Unsolicited Plug

First, I would like to say thank you to Mr. Jim Farrel of the Hartford Courant for mentioning the Silk City Independent in the Hartford Courant iTowns blog. Check it out and subscribe to the feed. His focus has narrowed to Manchester and East Hartford. I have added a link under the Blogg Roll on the left column. I wish him all the best.

Thank You For The Memories

Enjoy your retirement. Next stop: Cooperstown, New York.

Are We Preparing Our Kids For Tomorrow?

What does it all mean? That depends on you.

What this means to me: how can we even think about cutting any technology education? Especially at the sixth grade level.

From The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman:

So if the flattening of the world is largely (but not entirely)unstoppable, and holds out the potential to be as beneficial to American society as a whole as past market evolutions have been, how does an individual get the best out of it? What do we tell our kids?

There is only one message: You have to constantly upgrade your skills. There will be plenty of good jobs out there in the flat world for people with the knowledge and ideas to seize them.

I am not suggesting this will be simple. It will not be. There will be a lot of other people out there also trying to get smarter. It was never good to be mediocre in your job, but in a world of walls, mediocrity could still earn you a decent wage. In a flatter world, you really do not want to be mediocre. You don't want to find yourself in the shoes of Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, when his son Biff dispels his idea that the Loman family is special by declaring, "Pop! I'm a dime a dozen, and so are you!" An angry Willy retorts, "I am not a dime a dozen! I am Willy Loman, and you are Biff Loman!"

I don't care to have that conversation with my girls, so my advice to them in this flat world is very brief and very blunt: "Girls, when I was growing up, my parents used to say to me, "Tom, finish your dinner --- people in China and India are starving." My advice to you is: Girls, finish your homework --- people in China and India are starving for your jobs."

This is the world I work and compete in everyday. We can't throw money at this problem either. It's time to put aside petty differences. Our education system in Manchester has to become more efficient, and provide a better value. Not just a better value for our tax dollars, but more importantly a better value for our children's future. We have to help our children compete in tomorrow's world. It's hard enough to compete today.

On the Budget: An Open Letter To Fellow Manchester Citizens:

It is time to keep our emotions in check. The political parties and some organizations in Manchester are counting on us to get emotionally "fired up." I believe it is so that we can be more easily manipulated to champion their ideas on this year's difficult budget process. I'm not saying that we should be heartless. On the contrary, now is the time to be empathetic and give consideration outside of the line items in the budget that would be either to one's benefit or detriment.

To keep my emotions in check, I try to walk a mile in General Manager Scott Shanley's shoes, and look at the entire recommended budget.

• GM's Introduction to the FY09/10 Budget (Presentation)
• FY09/10 GM Recommended Budget
• FY 09/10 School Superintendent Budget Presentation
• FY09/10 BOE Recommended Budget

After that I open up a spreadsheet program (Microsoft Excel or Spreadsheet in Google Docs), create the formulas for figuring out my tax bill based on my property's assessed value, mill rates and then start plugging in numbers. I look at the mill rate calculation in the budget introduction, found on page 10 in this document. If the total town budget is increased or decrease by a certain amount, I can calculate what the new mill rate would be, and then determine what that change comes to in real dollars on my tax bill.

If you aren't computer savvy, then get out a pencil (you'll need the eraser, trust me), a pad of paper, and a calculator. If you can do your federal and state tax returns, you are smart enough and have all the skills needed to do this.

I promise you, if you do all that, you have just taken away the ability to be manipulated by someone who will be counting on you to be ignorant of this process. Now you will not be rattled by people throwing around large budgetary dollar amounts, percentages, or phrases like "actual tax levy increase." By doing the basic math, you have put the power where it belongs: in your hands.

I have included a Google Docs Spreadsheet here for you to view. It can be exported to Excel so you can input your own values. Just go to File > Export > .xls

Here is the budget process schedule. The town has made a budget comment web page available and it can be found here. There is also e-mail available. Look up the Boards of Directors here and the Board of Education here. There are plenty of opportunities to have our voices heard. Decisions are made by those who show up. We need to go to them with solutions, not problems and generalities.

"Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes."
Maggie Kuhn

Lastly, please remember that we as citizens have a new mechanism available to us this year in the town budget process. If enough people disagree with the outcome of the BOD vote in April, a petition for a budget referendum can be made. How to do that can be found here.

It is an austere year, but we are all in this together.

Open Letter to the BOD, BOE and Manchester Party Leadership:

Now is the time for cooler heads to prevail. It is certainly not the time for partisan vendettas. Here is what this voter and taxpayer is looking for in this budget cycle that I will carry through to my vote in November:

• Pragmatism
• Transparency
• Vigorous yet respectful political debate to flush out all ideas and possibilities
• Sincerity in deliberation and discussion
• Willingness to break rank, or cross political divides to do what is best for all of us, not for a party's position come November
• Open-mindedness and willingness to consider options that may not be the first or ideal choice

There is no doubt in my mind that this year's budget process will be difficult for all of us. This current economic environment has already been difficult enough. Disagreements are to be expected, and I'm not looking for everyone to sit around boardroom tables singing kumbaya. I do expect everyone to to act professional, respectful, and give the benefit of the doubt that we are all in this together.

It's A Little Ironic...

I was surprised to be watching the the Today Show this morning and hear about "a proposed bill that would take power from Catholic priests and bishops and turn it over to parishioners" in Connecticut. The article in the Hartford Courant can be found here: Catholic Church, State In Power Struggle

This was my first thought: for thousands of years church officials and religious leaders have been telling people how to live their lives and putting their noses into governmental affairs. Now that the tables have been turned they want to cry separation of church and state? I can't decide if it's hypocrisy or irony... maybe it's a little of both.

I'm completely for separation of church and state. Maybe this will help both sides remember why people sought freedom in the new world. The church should keep its nose out of our life, and we should keep our noses out of the church business.