefield and their local Chambers of Commerces!

The plan is in place!

It is the will of the people who should stop this madness!
We are the tenants of a Republic protected and guided by the Constitution!
We are not willing participants in our demise and we must not allow this to be a reality, God help us!
We are in this battle for the long haul.
Mayors and all willing participants in this scheme, you are being placed on notice! A very concerted effort to remove you from office either by recall or at the election ballot box will be inevitable.
The decision is yours!
Your political fate is in your hands! Your deciisions are now affecting millions! The public is becoming informed and an informed public makes very wise decisions on the fate of their county!

Deciding to join with ICLEI out of Chattanooga shows very poor judgement as this Non Governmental Organization is a direct component of the United Nations and shows that you have now stepped up as a willing participant and placed the people in a death zone!

“Slippery slope” of taxing the poor and shifting costs to the middle is Bradley County wheel tax dilemma

Have you ever walked on ice? Have you ever walked on ice in dress shoes? You know the kind with no grip! Just pure leather and once it gets cold and hard it is almost impossible to stand! Now add a grade to that, attempt to stand at the top of the hill and maintain ground! Next to impossible! Right?

Well the Bradley County Commission has once again chosen to walk the slippery path instead of just simply putting their house in order! The slippery slope (Wheel tax exemptions) has been identified and it is going to be pretty much everyone that doesn’t have a job or is making under the poverty line for income, which leaves the
middle hardworking class to foot the bill!

What do I mean? Let me attempt to tell you! We are talking about the “wheel tax”, yes the same ole tax that failed a few years ago by referendum because the commission has once again chosen to put the debt on you the citizen they are supposed to protect and represent.

We are talking of tax exemptions to be exact, who is exempt from paying the wheel tax, that slippery slope, so to speak! The term used by no less than 3 commissioners and others on a few occasions. The decision to tax the poor and impoverished or tax the working class! It seems it always one or the other, not both! Pretty much the way Washington is sticking it to the working class! Either way, a new wheel tax leaves many unhappy!

Yes folks, the first vote of the commission was to tax the poor as well as the middle and the upper incomes! ” It’s a fair tax for everyone, it’s a bold move by the education committee” as Martin Ringstaff, Director of Cleveland City Schools, has been recorded as saying in past meetings.

“We have got to show the people why we need it!” , Chairman of the School Board Charlie Rose was overheard saying also.

The people, everyone, fair tax for all! That is the problem! It shows a disconnect from the people who represent us and the people who are doing the representing! With obviously no accounting for the impact a new tax has on the repressed and unfortunate in this City and County!

While researching the raw data, in this case, the US Census data, it is easy to distinguish who the poor are in Bradley County and who by County Commission vote who will end of footing the bulk of the new wheel tax! The middle class!

Here is my version of the “slippery slope !”

The data displayed below is easily confirmed by US Census data and can easily be googled for easy verification and I will even conveniently provide a few links below at the bottom of this blog.

In Bradley county we have a few more than 98,000 people in our community. The following is a breakdown of the demographic of that population according to the latest US Census data that will either be exempt or taxed heavily with a new wheel tax.

There are 23 percent that are under the age of 18 years old, of those 16 to 18 year olds probably make less than poverty level income. So, the first people attacked are the kids! Those in high school, struggling to get gas much less another 32 dollars for a wheel tax, granted a parent may go ahead and pay but the burden is still there.

14.1 percent are over the age of 65, again on fixed incomes and hating another tax bill.

16 percent in Bradley County live below the poverty level, many of which will be those with very little expendable income. 7,740 Veterans in this county! Many of which are disabled and below the poverty line or homeless.

8 percent of the county workforce are self employed, entrepreneurs or just laborers just getting by with occasional day to day work.

3.6 percent are illegal immigrants with no defineable income and no tax status whatsoever except when they consume. 1,407 live in college dorms and are probably struggling to make ends meet and have probably registered dads or moms car in another state anyway.

2 percent are either in nursing homes, in a local jail, or are in a group home or have been deemed mentally impaired.

If my math is correct this accumulates to about 60 percent of the population of Bradley County that are poor, repressed, at poverty level income, homeless or mentally incapable of making their own decisions! Roughly 60,000 people are affected and poor!

Initially, they are the ones being targeted for yet another tax. After much talk about who is exempt or not, some talk about who in the heck are we going to tax, it now appears the bullseye is hovering over the working class, the middle income earners who are trying to make their way and rely on hard work to support our families with minimal to no assistance from the government!

