This shot is brought to you despite the best efforts of the CIty of Bismarck which, having never found a park they couldn’t screw up, have topped themselves with the recent reconfiguration of Lions Hillside Park in northeast Bismarck.
For decades, there hasn’t been a better place to take a photo of Bismarck, especially at sunset or during moments of severe weather. You drive to the top, sit on one of the park benches or near the flower beds, and enjoy perhaps the single finest view of the City of Bismarck. There’s no higher vantage point in town worth mentioning…and now it’s completely inaccessible by anybody but hikers!
You see, when they “improved” the park they not only ripped out the road leading to the top of the park, but they also removed the walking paths as well! The path has been replaced with one long asphalt path that winds around the perimeter of the park, but there are no crossover paths at all and it doesn’t even come near the top of the park! If you want to get any closer to the city’s best vantage point, you’re going to have to hike. At this point that means a trip through the dirt and straw covering the ravaged area where the road once existed. See those little red circles? Those are the benches where people used to sit to enjoy our fair city.
UPDATE: Instead of driving to the top of the park to observe our fair city, this is the closest you can get to the top within the park. If you’re mobility impaired or lugging a 21 pound camera bag and an expensive tripod, you might not like hiking all the way up to the top. Too bad! You can park in St. Mary’s Cemetery and hop the fence, I suppose. What were they thinking? You can’t even SEE the top of the park from here!
If you were a teenager or older in the 80’s, you remember Sertoma Park in its heyday. You could drive into the park on the north end, where the walking path exists now. The road hugged the tree line all the way through the park, providing ample access to the sandbars below the Memorial Bridge. During the summertime, those sandbars would be packed with people enjoying the river, playing frisbee, sunbathing, or just hanging out by the water. The area was literally carpeted with people having a good time.
Well, the City of Bismarck apparently couldn’t stomach that, because they broke up Sertoma Park into a bunch of confusing little pods that do not provide more parking than before and totally obliterate ease of access to the sandbar. As a result: none of those pesky kids having a good time out in plain view! Only in recent years have people with boats begun to repopulate Bismarck-Mandan’s sandbars during the summer.
I don’t know what was such a huge problem about having vehicle or walking access to the top of Hillside Park, but obviously somebody thought there was a need to put a stop to it. In doing so they ruined the last truly great park in Bismarck, depriving many of its citizens the best view in town, and leaving photographers like me scratching our heads in bewilderment as we wonder just what in the world they were thinking. It’s as if they wants to torpedo our enjoyment of the area on purpose. Thanks a lot, guys. You just guaranteed that this park will see a tiny fraction of the use it once enjoyed. I hope that was worth the taxpayers’ money.
UPDATE: Since I don’t want to be all negative, even when they’ve screwed up one of my favorite places to go with my camera, I would like to point out that the park does have its own Ten Commandments display, which is a huge positive in my book. It doesn’t change my feeling about the rest of the park’s destruction, but I was very happy to see it here.
Also, the work here isn’t completed. It looks like all the roads and paths that are planned have been installed, however. It’s a shame, because that’s the part that’s so messed up! The other improvements are fantastic. There’s still time to at least get a foot path up to the top of the park; however, citizens who have a problem hiking that far have likely lost their ability to enjoy this park with ease forever.
I had the opportunity to attend a meeting of the Bismarck City Commission last night and got to hear some really boring stuff, along with some very interesting stuff. Which do you think I’d like to write about this morning? š
Recently there have been many questions brought up about the legality of the Renaissance Zone Authority, a body put together by the City Commission to authorize various pet projects in the city… beautification and upgrades, that kind of thing. If you read this letter (PDF) sent to the Commission you’ll find that the way the City did it doesn’t necessarily meet state law. But that’s a separate matter from what I want to discuss.
Here’s my “average citizen” understanding of what I heard last night (if I’m in error, please correct me):
When the City determines an area needs to be “renewed” the law enables them to come up with a specific renewal plan. They are then allowed to use Tax Increment Financing (TIF) to fund the plan for its specified goal. They assess the taxes of properties in the specified area at their current value at the time of the plan (in this case, 1978 or so). As those properties periodically rise in value, the amount collected over and above the assessed amount goes to the renewal fund. Once the work is completed, the fund is to be closed, and the remainder distributed to local entities such as school districts and the like. That fact is very important. Here’s why…
If the urban renewal plan is “amended” along the way, the City is required to re-assess the baseline value of the properties taxed therein. Last night’s vote to amend the plan was referred to as the seventh time this has happened. The way I heard it last night, the properties in the downtown area, however, have not been adjusted in the TIF plan since their original value! That simple fact is the basis for this post. What does it mean to you or me?
