Local government and politics | NYC et al, RIP?

[noddy]

my amusing local government street anecdote is that I am just past the border between the middle class area in the forest - doctors wives doing pottery being the stereotype - and the main farming district.

the roads in the middle class area are all smooth, straight hotmix roads with good signage and edges, and the speed limits are 40-50 mph.

the moment you cross into my shire, the roads are wiggly and pothole filled and the edges sort of slide off into the gravel, many sections cant handle 2 cars at the same time without one car commiting to the ditches.

speedlimits, 60-70 mph.

it always makes me smile when i drive slowly out of the safe road and then speedup for the white knuckle one.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

We had a once-in-200 years type storm the other day while I was flying about. Missus said it rained close to 5 or 6 inches within a 90 minute span.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

my amusing local government street anecdote is that I am just past the border between the middle class area in the forest - doctors wives doing pottery being the stereotype - and the main farming district.

the roads in the middle class area are all smooth, straight hotmix roads with good signage and edges, and the speed limits are 40-50 mph.

the moment you cross into my shire, the roads are wiggly and pothole filled and the edges sort of slide off into the gravel, many sections cant handle 2 cars at the same time without one car commiting to the ditches.

speedlimits, 60-70 mph.

it always makes me smile when i drive slowly out of the safe road and then speedup for the white knuckle one.

It's almost the opposite here. As the settlements are all older than motors, all the wiggly, wind-y, perennial potholes are in the towns and cities. Go up to farm country and you find the smooth, straight roads, planned much later to criss-cross the farming lands.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

The state of Connecticut rolled out its first of what is sure to be many tolls in the Waterbury area.

Years ago now, under the previous governor, the CT legislature passed a ridiculous 50 year plan to update the roads [read: steal money]. Part of the update was supposed to be bringing back the long gone toll system.

All this was deeply unpopular and contentious- and one of the reasons the last guy was a previous governor- but has a lot of currency with the state legislators who smell the pork and have convinced themselves the decline in Connecticut (population, monetarily) is all due to the state being used as a thruway between Boston/Providence/New York. Then mix that in with the true believing greenies and we have the proper mix for awful ideas [again read: stupid ways to steal money].

The current governor campaigned against the tolls in general but, being of the party that wants them and very realistically knowing we have to pay for this 50 year plan somehow, he wanted to levy it against commercial trucks only. How realistic all that was is a separate matter; the important thing is that he lost out and the tolls will be coming full force.

And that's where the boldness comes in because right on the heels of that, the legislature now wants to start taxing cars by the mile driven. An old wishlist chestnut by now; I guess they think they will be able to pull this off without opposition. I think this will anger people more than the tolls themselves.

edit: I'm not even totally against tolls or rearranging taxes-- I'm against terrestrial 50 year plans because it's just taking the piss.

[noddy]

I am 100% against toll's.

I believe their is a public commons, shared infrastructure that makes the whole of our society work and being able to get places without paying taxes to go there is part of that.

toll roads are like all the insidious middle class horseshit that makes our society worse, fees and licenses for every damn thing, death by a thousand cuts on the bottom half of society being able to legally do anything.

sorry mate, you are too poor to visit this part of town.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

Which was one of the primary arguments for getting rid of them 30 years ago, and will be again in another 20 years.

I feel this is all just spinning wheels.

Connecticut and taxes, levies and tolls go hand in glove:

Connecticut residents are again paying some of the highest state and local taxes this year, according to updated figures from the Tax Foundation.

The Tax Foundation’s annual State and Local Tax Burdens report looked at state and local taxes paid by each state’s residents (including taxes paid to other states) compared to the size of the state’s economy.

It showed Connecticut residents last year paid the equivalent of 15.5 percent of the state‘s net product in state and local taxes—the second-highest rate in the nation. Only New York had a greater burden at 15.9 percent. Hawaii had the third-highest rate at 14.1 percent.

The national average is 11.2 percent, with the lowest three states, Alaska, Wyoming, and Tennessee, each below 8 percent—or roughly half of Connecticut’s level.

Nationally, the average state-local tax burden has decreased from 11.7 percent in 1977 to 11.2 percent in the latest analysis. During this same time, Connecticut’s tax burden has increased 3.3 percentage points, the largest jump in the country. Connecticut during that period created a personal income tax, something visibly absent from all three of the country’s least-burdened states.