You may be saying not all of them drive! This tax doesnt affect them! At one point in the year all these mentioned will need a vehicle to either go to church, the grocery store, a group outing, leisure, vacation, a doctors appointment or simply a trip to the hospital and etc! They all rely on someone else for that transportation, in most cases close family or just do gooders wanting to contribute. Many of which are in the same boat as them. So fairly, it is safe to say they are all represented by a vehicle that is getting taxed!

There are 86,000 vehicle registered in Bradley County along with 3,000 motorcycles! With those numbers, you can say that roughly 70 to 80 percent of the people in Bradley County will be affected by this tax! Although many poor will be affected, in reality, most of the working class have two or more vehicles and will receive the yearly 64 to 160 dollar wheel tax bill! Most of the tax burden!

With the median home income rate of around 39,000 dollars you can see easily how another tax lifted and placed on you will further burden a “middle incomer” causing greater harm to you, while your government reaps the benefit of you punching the clock!

The Chattanoogan reported this morning and quoting Mayor Gary Davis, “the county wide wheel tax cannot happen the way it is currently written!” Mayor Davis went on to say “you want to give tax exemptions to low income elderly using the list from the trustees office, which doesn’t include them all! There are a lot of low income elderly that live in apartments, they are not property owners. I assume you want to give all low income elderly the same exemption, but it is not addressed that way in your resolution!”

Jeff Yarber referred again to that “slippery slope” again. He said, “This is that slippery slope that I was talking about. My thought processes on that was to not use the trustees list, but to use the process that the trustee has. The burden of proof falls on the individual!” Really? The burden must fall on the citizen to prove they are poor, in-firmed, repressed or homeless to be exempt from a wheel tax!

It was even suggested at one point to go ahead and tax the poor then on the backside the poor taxpayer will have to prove to the government that they are indeed poor and then they can get reimbursed! Really? This is taxation without representation! Have you ever tried to come up with 32 dollars when you don’t have it? Come on guys! Let’s get real!

Amy Moore, said “to gather names of low income elderly would require additional county staffing!” Here the door is being opened for yet another tax!

County Chairman Louie Alford added “Once you start down that slippery slope, it’s hard to get stopped!” The slippery slope started when you decided to tax the poor, the middle class in a very down economy! The slippery slope gets slicker when bureaucrats would rather tax the peasants than make the hard decisions needed to right our problem!

After last nights meeting this resolution was suggested it get referred back to the education committee then I am assuming will come back to the commission for a revised vote!

A side note! While back in the education committee I encourage you to look at why this problem of “no money” really exists in our school system! I believe if you look methodically at the problem you will find it!
Here indeed comes that slippery slope of taxing your poor in Bradley County! These folks are struggling to stay alive! To feed their 2.8 children or more is becoming a bigger and bigger chore!

My heart reaches out to these folks! They are truly in need! They need more in one day than I may need in one year! With that said, if we further exempt certain veterans, homeless, mentally challenged, poor, poverty level, illegals immigrants the burden shifts to the middle income! Me and most of you!

While compiling this data and defending the elderly and the poor I soon realized that the majority of this wheel tax will fall on the people who are broke on a different level after the numerous exemptions are made. A lose lose for all!

Many of whom after paying bills and taxes have very little in the form of spendable income! This my friends is a shift called social engineering, a tax shift to distribute income equally among the poor! Socialist call this redistribution of wealth or social justice! Many on the commission will fade away from this acknowledgement but this exactly what it is! Taking from those that have and distributing to those who have not!

Roughly 39 percent of the population in Bradley County make 100,000 down to poverty level! About 5 percent make 150,000 or more! The shift of all the taxes to this group greatly makes the burden heavier for the middle incomers and a little harder for them to provide for their own!

Don’t fool yourself to think a family income of 100,000 is alot! With college tuition rising, groceries and mortgages to include property taxes and other taxes, very little is left over once the bills have been paid!

Wealth distribution, socialism, takes from the “rich” and gives to the poor! This seems to be the expressed mantra of our elected leaders!

A tax is a tax! A slippery slope is a slippery slope no matter how you slice it! We are facing billions more in debt because of recent “growth plans” being proposed! This will not be the only tax in our near future!

