The Quiet Before the Storm

Something is troubling me. It's so quiet in this City right now.

Sure we have the same tidal wave of crime and stupidity that has been Fall River's hallmark for many years now. And yes, we've witnessed the several comings and goings on our government's personnel merry-go-round where the same person seems to be appointed to the same job year after year after year, regardless of position and regardless of who is making the appointment. It tends to give the illusion(?) that things have changed when they really haven't, and anyone who has been in the City for as little as a year can predict which political group or groups are behind which appointments. Yes that's cynical, but, yes, that's true!

WE have a newspaper covering stories whose reporters cannot make a distinction between the words "two" and "to", where citizens wait for the weekend when nameless rookies write hilarious tripe that is always factually incorrect, and whose editor waste's our time and hers writing self serving editorials of the most common sense kind while letting the Herald News'( HN) journalism standards steadily deteriorate at the same time and seeing it get  increasingly worse month by month. Please, Horace Greeley, head back east, the HN needs you!

 And do you think the HN could cut down it's cutesy public interest stories to no more than 25% of it's output...PLEASE? I'm sure Buddha doesn't mind having his likeness purloind very much so why should we. You think the readers who live in Fall River don't know there's a serious crime problem ? You think this theft surprises them, or will shock them? Let the lady file a police report. This was the latest in a long line of non stories by the HN. And please take that picture of Shawn Cadime off your front page....you make the poor guy look like a nervous beaver.

But all this is par for the Fall River couse. It's familiar noise that almost becomes like "white sound", a soft tumult in the background so ever present  we forget it's there, like veterans of battles who know by the sound of incoming shells whether or not to seek shelter as FNG's grab the dirt.

No, Im disturbed by the REAL quiet coming from City Hall related to the FY11 Budget. Oh, the picture is there among the scattered little bits laying on the table like a puzzle. Let's see, we've got things like:

     *Cuts in MA Cherry Sheet Chap. 70  (State aid to Education) of any where from 2 to 5% from what we are receiving right now. (And we all know how well are schools are functioning, don't we!)

     *Cherry Sheet Local Aid reductions from this years funding by another 3-4%

     *Deficits  within this years general government accounts that the current administration plans on carrying forward into the FY11 Cherry Sheet charges, where prying eyes (yours and mine and everyone else's) hopefully won't notice. Oh we'll pay for it in the tax rate alright, but the untrained eye will have to look for it with an electron microscope unless you know exactly what you're looking for. It's effect will be that of yet another cut in available funds for the FY 11 budget.

     * Thought your sewer bills were too high this year? There was a specific plan to carry old deficits into FY 11's sewer rate by DOR and Mayor Flanagan as a condition of balancing the FY 10 Budget and approving the FY10 Tax Rate.

     * Fire and Police departments are facing a tough year yet again with grants and other federal funds starting to dry up as the election year takes it's toll due to National Debt concerns nationwide. Most democrats will have to be on the "cheap" or they will loose their seat!

What of the administration? We hear nothing more than what I've listed. In fact, I think this is the first semi-comprehensive list of all the hurdles facing the City and it's FY11 budget, and I'm certain I have missed a few. Why? Why all the silence a mere 60 days before this budget has to be passed and balanced. Why? The school budget process in under the " Fall River Screwup Cone of Silence " as well. Why?

I will venture a wild assed guess. I think Mayor Flanagan will offer the same REAL budget control Herr Correia exercised last year. THESE OPEN BUDGET MEETINGS ARE HOGWASH. I think the discussion of this issue was laid out pretty well by Lefty on the "View from Battleship Cove" blog a a few days ago. Make the old timers and the half heads among us happy and let them tell Will Flanagan what a great job he's doing, and hang everyone on Section 8 on the spot, and we're better than New Bedford, and blah, blah, blah.....Then he'll go about directing the budget process from HIS office. The bodies have changed, but the process is closed, as it always has been.

The calm before the storm. That's what all this silence says to me. We're all in the calm before the storm. Hold onto your hats kids....it's going to be a bad storm indeed.