Week in Review: Just Hire Somebody!
"The Drop-In Center is a vector for drug use, loitering, and other antisocial behaviors."
Week in Review
County Commissioners, June 11
The Commissioners heard Annual Reports from Shamar Herron of Michigan Works! and Mary Bohling from the MSU Extension Center, but the primary agenda item this week related to the Materials Management Plan for the County. The state is requiring that pro-recycling plans be written for every County in Michigan, and if the County declines or fails to submit a notice of intent by July 6th, the State will do it.
Benzing made a motion that Hillsdale County file a letter of intent with Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EAGLE) to write its own Materials Management Plan.
Mr. Leininger suggested that the Commissioners could “just hire somebody to write the plan for us and be done with it,” but Mr. Benzing reminded the assembled dignitaries that that’s not quite how bureaucracy works. “There is no ‘be done’ with this,” he said. “This committee will go on forever; we are going to have to have somebody in county government who is responsible for this.”
Benzing’s motion passed, 3-2, with Leininger and Wiley against.
An Off-Road Vehicle Ordinance, originally passed in 2014, and then re-upped in 2019, is due to be voted on again soon. Leininger argued that the restrictions within the ordinance are more restrictive than the state requires, but no vote was taken at this time.
Upcoming Events
City Council, Monday, June 17
Resolution to Revoke Industrial Facilities Exemption Certificate issued to Corecoyle Composites, LLC (46)
City staff is not pleased with the lack of progress at Corecoyle Composites, and has all but ordered Council to revoke Corecoyle’s tax exemption. At least the exemption nearly encouraged development. . . ?
City Council Rules of Procedure Update (82)
If this recommendation from the Operations & Governance Committee is passed,
“all legal opinions sought by a member or members of the Council shall first be approved by a majority vote of the Council at a regularly scheduled meeting.”
TAP Grant Resolution (99)
The effort to alter the flow of traffic through downtown is under way. According to the study of traffic patterns on M-99 from Steamburg to E. Carleton, “traffic calming of the stretch of M-99 is possible.”
In keeping with our plans to make Hillsdale safe for urban millennials and other cyclists, “bike lanes would be added to allow for non-motorized traffic through the downtown.” Applying for a “Transportation Alternative Program” grant—available to those who add bike lanes—would “offset” some of the costs of these changes.
International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 214 (204)
This union, tied to the city’s Dial-a-Ride program, has come to the city with a list of demands, including:
“Increase wages in Year 1 - 5%, Year 2 - 4% and year 3 - 3% increases.”
“Year 1 $500.00 signing bonus. Years 2 and 3 $500 retention bonus.”
“Change Employer provided uniforms to approved clothing with City logo.”
“Addition of Juneteenth off as a holiday.”
Homeless Task Force Report & Policy Recommendations (147)
Josiah Lippincott, Secretary of the Homeless Task Force, submitted the Force’s report and policy recommendations. A few notable lines from the report:
“The population of homeless in Hillsdale can be divided into two groups: those who want to get help and those who reject assistance, whether due to significant mental health problems, substance abuse, or because they enjoy the freedom from social norms that living on the streets provides. Without an aggressive use of the city’s police power, this antisocial homeless faction will continue to degrade the quality of life in our community by dragging others into the same cycle of despair. . . These crimes make life much worse for the impoverished and the middle class alike.”
“Despite all of the non-profits, government entities, and individuals ostensibly engaged in combating poverty, mental illness, and substance abuse in Hillsdale County, the homelessness crisis continues to grow.”
“The Drop-In Center is another serious problem. In theory, the Drop-In Center provides a space for homeless and other down-and-out individuals to congregate and engage in ‘peer-to-peer’ mentoring in order to help one another get off of drugs and find community. In practice, the Drop-In Center is a vector for drug use, loitering, and other antisocial behaviors.”1
The policy recommendations:
Jail expansion, so that basic law enforcement becomes possible.2
Allow the creation of a year-round shelter with the following caveats:
Serves only the local homeless population;
Is not near a residential area;
Requires community service labor;
Maintains strict rules against drugs and other misbehavior.
Hold taxpayer organizations that serve the city accountable with once-per-year review sessions.