This is merely a gateway tax, a tax that only opens the door for more taxes! This in my opinion is where the slope gets really slippery! Many hard working taxpayers and citizens start slipping down that “slippery slope” of poverty because of the government placing tax after tax on it’s wage earners! One tax may not tip the scale of a middle incomer into the poverty ranks, but one thing for sure is eventually the steady stream of new taxes will eventually tilt the scale and begin the fall of a hardworking citizen. Soon, that taxpayer is punch drunk and lying on their backs looking up to the government for a handout! This is true socialism Bradley Countians! Burden the free citizen till they slip and fall, while being forced to cry out to the ones who just cut both hands off, you have socialism perfected!

The schools are asking for a few new classrooms, a new school or two and past debt in the amount of around 30 million, the city will get their share of about 12 million to help build another school, my goodness will it ever stop!

We have a school board that allows students from surrounding counties and a few states to go to school here in Bradley County, why don’t we restrict the students to the schools they are zoned for and I bet we won’t have such a big problem! I would safely say hundreds of kids are in our system that don’t belong there!

My issue is this, it seems ok to absorb all these out of state and county students till you start asking the citizens to pay for another counties financial burden with more taxes!

City Councilman Bill Estes summed this whole situation up pretty well, he said ” A wheel tax is unbelieveably regressive and hurts the poor!” But he went on to advocate for a property tax.

County Commissioner Ed Elkins has said “people are saying they would rather have a property tax than a wheel tax!”

To all listening, the majority of Bradley Countians and Clevelanders are tired of paying more and more taxes! We are tax heavy! Great percentages of our income is taxed and Bradley County is not making it any easier on us to live here!

I challenge each and everyone of you to rethink any new taxes! We are in a down economy and most everyone is struggling! The debt that education is placing on it’s citizens cannot be carried much longer. A 60 plus million dollar education debt is enough! The debt burden on the horizon in the billions will only get larger as we shift costs to the massive growth plan already in the works!

Let’s simply ask the schools to look into why they are in such debt and spending unwisely! Let’s ask them why is it that no matter what amount of money we spend on our schools we get the same mediocre results? I believe the answer is easily out in the open if someone dare look!

Let’s get all our houses in order! We are out of control! It is time we get people in office to do the work that will not be done by the ones we have chosen to represent us! The time is right!

We must take steps to save our county, put our children’s future in sight and say any decisions must be well thought out and the first response should not be to raise taxes on the poor and not shift that cost to the middle class!

NO NEW TAXES, LESS GOVERNMENT, MORE FREEDOM!

HJR 587: State Rep. Kevin Brooks adopts resolution to stop Agenda 21 in Bradley County

Breaking News:

Legislation has been proposed in the Tennessee House by State Representative Kevin Brooks that could possibly halt the recent flurry of Agenda 21 activity in Bradley County, Tennessee. This single action may also halt the Regional Growth Plan out of Chattanooga and it’s association with ICLEI!

After many months of many emails, conversations and educational material sent out to our elected officials regarding Agenda 21, our movement has just inhaled a breath of fresh air. The Tennessee legislature has stepped up to the batters box and hit a home run!

The game is far from over and we still have the arduous task ahead of us to get this resolution to fruition in the House and Senate. It is a start and it is gladly accepted.

State Representative Kevin Brooks has put forth the resolution to stop the Agenda 21 process in our County and Region. It is now our duty to assist him with getting this resolution through the House as a bill.

This first essential step in the right ditection is only the beginning. The implementation of such legislation could have huge implications for Bradley County and the region.

Many in Non-Governmental roles are still pushing Agenda 21 items in Bradley County. Huge expensive and far overreaching comprehensive growth plans are still being pursued, even as I speak in Bradley County, Tennessee.

The RNC recently proposed similar legislation as HJR 587 and I am encouraged by both. I am cautious at best and concerned this proposal could die in committee and never reach its potential.

This resolution used as a device to halt the assault on us will be very welcome. Making its way through the house as a bill will be, I’m afraid, harder than it looks as legislators may find it very difficult to give up those federal dollars and face the wrath of perhaps a Mayor with other plans. We will see what the short term future holds and will remain optimistic that this difficult resolution will make it out of committee and onto the floor as a bill.

This resolution, if it remains true to its purpose and intent should put a stop to the growth plans that are forthcoming in Bradley County. As you may know, the growth plans are a very important step in the implementation of Agenda 21 in our communities.

We must stop this Agenda 21 process and cut off all of its existing tentacles that are running rampant throughout the district!

Our Mayors Rowland and Davis should know that a strong message has been sent to them! They should stop in kind the push to implement Agenda 21 in Bradley County!

