My Poor Butt

I'm a clumsy guy, but I'm not this clumsy. Not clumsy enough to have fallen flat on my butt today, twice.

My gravitational challenges were due to the sad state of the sidewalks here in Boston: half of them are still covered in ice. Normally, I wouldn't be whining about it. I'll be the first to admit that my tush is padded enough to take a couple of falls. But when the governor of Massachusetts on the one hand proposes massive tax increases and on the other can't even keep the sidewalks clear, that's just one kick in the pants I can't take.

Deval Patrick is proposing new taxes on candy, juice, soda, and alcohol, as well as higher fees at the Registry of Motor Vehicles. Higher meals and hotels taxes are already on the way to the legislature.

Granted, the governor is proposing massive budget cuts as well--a surprisingly reasonable move for him. However, why doesn't our government stop focusing on how much money is going in and out and begin to focus on whether they are doing their job effectively?

In the city of Boston there is a $100 fine for apartment building owners who do not shovel their sidewalks. For commercial buildings, that fine is $150. Maybe if the city enforced these laws they wouldn't need to go to the state for municipal aid. Or, maybe if the state didn't dole out municipal aid like it was tax-free candy the city of Boston would step up their efforts. (A 2007 announcement about sidewalk fees)

It's not only the sidewalks that need work. Even as the number of emergency calls for fires declines, fire departments in Massachusetts refuse to merge with EMS agencies to achieve higher efficiency. Since 2005, the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services Administration has nearly doubled its budget.

Massachusetts spends over $50 million each year on incentives for new police officers at a time when crime rates are plummeting. This incentive program will receive $0 in cuts this year.

At the same time, the state only spent about $500,000 last year on their Teacher Quality Investment program. That budget is less than half of what it was in 2005, and with a 2009 cut of over $480,000, that program will be reduced to nothing. Do these people really think that our healthy police force needs more incentives than our dismal education system?

Let's not forget the important stuff: Massachusetts spends over $7 million each year on the Commonwealth Zoological Corporation. As part of his dramatic budget cuts, the governor is reducing that number by less than half a million--about the same amount he is cutting from incentives to teachers.

"Taken together, these measures are right and necessary steps to get us through these difficult times," said Patrick, according to a Boston Globe article on the tax hikes.

Get us through these difficult times? I think the governor is confused about who is having a hard time these days.

We are the ones having hard times. The people who'll be paying taxes on candy. You are disillusioned if you believe Deval Patrick when he sobs and moans about our poor, disheveled state.

We are the ones who are struggling to stay on our feet as life tries to kick our butts to the cold ground.