Connecticut’s high tax burden, the bulk of which is taxes paid to its state and local governments, stem from the state’s high cost of government. The outsized influence of public-sector labor unions over state and local policy decisions mean residents pay more for lower-quality services and face considerable costs from pension and retiree healthcare expenses that were incurred, but not funded, decades ago.

This is evident, among other places, in Connecticut’s high K-12 costs. In 2020 the state’s schools together spent $21,346 per student, 14 percent more than Massachusetts ($18,733) and 58 percent more than the national average ($13,494).

courtesy The Yankee Institute

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

As for license tolls, when I arrived in Florida, they would not allow me to rent a car because Florida no longer acknowledges Connecticut's regular drivers license.

I do not have the star license which is currently still used as a threat about restricting access to travel, public buildings, etc. sometime in the near future. Feel like this has been hanging over the country since shortly after 9/11.

It's annoying enough that every time I go to renew my drivers license, the price increases 12 dollars; I'm not paying the extra 25 just so the US security apparatus can frisk me even quicker at all hours of the day and all days of the week.

[Typhoon]

As for license tolls, when I arrived in Florida, they would not allow me to rent a car because Florida no longer acknowledges Connecticut's regular drivers license.

I do not have the star license which is currently still used as a threat about restricting access to travel, public buildings, etc. sometime in the near future. Feel like this has been hanging over the country since shortly after 9/11.

It's annoying enough that every time I go to renew my drivers license, the price increases 12 dollars; I'm not paying the extra 25 just so the US security apparatus can frisk me even quicker at all hours of the day and all days of the week.

Had to look this up. Something called "REAL ID".

What about illegal, pardon me, undocumented aliens?

And foreigners? Would a Japanese driver's license be acceptable?

With any luck, the US bureaucracy will screw it up as badly as the "My Number" ID system in Japan, but I suspect not.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

As for license tolls, when I arrived in Florida, they would not allow me to rent a car because Florida no longer acknowledges Connecticut's regular drivers license.

I do not have the star license which is currently still used as a threat about restricting access to travel, public buildings, etc. sometime in the near future. Feel like this has been hanging over the country since shortly after 9/11.

It's annoying enough that every time I go to renew my drivers license, the price increases 12 dollars; I'm not paying the extra 25 just so the US security apparatus can frisk me even quicker at all hours of the day and all days of the week.

Had to look this up. Something called "REAL ID".

What about illegal, pardon me, undocumented aliens?

And foreigners? Would a Japanese driver's license be acceptable?

With any luck, the US bureaucracy will screw it up as badly as the "My Number" ID system in Japan, but I suspect not.

Good question. I think it is permitted with a foreign license but I'd double check beforehand from now on. We rented a car up here to drive to the airport and we were told that there would be no problem for us in Florida, as we aren't aliens, and yet the guy at the desk there refused to hand it over despite already technically renting it. Wouldn't even let me rent the car and list someone in our party who did have a real ID as the driver.

Of course the impetus of this was to cut off states that issue American licenses to aliens (like CT).

So who know if we were denied because of the arbitrary power of the guy behind the desk. Much like the security searches, it's all depends on who you run into.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

Being in Florida, I got an earful about how Ron DeSantis is the worst thing ever from the last Democrats in the state. It was all gnashing of teeth and threats to flee.

[Parodite]

So who know if we were denied because of the arbitrary power of the guy behind the desk. Much like the security searches, it's all depends on who you run into.

Ana asks: Is it "a banana republic" or "a republican ban"?

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

[noddy]

flooding in low lying areas with massive sewer networks is always a delightful thought.

that would be "high nutrient water"

[Doc]

Funny when I saw your post I started wondering if I had mental powers or something as I had seen the video before

Then I did a quite search, and behold I did see it before

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

Funny when I saw your post I started wondering if I had mental powers or something as I had seen the video before

Then I did a quite search, and behold I did see it before

You could say predictable, but I'll go with consistent & reliable.

The city and its subway is grimy enough and the rain just makes it all worse.

------------------

We got hit just as bad or worse and the damage is a costly, last two days have been figuring all that out. Thankfully, it could've been much worse and we just lucked out in some regards.

It's raining again tonight. It's been averaging something like a storm every three days for the last month.