Neutralizing this threat and attack on our property rights and sovereignty before it gets completed, is crucial. Your constituency have spoken and Mr Brooks has responded favorably! Please accept his stance against Agenda 21 and stop the surge to its fulfillment.

Many citizens across the state and nation are making this stand and so should our local Bradley County and Chattanooga Regional elected leaders.

Existing bills such as HB 1554 and an assortment of other actions are only hurting the taxpayers of Bradley County. The endless drain on our economy will be evident if these plans go forward.

The sovereign district Mr Brooks represents in Tennessee deserves this resolution to become a reality!

Bradley County and the thousands of people you represent will be much better because of your stand against Agenda 21!

Your resolution to unleash the grip of the United Nations and Agenda 21 on our community will hopefully reach deeply into plans that are already in place in Bradley County.

Eliminating PUD housing, land use regulations, property grabs, conservation easements, EPA, HUD and DOT strangulations on local business, international codes, annexations, flag subdivisions, brownfields, Greenway and historic designation has set you aside from all the others!

Complete annihilation of those processes with your proposed legislation is very welcome! This proposal is sure to change the landscape of our community and State forever. This resolution alone has stepped in and done more with one stroke of the pen than the citizens of Bradley County could do in years.

Let’s make this proposal have teeth! Let’s not allow this to remain talk and hyperbole. Let’s put legs on it and make it walk! We can stop this in it’s tracks!

Let this be a strong message to Beth Jones of the East Tennessee Economic Development Council and Armando Carbonell a direct representative of ICLEI and the UNITED NATIONS that State Representative Kevin Brooks has made the necessary steps to halt Agenda 21.

We will stop this and it all began in Bradley County! Have a great day and we will continue to hold this Representative accountable and responsible for changing the face of politics in Bradley County!

The citizens of Bradley County have spoken and the house and the RNC have responded. These bold first baby steps were very much needed in the fight against Agenda 21 activity in Bradley County!

We must now send a strong message to Mr Brooks and all TN House and Senate legislators! Let’s get busy notifying our elected officials to include our Mayors, Councilmen and commissioners!

This will be key to getting this resolution to stick! We can’t pass this opportunity up! We must act and act now!

The proverbial ball is rolling and it is now up to us to pour on the accelerant by making many phone calls and sending emails to your elected officials and rallying support through your contact lists!

Dig deep, take a deep breath and get to work! It is essential to making sure this resolution is a success! Our community is counting on it, our country deserves it!

The link and resolution content can be seen at this site:

http://e-lobbyist.com/gaits/text/541904
(copy and paste URL to view)

Annexation: Floating loans, flag lots, expanding UGB, new taxes, just to build an access road in Bradley County

`That government can scarcely be deemed to be free, where the rights of property are left solely dependent upon the will of a legislative body, without any restraint. The fundamental maxims of a free government seem to require; that the rights of personal liberty and private property, should be held sacred.’ _ Justice Story

City Council moving to make the county happy! What in the world is going on in Bradley County! Annex this, don’t annex that! This is already in the Urban Growth Boundary but we will annex it any way! Whirlpool executives “watching the development closely!” Floating short term bonds at 2 to 3 percent interest for 12 to 20 years! Flag lots shooting out from main roads, creating costly and demanding land use regulations on it’s citizens! All of this over an access road to a plant! Good lord people of Bradley County and Cleveland! Can you believe this latest hellabaloo is over a road that gives access to a plant?

One road…..to pay for it we are borrowing our own money, financing it and we have no forseeable way of paying for it! What on Gods green Earth are we going to do when we have a real dilemma like the one coming up at the end of the month when a comprehensive growth plan is put into action! This albatross is going to cost us conservatively 6 to 10 billion and no promises it will stay that low! In fact no one knows what it will cost but one thing I can tell you is not one person has debunked that cost estimate yet!

You are seeing the dilemma we are having with one road thats going to cost the taxpayer about 20 to 30 million, this is one road! We have hundreds to build with a comprehensive plan! This one we are loaning the money out and placed on a payment plan for 12 to 20 years on your dime, this is borrowed money for one road!

Can you imagine the cost load on you the private citizen to pay for this huge comprehensive growth plan? Can you imagine what will happen to our local economy when we keep stacking layers of debt on top of each other? Can you feel the strain on our economy if our city and county mayors and planners have their way!

