Catching Up
Haven't posted for a while, in part because I lost a hard drive and had to rebuild more important files - and in part because digitalBurg.com dropped the links to blogs - which is how most people found me.
So, what's happening? The city inspection idiocy continues. The city is being sued over the failure to grant a variance for a minor set-back violation on a completed house, after the hosue had been inspected numerous times (See dB article). Meanwhile, property owners in a neighboring subdivision are complaining about shoddy worksmanship and below-code construction - on properties that supposedly had been inspected by the city during construction (see dB article). It's typical - government makes rules and then enforces them capriciously.
The City renewed its contract withthe GWACC&VC for the "tourism tax" subsidy. I've not had a chance to look at the contract, but I imagine, like the old one, the GWACC&VC doesn't have to show any hard results. That's why I call it a subsidy. Those towns that have a separate entity administering their tourism fund show actual creative efforts to promote tourism - real tourism brochures, subsidies for event promotion, even constructing new attractions. In towns where the money goes directly to the Chamber, without effective guidance or demand for results, end up a genral subsidy for Chamber efforts. If you want to see what's happening in another city where the tourism tax is a subsidy, see No Standing News, from Rolla.
Speaking of tourism, a controversy has arisen because Governor Blunt is politicizing the highly effective Missouri Division of Tourism. While, as a Libertarian, I might question the use of tax money to promote a private industry (tourism), if it's going to be spent I'd like to see it spent effectively. For more info, see Springfield News-Leader article.
In Liberty
So, what's happening? The city inspection idiocy continues. The city is being sued over the failure to grant a variance for a minor set-back violation on a completed house, after the hosue had been inspected numerous times (See dB article). Meanwhile, property owners in a neighboring subdivision are complaining about shoddy worksmanship and below-code construction - on properties that supposedly had been inspected by the city during construction (see dB article). It's typical - government makes rules and then enforces them capriciously.
The City renewed its contract withthe GWACC&VC for the "tourism tax" subsidy. I've not had a chance to look at the contract, but I imagine, like the old one, the GWACC&VC doesn't have to show any hard results. That's why I call it a subsidy. Those towns that have a separate entity administering their tourism fund show actual creative efforts to promote tourism - real tourism brochures, subsidies for event promotion, even constructing new attractions. In towns where the money goes directly to the Chamber, without effective guidance or demand for results, end up a genral subsidy for Chamber efforts. If you want to see what's happening in another city where the tourism tax is a subsidy, see No Standing News, from Rolla.
Speaking of tourism, a controversy has arisen because Governor Blunt is politicizing the highly effective Missouri Division of Tourism. While, as a Libertarian, I might question the use of tax money to promote a private industry (tourism), if it's going to be spent I'd like to see it spent effectively. For more info, see Springfield News-Leader article.
In Liberty
posted by Bill Wayne @ 5:31 AM
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