[Nonc Hilaire]

I’ve been through 3 floods. Don’t forget your books are covered by your insurance. More valuable than jewelry for me.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

I’ve been through 3 floods. Don’t forget your books are covered by your insurance. More valuable than jewelry for me.

Thankfully, it wasn't anywhere close to that bad. The outcome was damage to the furnace's motor but the furnace itself escaped to live another day. Repairman+new motor was the charge and all that comes under my deductible. The floor in that part is unfinished; the washer&dryer ended up okay (thankfully); and all that was lost was utility closet type stuff- printer paper; unused cardboard boxes and so on. I started pumping out/wet vaccing before it got to the underground bits we are happy with.

The real killer is the driveway, which is not covered. Not the worst but will need an asphalt resurfacing. Stinks as I had a good portion of it resurfaced 5-ish years ago but what am I going to do?

[Typhoon]

Sympathy to everyone impacted by the recent flooding.

New York’s century-and-a-half-old sewer system was designed to handle no more than 1.75 inches of rain in a one-hour rainstorm.
When rain exceeds that amount, or storms last longer, you get flooding.

Suggest New York needs to invest in the type of flood control infrastructure such as has been built to protect Tokyo instead of the politicians and bureaucrats avoiding responsibility by invoking "climate change".

[Heracleum Persicum]

Sympathy to everyone impacted by the recent flooding.

New York’s century-and-a-half-old sewer system was designed to handle no more than 1.75 inches of rain in a one-hour rainstorm.
When rain exceeds that amount, or storms last longer, you get flooding.

Suggest New York needs to invest in the type of flood control infrastructure such as has been built to protect Tokyo instead of the politicians and bureaucrats avoiding responsibility by invoking "climate change".

Why not invest those Billions throwing into Ukraine bottomless pit into flood prevention for key US cities ?

Biden came to power promising "infrastructure" projects (in US and not in Ukraine)

[noddy]

The us has spent a trillion a year on millitary. or thereabouts , since I was born - they could abandon Ukraine tommorow and would still be spending that money - right wing america and whats left of the industrial base would collapse if they stopped.

when people posture like this, I cant tell if they are liars or retards.

The new york sewer maintainence budget is a seperate, new york related thing, its one of the richest cities on the planet, I assume they spent it on cocaine and hookers for councillers.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

All NYC systems are perfectly balanced and parceled out to prevent any big action or responsibility from ever taking place again.

The current sewer system is a 160 years old now- some parts still use original piping- and it shall be as is until Manhattan finally sinks (think the estimated rate is .02 millimeters per year .)

Sympathy to everyone impacted by the recent flooding.

...

Suggest New York needs to invest in the type of flood control infrastructure such as has been built to protect Tokyo instead of the politicians and bureaucrats avoiding responsibility by invoking "climate change".

The rosy estimate attached to it is 100 billion dollars and decades of work, which means it probably is three or four times that cost and a century of work.

The federal gov't and the city have been working on something in terms of more band-aids but I think even that stalled.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

Meanwhile the FBI raided the home of a Mayor Adams (NYC) campaign consultant and appear to be investigating a kickback scheme&corruption probe involving Adams, the Turkish gov't and a Brookyln construction company.

So basically the Turks bought the mayor of NYC and every one around him went about laundering the money in stupid and obvious ways.

What really gave it away was Adam's efforts to rename New York New Istanbul.

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Still leagues better than the last mayor.

[Heracleum Persicum]

.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qf4WBbXGOeU


' Trump is toast ' : Ex-Watergate prosecutor predicts outcome of trial


There Zero doubt what Trump is accused of .. apparently Trump went bankrupt 6 times .. many years ago a Chinese friend in Vancouver said Trump has no money and it's a rich Chinese in NY who finances Trump.

But all this normal in our beloved US of A , land of smokes and mirrors

[noddy]

Meanwhile the FBI raided the home of a Mayor Adams (NYC) campaign consultant and appear to be investigating a kickback scheme&corruption probe involving Adams, the Turkish gov't and a Brookyln construction company.

So basically the Turks bought the mayor of NYC and every one around him went about laundering the money in stupid and obvious ways.

What really gave it away was Adam's efforts to rename New York New Istanbul.

-----------

Still leagues better than the last mayor.

a very multicultural level of foreign interference you guys get

we just get China mostly.