What we have done is disrupted the open free market! Instead of letting the market take care of itself by demand we have politically selected the businesses we want to survive and have forced an unnatural selection process!

We have decided forcibly who survives and who does not! The end result through this selective narrow process is we have placed the burden of this selection on you the taxpayer instead of letting capitalism run it’s course!

We have squeezed out the “little guy” by charting the course of the free market, which in turn it goes from being free to a being a pawn of local government! This is a disaster waiting to happen, an economy just waiting to hit the iceberg so to speak, much like the Titanic!

Our demise is near! Our Mayors are setting the course! Let their legacy be along with the council and commission they manipulate be the heirs solely responsible for our future collapse! Don’t listen to the premeditated talking points that this is good for our economy! Add it up for your self and you tell me if it is good for the economy! When you do the math, you know this is not better for you! Ask who this is really good for! The answer will not surprise you!

Sure we get a little grant money, guess what happens when the Federal grant money runs out? We are left holding the bag and the bag will be heavy! Proportionately with every new debt that our locally elected representatives place on us the greater the burden on you and your future generations! Our planners and mayors cam not be looking to the future with clear goggles! If they were they would take off in the other direction an run for the hills! The debt load on future citizens will be great and potentially one that will not be able to stand the load! So everytime you hear annexation, comprehensive Growth plan, new roads or schools think about that heavy load they must carry and consider this! Will it be worth it if our future generations cannot afford to live in it!

Council moving to annex property
by By DAVID DAVIS, Managing Editor 5 hrs ago | 285 views | 0  | 1  |  | 
The Cleveland City Council has moved to help break the deadlock between it and the Bradley County Commission over how much each local government will pay for right of way acquisition for road improvements to the new Whirlpool plant on Benton Pike.

The city agreed to annex property along Durkee Road and Benton Pike already in the urban growth boundary in order for the city to share equally with Bradley County.

The Council will also float a short-term bond to pay for the project. The bond could either be variable or fixed rate. Options include a capital outlay note for 12 years for $2 million. It would be at a fixed rate at 2.39 percent. The other two proposals are for variable rate debt for 20 years, and for fixed rate debt set up to be amortized over 20 years, but required to be renewed after five or seven years.

Cleveland City Manager Janice Casteel said she did not recommend the capital outlay note since the county will repay its portion within four years, which would leave the city with the option of doing the same.

The Council is expected to make a decision at its Jan. 23 meeting.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation is funding 100 percent of the construction cost and 50 percent of property acquisition under the State Industrial Access road program. City and county governments must pay the remaining half of right of way acquisition before the state proceeds to widen Benton Pike (between APD 40 and Michigan Avenue Road) to three lanes and to widen the two lanes and shoulders of Durkee Road between Benton Pike and U.S. Highway 64.

Casteel said the annexation plan would affect property along the length of Durkee Road, including flag lots.

According to the financial website Bankrate.com, “Flag lots are so named because of the long, slender strips of land resembling flag poles that extend from the typically rectangular main sections of these lots — or the ‘flags’ — out to the street. Each ‘flag pole’ typically provides just enough frontage for vehicle access and is often shared by several neighbors.”

“[The annexation] actually takes in the boat company as well because it is a flag lot,” Casteel said. “You think of it as being on Highway 64, but technically, it’s a flag lot off of Durkee Road. The reason we’re looking at this so hastily is because if you would like to participate in the funding with Bradley County, then Durkee Road needs to be in the city prior to any commitment to sharing that funding.”

Through annexation, the Council would only pay for areas of the project within the city limits.

Mayor Tom Rowland said Whirlpool corporate officials in Benton Harbor, Mich. are closely watching the progress made toward getting the road built.

“They consider the city and county as the local governmental entity. They don’t look at us as two separate entities,” the mayor said. “They are very concerned and want us to get along with this project.”

The city will provide funds to TDOT in the amount of $1.998 million to purchase additional ROW and pay for additional utility costs. According to TDOT’s estimated costs as of Oct. 4, 2011, subject to the city’s successful annexation of the property and if the County Commission agrees to reimburse the city for its share of the costs, including proportionate fees including accrued interest on the county’s portion. Repayment is to be made within four years from the date funds are transferred to TDOT for the project.

The Bradley County Commission would also be required to amend the Minnis Road sewer agreement for Park View Elementary School. Under the amended agreement made June 24, 2009, the county would forgive the city of any further costs related to that project, which would be about $450,000.

The County Commission will vote on the agreement at a later date.
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