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    • Apr 22, 2018
    • 5 min read

Bisbee Wire/council agenda/politics/tech/one way car rentals/dogs for sale/2018 April #13

Hello,

I'll have an issue on the Bisbee economy in a few days in the meantime lotsa tibits here. Driving a rental car is cheap if you are going to select cities one way, check it out below. A particularly odious document circulating about how to slime teachers for demanding decent salaries. An interesting thought piece about how to treat tech monopolies. And lots of other stuff including those weird dog auctions.

fred

BUDGET The budget sessions continue. With revenues predicted short of projected expenditures, the council is doing the plug-the-holes-dance. This is the first budget for CM, Robert Smith and is ably assisted by FD, Keri Bagley. The structure of the budget is somewhat different. Each department is paying a portion of their budget to 'Administrative Services'. That means that certain admin services such as payroll, HR, personnel, etc. that are not done by the actual dept are 'charged' to the department. In the CM view this gives a true cost of what it takes to run each department and hence a better understanding of where and how money is allocated in the budget.

The first session was an orientation to the budget. I didn't think it was particularly helpful to the public nor the council, but it did give a good understanding of how the budget came about. (All dept. heads in a room working it out as to what each dept needed. A much more cooperative approach. There were no fights reported.) An estimated 140 hours went into the departmental budget meetings.

Last week session got into the budget with the council. Revenue projections seem very conservative.  I suspect that is so there is some wiggle room to add items that were taken out. For instance, agenda management software, excluded in the draft, was added to the City Clerk's budget by the council. (The present system is a paper system that is cumbersome and the software will be easier and more productive.) There was no money in the draft for economic development. Doug Dunn made an impassioned suggestion for adding $20k to the budget which was done. He spoke about the Local First presentation and possible need to continue to work with LF in some form. He also mentioned past uses of econ dev dough. And  he made some observations about how can there be economic development without any dough at all. Frank Davis and the Mayor also supported the move to budget money for econ dev.

The big items will likely come this week with the Fire Dept and Police Dept budgets. The biggest elephant in the room is the combined $1.5 million for PSPRS payments. It's killin us. And those fuckin incompetent legislators do nothing about it. If it is one thing you do this year vote against these people and get them out of government. (Gail Griffin, Drew John, Becky Nutt) I digress, (how unusual)....The draft budget in its entirety is here:

...................... COUNCIL AGENDA

Special Session Wednesday, April 25 6:15 Building G, 1415 Melody Lane THE FOLLOWING ITEMS WILL BE DISCUSSED AND/OR CONSIDERED AT THIS MEETING:

1.   Discussion and Possible Approval of a Memorandum of Understanding/Funding Agreement between the City of Bisbee and Firehouse Subs for a grant in the amount of $24,758.87.   George Castillo, Fire Chief 

Work Session Wednesday April 25 6:30 Building G, 1415 Melody Lane THE FOLLOWING ITEM WILL BE DISCUSSED AND/OR CONSIDERED AT THESE MEETINGS:

1.   Presentation and Discussion of the Proposed Tentative Budget for Fiscal Year 2018-2019. Robert Smith, City Manager


................ POLITICS

SMEARING TEACHERS; SECRET RIGHTWING TACTICS "A nationwide network of rightwing thinktanks is launching a PR counteroffensive against the teachers’ strikes that are sweeping the country, circulating a “messaging guide” for anti-union activists that portrays the walkouts as harmful to low-income parents and their children." https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/apr/12/teacher-strikes-rightwing-secret-strategy-revealed?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+USA+-+Collections+2017&utm_term=271298&subid=20881720&CMP=GT_US_collection

.................................. AGRICULTURE BILL DOES AWAY WITH ORGANIC CERTIFICATION (AND LOTS MORE) https://www.eater.com/2018/4/18/17252024/2018-farm-bill-congress-chellie-pingree



........................ TECHNOLOGY

Facebook Privacy Controls now accessible https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/03/privacy-shortcuts/

A SHORT GUIDE TO TAKING GOOD VIDS ON YOUR PHONE https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/17/smarter-living/beginners-guide-phone-video.html?em_pos=large&emc=edit_ct_20180419&nl=technology&nlid=55736694edit_ct_20180419&ref=headline&te=1 SOME IDEAS ABOUT BREAKING UP TECH MONOPOLIES Lots of ideas floating around about dealing with the virtual monopoly of Google, Amazon, Facebook and others. Here are a few from a UK writer...

"...we must revive the trust-busting spirit of previous generations. Competition authorities should be primarily concerned with takeovers which stifle innovation or involve the acquisition of large quantities of valuable data. More radically, companies should be broken up when their size becomes economically detrimental.