Let’s say I had property downtown that was taxed at $100 a year at the start of the renewal plan. Year one of the plan I paid $105 in taxes, so $5 went to the Urban Renewal Fund. Fine and dandy…but fast forward 32 years, and maybe I’m paying $1000 in property taxes. now the county gets $100 again, and the urban renewal fund gets $900! That’s $900 that could go to roads, schools, and things other than beautifying someone else’s neighborhood.
If you paid attention to the last legislative session, you know that the state passed a boondoggle of a bill in the name of “property tax relief” because people are upset at the amount they need to pay for property taxes. At the same time, the City of Bismarck is using questionable math and, to my understanding, bending the law as it relates to urban renewal. All the while it’s padding its urban renewal coffers by neglecting to re-assess the properties in the TIF area!
Like I said, the TIF idea enables the cities to “skim off the top” a bit for urban renewal. BUT…it also requires the amount above which they can skim to be adjusted every time the plan is updated for new pet projects! Apparently, in the past 32 years that has NOT been done.
This, of course, also flies in the face of the fact that the urban renewal law intended for a specific plan to be made, executed, funded, and then ended. The City of Bismarck seems to think they can keep amending this plan ad infinitum, collecting all the money in excess of 32 year old property tax values, and then congratulates itself for having FIFTEEN MILLION DOLLARS of tax money available for said projects. This is dishonest, it’s a violation of policy, and might just be illegal.
My friend Brett over at the North Dakota Policy Council has been following this and put together a little video about this Tax Increment Financing. As a taxpayer I suggest you watch it:
You can also read a little more on this page, which has the same video and a link to the PDF letter sent to the City Commission. If you’ll note in the letter, a decision to amend the Urban Renewal Plan was made by the Renaissance Zone Authority board, which was delegated that authority by the state. The problem is that the City did not follow state law in setting up such a board, nor did they comply with the law in delegating their authority to amend the Plan to the Renaissance Zone entity.
I heard buzz that the reason they held the meeting last night addressing the Urban Renewal amendment was so the City Commission could vote on it themselves, since they realized they screwed up with the Renaissance Zone Authority. That’s all speculation. Even if it’s true, it highlighted one other fact, one that meetings won’t fix: the City has been dragging this Urban Renewal Plan along, with apparently little oversight from us, the citizens. It’s time that is changed. The Urban Renewal plan wasn’t intended to be turned into an open-ended pet project.
If they’re sitting on $15 million that was taxed improperly, then I suggest that Urban Renewal Plan projects be STOPPED until the TIF mess can be sorted out. Money that should not have been skimmed into the fund should be returned to the entities who need it, and the remainder made available for Urban Renewal as planned. The City should be required to outline a specific, finite plan for renewal and, according to the law, finish that plan and close out the fund. If they find another project that needs TIF financing, then write up a new plan for that project and go about it on its own merits. It’s time to get rid of the city’s perpetual Urban Renewal piggy bank!
This TIF money in the urban renewal fund is money that would otherwise go to schools, roads, or emergency services. Instead, it’s sitting in an account waiting to dress up someone else’s property. Is that how the people in the Cathedral District got a facelift for their neighborhoods? Citizens of Bismarck, we need to wake up and keep an eye on how our city government is collecting and spending our tax money!
Let’s say I’m wrong, and the property values have been adjusted along the way as this Urban Renewal plan morphs into an open-ended pet project. That makes much of my argument above irrelevant, except for one thing: Urban Renewal plans are NOT supposed to be perpetual. They are supposed to be designed with specific project goals and closed when those projects are completed. A new Urban Renewal project should have its own plan and funding. That prevents a mess like I’ve outlined above from dragging itself out over thirty years and tying up millions of dollars in taxpayers’ money.
(Here’s a Bismarck Tribune article on the meeting, but they don’t get into why there’s concern about the pool of money in the Urban Renewal fund, or how it got there.)
Again, this is my understanding of the program as a taxpaying citizen and property owner. I’m still getting up to speed. I’m also not implying malicious intent on the part of any city officials, just that the city’s Urban Renewal activities need to be scrutinized and brought into compliance with state law. If you spot anything in this post that’s inaccurate, let me know so I can correct it ASAP. For more information on how you relate to your government, check out the North Dakota Policy Council website frequently. It’s a great resource.
