"Poll question: your city is broke. which budget do you cut and why?" Thu Mar-30-17 01:43 PM by BigJazz
your city is broke and struggling. the schools suck, crime is high, and when you look around, things look pretty messed up.
you're tasked with doing some budget cuts and your options are the 3 areas listed. there are no other options. no you can't raise more money. no you can't cut from some other area. no you can't spread cuts among the choices.
15. "that's actually a good thing" In response to Reply # 9
d-boys going legit with their money is better than the current situation Not to mention, it expands the tax base and gets them off the streets shit, 2 of the most famous hip hop labels (ruthless and roc-a-fella) were started with drug money.
11. "Same thing I thought of this morning when watching the news..." In response to Reply # 0 Thu Mar-30-17 02:17 PM by Creole
Authorities in Baltimore have decided to reactivate the street traffic cameras. That's gonna help with some of the revenue problem especially since they're adding more cameras than were in place.
>but what i do know is that Baltimore ranks high as hell in >police spending per resident and we all know how that's >working out for us...
The city is having to go at this damned near alone because Hogan ain't tryna hear it. The dude don't wanna do anything to help ensure the state's largest city is prepared for the growth that's wanted. It's clear in my mind that they want to keep the city running with all of the ready-made minimum wage labor force. So, starve the schools and watch them all either end up in jail, dead, or servicing people in restaurants found in Canton, Harbor East, Downtown, Fed Hill, etc.
I recently told some young bros, who are planning to leave for college, to not come back to this city unless they're prepared to take advantage of the opportunities that are being afforded to the highly skilled or college educated. Otherwise, they fall back into the same shit they took a vacation from - all of the things that can't survive with reduced funds.
16. "*Adjusts police budget*" In response to Reply # 0
We're downsizing police cars and searching for energy efficient options as well as decreasing the military arsenal. Overtime rules are adjusted to maintain proper use of resources. We're going after healthcare fraud hard body. I'll legalize marijuana and add a small tax on purchases.
19. "Police Department funding is what I'd reduce." In response to Reply # 0
I would divert the funds into the City Works Department. This effort would be to reinforce the city's infrastructure and to beautify it. Not only would the move restore a sense of pride in the community, by reversing the physical decline, it would also attract a larger tax base. Additionally, I'd create a jobs program within City Works to perform the extra work, in which those prone to crime would be recruited and hired, both helping them become productive members of the society and invested in making the community great. But I'd also rely on State police for assistance and appeal for some of that terrorism funding.
27. "ha. no matter what, you lose." In response to Reply # 0
i'm from flint, mi and from personal experience I can tell you that no matter what you do your city is fucked.
Cut the schools and you end up with some of the worst test scores in the state and an unending cycle of ignorance. You will have both charter and public schools failing (which is another conversation about how people will praise charter schools as saviours yet the only thing they change is a windfall of money as it is drained from your community into the pockets of an unseen for-profit entity). Then you have scores of people that would actively help make the city better moving to the suburbs because you gotta have a good foundation for your kids and the schools are much better in the suburbs.
Cut the police and you'll have the criminals taking over. You'll have instances when a city that has 100k citizens only has eight police officers on duty (true story). You will get in an accident and they'll refuse to send a police officer over and instead will call you 10+ hours later to do a report over the phone (true story).
Cut public works and...like I said I'm from flint, mi. You already know. But just as important, at one point they will cut funding for the fire department, and magically the instances of fires will go up like tenfold and the rumor mill has it they are being set by disgruntled fire fighters who felt the cuts were unfair. Suddenly the city is spending *more* money than the original uncut budget on overtime, and some funding is restored to the fire department and the deficient continues to deepen.
Ultimately, your city is fucked and without a total community buyin of any new ideas it will just become more and more decrepit.
28. "i'm not cutting any of those budgets." In response to Reply # 0
let the city fail. the fedz and/or the state will bail us out.
all of those are essential services. if the city can't provide those then what's the point of having city government?
no budget cuts.
but if there are to be budget cuts i'm cutting from the top down. high paid management/executive positions are the first to go. lay offs, terminations, furloughs, all of those options are on the table. commissioners and assistant commissioners will be the first to feel it.
29. "I think I would make cuts more or less in this order:" In response to Reply # 0
Office of the Mayor City Clerk Legislative Councils Police Department Human Resources Management Planning & Building Animal Services Information Technology Finance City Administrator's Office Public Library Parks & Recreation Fire Department Housing & Community Development Public Works Human Services
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