"One could imagine Amazon being split into three separate businesses: one offering cloud computing, one acting as a general retailer and one offering a third-party marketplace. Facebook could be made to sell off Instagram and WhatsApp, Google could divest itself of YouTube – in the process creating new competitors for themselves...

"...Finally, we must entrench and expand the rights of people to own their personal data. The EU’s new General Data Protection Regulation is a big step forward in this direction, but it clearly needs to be tested in practice. And it is just the beginning, not the end of the story. We should seriously consider the possibility of compensating people – or society more broadly – financially for the data they currently hand over for nothing." https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/20/tech-monopoly-apple-facebook-data-extreme-content?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+USA+-+Collections+2017&utm_term=272129&subid=20881720&CMP=GT_US_collection

......................... HEALTHCARE

THE FINANCIAL WOES OF BIG PHARMA: DISEASE CURES! "One-shot cures for diseases are not great for business—more specifically, they’re bad for long term profits—Goldman Sachs analysts noted in an April 10 report for biotech clients" https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/04/curing-disease-not-a-sustainable-business-model-goldman-sachs-analysts-say/?ex_cid=SigDig

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OLDER AMERICANS HOOKED ON VITAMINS 68 percentof Americans over the age of 65 who take vitamins, according to a 2013 Gallup survey, and 29 percent of the group take four or more supplements. The issue? Clinical trials haven’t found a lot of clear evidence that vitamins meaningfully contribute towards broad health goals, and many supplements — like vitamin E — have actually been linked to higher risk of heart failure, prostate cancer  and death. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/03/well/older-americans-vitamins-dietary-supplements.html?ex_cid=SigDig <><><><><><><><><><><><> YES, ALLERGY SEASON IS GETTING WORSE! Scientific studies show more pollen in the air. https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/3/14/17109336/allergies-climate-change-pollen?ex_cid=SigDig

<><><><><><><><><><><><> Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/bottled-water-microplastics-1.4575045?ex_cid=SigDig

....................... SAVE MONEY

https://www.autoslash.com/ I've mentioned this a few times and will continue to do so. It is an excellent way to save dough on auto rentals. We have saved big bucks using them. They put out an email newsletter. Get it. Or read about some deals here.

THE CHEAPEST GAS If you are willing to do thinking about how you buy things, you can save a batch of dough on gas. This articles details how buying gift cards with a cash back credit card and getting fuel points can lead to big savings on gas. https://www.autoslash.com/blog-and-tips/posts/35-gallons-of-gas-for-1-36?utm_source=AutoSlash+Monthly+Newsletter&utm_campaign=2cf64528b6-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_04_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d30501c700-2cf64528b6-34817255

VERY CHEAP AUTO RENTALS, ONE WAY DROP-OFFS $10 A DAY! Several auto rental companies (Dollar, Hertz, Thrifty, Avis, Budget, Enterprise), have drive out deals-one way car deliveries. In the Spring through May they need to get cars moved from Arizona-mainly Phoenix, (but Enterprise has from Tucson and other AZ cities) -to other states. They also need to get cars out of Florida to other states. In the Fall they need to get cars from the East to Arizona or to Florida. So they offer cheap rentals, often about $10 a day, to drive a car from Phoenix and drop it of in one of several cities such as San Fran, Denver, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, San Diego Dallas, Houston. If you happen to be going in that direction you can save a batch of  bread. Here's the details. https://www.autoslash.com/blog-and-tips/posts/dollar-and-thrifty-list-spring-arizona-and-florida-drive-out-promotions?utm_source=AutoSlash+Monthly+Newsletter&utm_campaign=2cf64528b6-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_04_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d30501c700-2cf64528b6-34817255

MOVIE PASS MAY BE WORTH YOUR WHILE Movie Pass allows you to go to a movie a day each month for $10. If you go to just two movies, you have already saved money. Here are the details. https://www.autoslash.com/blog-and-tips/posts/how-to-watch-a-movie-a-day-for-$10-per-month-with-moviepass?utm_source=AutoSlash+Monthly+Newsletter&utm_campaign=2cf64528b6-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_04_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d30501c700-2cf64528b6-34817255

................... DID YOU KNOW?

SAVING DOGS TO SELL THEM? Dog rescuers vs. breeders...but the two meet at dog auctions... https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/investigations/dog-auction-rescue-groups-donations/?ex_cid=SigDig&utm_term=.55f096883857

................................... LADIES...LOOKING FOR A HUSBAND? LOTSA MEN IN CHINA AND INDIA https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/world/too-many-men/?ex_cid=SigDig&utm_term=.8a61e71fe5f8

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