Among the many things that Hugo Chavez Barack Obama wants to nationalize, i.e. seize under government control: student loans. The problem for banks is that it takes a revenue stream and yanks it out from under them. Some banks, such as the Bank of North Dakota, derive 30% of their loan income from student loans. Hopeā¢! Changeā¢!
According to this KXMB article, there are 55 North Dakotans employed in relation to the bank’s student loan activities. I wonder if they’re feeling all hopey-changey right now.
Of course, one of our gallant Senators promises to ride to the rescue according to the same article, pledging to deliver an exemption for the nation’s only state-owned bank. What about the other banks across the nation? Because they’re not government entities, should they be treated this way?
I’ve been meaning to write on this for quite some time, so perhaps it’s even a done deal by now. If BND is actually exempted, North Dakotans should still be upset at this latest attempt on the nation by the radical leftists running President Obama.
I was sitting in Barnes & Noble as I’m known to do occasionally, reading some of those zany British motorcycle magazines that make our American mags look like vegan cookbooks by comparison. I was reading an issue of Visor Down and noticed an interesting tidbit in the “confessionals” section. I snapped a quick photo (above) of the reader’s submitted letter. The part that jumped out at me was:
After a trip in the big NHS taxi, I found myself in casualty, on a Friday night and it was packed. I was walking wounded so I was left in the corridor on a luxury PVC NHS wheelchair. After about 2 hours, and feeling a bit stiff, I decided to hop across the packed waiting room to the drinks machine.
This story takes a more interesting turn, but the fact that this guy took for granted that he could be stuffed into a plastic wheelchair and left in a hallway after crashing his motorycle is absolutely ridiculous. Motorcyclists are known to be a little more freedom-loving (and -exercising) than most…yet this guy, a product of European socialism, has been conditioned to think that his situation was acceptable.
Depending on your monitor size, the text of the article may or may not be legible in the photo above. Let me clarify: he didn’t write to complain about his experience at a government (NHS) hospital. He wrote in to say how embarassed he was that, during the “hop to the drinks machine” he mentioned above, he realized that the crash had ripped the butt out of his jeans and boxer shorts, exposing him to the people in the waiting room. As an freedom-loving American, I would like to point out that his REAL source of embarassment should be his nation’s government healthcare system!
North Dakota has a lot of motorcyclists, especially considering our weather. If you’re one of them, and think that the government won’t find a way to penalize you for riding a motorcycle under its “fair” new health care system, you’re deluding yourself. Call Dorgan, Pomeroy, and Conrad and tell them to vote NO on government health care!
I was discussing this with a nice gentleman from the Cato institute last fall, and he pointed out that motorcyclists should probably pay more for insurance because they present a greater risk. He didn’t state that as his opinion, just as a matter of the business of insuring against such risk. I agree from a business standpoint, because the free market will sort this out just like anything else.
Case in point:, in the 80s it was very difficult to insure a motorcycle like mine. Yet, the sportbike riders were out there, and enterprising insurance companies bucked the trend to shy away from them and be the only ones to offer reasonably priced coverage. Now it’s easy and cheap to insure a sportbike capable of 300kph like mine, even with a $100 deductible! The free market sorts things out and lowers prices like government never could. See what happens when motorcyclists band together?
Once again, I implore you to call Conrad, Dorgan, and Pomeroy to urge them to vote against government run health care. Your fellow bikers will thank you…we’re all in this together.
While I’m too busy being gainfully employed to attend Thursday’s rally in Washington, DC, I was able to take some time to make my voice heard. I downloaded the most recent draft of the House bill #3962, ironically titled the “Affordable Health Care for America Act,” and do a little homework. You can download the bill in PDF format here.
Part of this was spurred on by this article in the Washington Post. According to the article, “Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.), a prominent fiscal hawk, stood up to announce that he would support the measure, drawing a round of applause loud enough to be heard outside the room.” I think we can draw the right conclusion as to who was doing the applauding, and it wasn’t North Dakotans.
I took seven of the sections of legislation that stood out to me the most, printed out those pages from the over 1,900 contained in this bill, and made some notes of my own. I attached a brief letter to my Congressman, and set out to deliver it in person to his office.
Getting to the office of your Senator or Representative in Bismarck isn’t exactly convenient. Because they put their offices in the federal building, there are certain restrictions. No cameras, which is why the only photo you’ll see for this post is above. No phones, presumably because they take pictures. Metal detectors, of course, since there’s a federal courthouse and other offices such as US Marshals reside inside. Thus my Superman-inspired “fortress of solitude” crack in the title of this post.
Walking down the sterile hallways, it was obvious this was a government building. Pale blue walls, all doors closed, no windows, lots of cameras. Can you imagine having a national health care system every bit as personal as this place? I shudder at the thought. Anyway, I found Representative Pomeroy’s office on the third floor, northeast corner, with windows facing out toward 3rd Street. I talked to a polite gentleman there and handed him my letter voicing my concerns. The text of the letter:
Congressman Pomeroy:
It was with great disdain that I read the attached Washington Post article where you drew “a round of applause loud enough to be heard outside the room” for supporting the train wreck that is HR 3962, the House health “reform” act. I guarantee, sir, that those cheers were not coming from North Dakotans. I may be a simple guy, but in perusing the nearly two thousand pages of bureaucracy in the act I have found the following (see attached, with notes):
Page 91 – if my existing coverage changes in any way, I’m forced into the government system;
Page 110 – Abortions are covered as soon as the House can find a way to circumvent the abortion law;
Page 275 – My employer, a small business, will have to pay an additional 8 percent of its payroll to the government if it cannot provide us a government-approved health plan, likely forcing it to fire some of us;
Page 297 – I will personally be taxed 2.5% if I don’t meet the government requirements for a health care plan – where does the Constitution allow the federal government to force a private citizen to buy anything?
Page 313 – again goes after my employer, and hundreds of North Dakota businesses. How is this good for the state you claim to represent?
Page 339-341 – Taxes the sale and use of medical devices, a term so broad and subjective that it will certainly become all-encompassing. How does adding more taxes serve North Dakotans?
I’d like to remind you that all this information is readily available to North Dakota citizens and we are using it. More and more of us each day are building excitement at the idea of defeating anyone supporting this socialist, unconstitutional assault on our freedom. I advise you to keep us in mind as you consider your next bid for re-election.
I would like some answers, sir. As my Representative you are supposed to be looking out for the best interests of North Dakotans, not Nancy Pelosi. In light of that duty, I think your constituents deserve an explanation of how this bill can possibly be good for North Dakotans and North Dakota businesses. I eagerly await a reply.
Respectfully,
Clint
I suppose I could have been all confrontational and demanded an answer from the staffer, but why should I ambush a guy at work? I voiced my concerns on paper and received an assurance that Representative Pomeroy would receive my letter. I took part in the process. Let’s hope that others took some time to send him (and other members of Congress) a clear message.
Don’t take my word for it, though. Download the bill yourself and look at the page numbers I listed above. Those are just scratching the surface of this monstrosity! It creates 111 new federal bureaucracies to administer this juggernaut as well, according to a report I read online. It may even be worse, since Nancy Pelosi has broken her promise to post the final legislation online 72 hours before it comes to a vote. Does anyone – especially Congresman Pomeroy – have any idea what’s actually contained therein?
Like my letter said, we North Dakotans deserve some answers.
I was walking down Avenue C this weekend and spotted this curious sight on the sidewalk. I don’t know what kind of point someone was making by putting band-aids on the crack in the sidewalk, but to me it screamed “government fix” immediately! It might also make a good metaphor for the results of a successful push toward socialized medicine.
What, you say? I’m too reflexively suspicious of government? Perhaps I’m a fear-mongering racist, which is the label hastily applied to anyone who disagrees with the leftist Democrats in power? Then check out this photo, also found while walking around Bismarck:
The metal plaque in the lobby of the federal building on 3rd Street and Rosser Avenue sports an actual, honest-to-goodness government repair job using shipping tape. Perhaps that was more readily available than duct tape, since the post office is contained therein. I think it has been this way for at least one full year, maybe two. The picture is six months old and I saw this a LONG time before taking the photo.
By the way, for those who thought the “stimulus” was going to be such a lifesaver (and that we need more), Google “stimulus funds haven’t been spent yet” (or click here) and see how much of that money has actually gone out. The answer: very little. What has gone out is not going to “shovel-ready” projects, but largely patronage funding that amounts to typical government pork.
I noticed this stunning piece of work at least a year ago in the federal building on 3rd and Rosser. Every time I walk past it I consider taking a photo and remarking on it. Naturally people with cameras taking pictures in or around the federal building make feds nervous these days, but I saw no harm in pulling out the cell phone camera for this one.
This sign has been held on the wall by a piece of clear shipping tape for at least a solid YEAR now, and maybe two. I took this pic at a funky angle so the reflection on the clear tape would show you where it’s applied. Beautiful, ain’t it?
This is exactly the kind of thing you can expect whenever government promises to “fix” something. Right now I bet Chrysler feels like they’ve got a big ol’ piece of government tape strapping them to a wall too, don’t you think? General Motors can’t be far behind. So does the first power plant to find out that Obama was serious about bankrupting the coal industry, an industry that provides a lot of prosperity for North Dakota. And heaven forbid…our health care system after that.
Monday night was Citizens’ Night at the North Dakota State Legislature. This is an evening of both the Senate and House conducting business during hours where the public can come and get a look at the process. In addition to the evening session in each house, there are also some committee hearings held for a time before the houses convene for their scheduled business.
The capitol building’s Memorial Hall was pretty busy for the night time! Many of the folks working the event tonight had already put in a full day with the normal legislative day, and were working double duty for those of us who attended. Thanks, everybody!
The public was welcome to stop in at the journal rooms and pick up copies of the bills to be discussed in committee and in the sessions.
The House of Representatives. Many of the legislators had their kids or other guests, presumably from their districts, seated with them for the session.
There was plenty of back-and-forth traffic between the chambers, as they met at the same time. People were respectful of the business being conducted, and the staff were gracious with the unusual activity.
The Senate. I have a friend who’s a page for this session, and it was neat to say hi to her. My wife also stopped in to say hi on her way to pick up our little boys, who were playing at a friend’s house while Mommy and Daddy were out and about.
This is a fantastic idea for the North Dakota state government, and I’m glad they did it again this session. I posted about it two years ago during the previous session, and I’ve been looking forward to it ever since.
After the night was wound down, I hung out quietly and patiently until I had the Great Hall of the state capitol to myself. I then ran around with my camera and tripod for a while; this is the only occasion I can think of where a regular citizen can see the inside of this wing of the capitol all lit up at night! I’ll post those pictures soon.
Wednesday was National Ammo Day, apparently. I didn’t get the memo. I found it today somehow, probably from a link on the Say Anything blog. The idea was for everybody to go out and buy 100 rounds of ammunition, stimulate the economy, and send a message to the Obmanation and his merry band of gun-stealing twits.
I didn’t know about it Wednesday, but let’s just say that I’ve made up for it. There’s plenty of ammo in this family to go around, and there’s always room for more.
I have friends in other parts of the country that have told me of gun stores selling completely out of guns and ammunition once Obama got elected. He has a dismal record of anti-gun voting, and is putting people in his administration with similar views of firearm ownership. Socialist politicians like the Obamessiah love unarmed, uneducated peasants. As for me and my house, we’re going to be neither.
If I may change the subject for a second: that photo above was shot entirely handheld while sitting at my kitchen table, with a non-stabilized macro lens, and manual focus. I have not cropped it, rotated it, or manipulated it in any way except to size it down for the blog. The seven Hydra-Shox rounds I wanted to show are quite well aligned..WOW! I guess after 38,000 photos, I’m starting to develop a steady hand. After my last trip to the range, I’d say the same applies when wielding my Glock or whatever else I’ve brought. Practice pays off, whether you’re “shooting” a camera or shooting a gun.
Don’t worry that Wednesday passed you by; go out and get some ammunition! After January 20th, they’re likely to tax it, serialize it, or eventually ban it. I guess that’s the real public service announcement after all. You don’t need someone to name a holiday in order to get yourself prepared.
Let’s not start spending those trust fund dollars yet! In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, the Obamessiah promises a global warming agenda so aggressive it will bankrupt the coal industry. We get 49% of our nation’s energy from coal-fired power plants, so you can imagine what his policies will in turn do to the rest of the nation as well. Listen to his own word:
“If someone wants to build a coal power plant they can, itās just that it will bankrupt them.ā
How a North Dakotan could vote for Obama can only be explained by: dementia; habitually voting Democrat; getting their news only from the Bismarck Tribune or NBC/ABC/CBS/CNN. This guy will wreck one of the largest industries driving our state’s economy (one which helps insulate us from economic troubles in other parts of the country) while thumbing his nose at North Dakota’s mainstream opposition to things like gun control and abortion.
North Dakota boasts its “Energy Corridor” to attract new people to our state, as a reason for new industries and businesses to come to our state, and as an integral part of North Dakota’s strong economy. Want to make life in North Dakota miserable? Enact the Obama global warming plan.