Millages on August 6th
Several weeks ago we covered the Public “Safety” millage and the County “Healthcare” renewal, but neglected the less publicized “Hillsdale County Emergency Medical Services And Emergency Medical Services Equipment And Capital Expenses Millage Proposal.” See the ballot text below:
For the sole purpose of providing continued funding approved by the voters in 2018 that will expire with the 2024 tax levy to provide emergency medical services and/or the purchase of emergency medical service equipment and other capital expenses vital to emergency medical services operations, shall the Constitutional limitation upon the total amount of taxes which may be assessed in one (1) year upon all property within the County of Hillsdale, Michigan, be renewed, and shall the County be authorized to levy, up to one (1.0000) mill ($1.00 per $1,000 of taxable value) per year for a period of six (6) years (2025-2030) inclusive?
In sum: out of the three millages up for vote, two are “renewals,” and one new (the safety radio), totaling 2.6 mills. The people of Hillsdale County have the opportunity to reject the additional $260 of annual property tax per $100,000 of assessed home value if they vote “no” across the board.3 Recall that renewals are de facto tax raises due to the general rise of assessed property values, and that these millages—all three—are nothing less than taxpayer-approved amendments to the fundamental laws of the city and the County to tax yourself beyond the original limitations.
External Links
“Even if crime had decreased instead of increased due to mass immigration, the notion that Germany has a right to prioritize the maintenance of its own distinct culture, heritage, and language was so foreign to Merkel that she could not even countenance it as a legitimate policy option.” Dominick Sansone.4
“We want them to say this is what recovery looks like to me. Each of us are individuals. That requires that we look at each person individually and develop their interventions and their goals specific to what they say the recovery looks like. A fulfilling life looks very different to me than what you might see as a fulfilling life for you.” Cassandra Watson, LifeWays’ Executive Director of Clinical Services.
“As Michigan approaches its fifth anniversary of legal recreational marijuana sales in the state, it has overtaken California as the largest cannabis market in the U.S.” Detroit Free Press.
“State Sen. Michele Hoitenga, R-Manton, is taking steps to try to overturn a law passed late last year that stripped local governments of the power to vote against green energy projects if the state believes those projects are viable.” The Alpena News.5
“And come November, she won’t vote for Trump.” The only meaningful line from The Guardian’s half-hearted hagiography of Penny Swan.6
“At a recent tasting of older vintages of chardonnays from the David Bruce cellar in honor of the anniversary of the Judgement of Paris of 1976, it was confirmed that the winery is now owned by Hillsdale College.” Bay Area News Group.
“The consequences to families or nations from the mad dash to achieve ‘net zero’ emissions are largely ignored by the climatistas and their media acolytes. In this modern day class war it’s humanity itself that is openly disdained.” Joel Kotkin.
“The president is utterly on his game. He is the wisest, most knowledgeable person in the room. He asks the toughest questions and has the keenest insights on the complex questions brought to him. He is sharp, thoughtful and wise.” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.
“Mr. Biden persists in telling personal tales with rhetorical flourishes and factual liberty when he works a room or regales an audience. They are a way to connect with voters, emphasize his ‘middle-class Joe’ persona and charm his audience.” The New York Times.
“He was calm on the surface, but he seemed to me, as he often did during the conversations we’d had since the layoffs, to be holding himself taut, like a tensile substance under enormous strain.” The Times permits itself to criticize Ibram X. Kendi.7
“Advanced democratic societies are very reluctant to wage war, but adept at it when pushed into it.” David Frum.
“But we have to bear in mind that death is a completely different concept for Mesoamerican cultures . . . Death is not seen as a bad thing. Of course, under our perspective, [child sacrifice is] wrong. But back then, and according to their myths and their beliefs, what they were doing was considered correct, so we cannot judge what they did under our modern point of view.” Rodrigo Barquera.
“But more importantly, the integralists also suffered a grave intellectual defeat: They lost control of their ideas as critics outlined integralism’s intellectual challenges. One can find online article after article from integralists attacking classical liberalism. However, none of the active American integralists has published a peer-reviewed article defending their philosophy—a notable difference from the British integralists.” Kevin Vallier believes fusionism is poised to reassert itself in the aftermath of integralism’s decline.8
“The decision came in response to Bradley’s public opposition to the prospect of merging the Steubenville diocese with Columbus, several sources said, as apostolic nuncio Cardinal Christophe Pierre reportedly continues to support the prospect of the merger.” Pillar Catholic on the removal of Bishop Paul Bradley as apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Steubenville.9
Brought to you by LifeWays.
“Where will the funding come from for such a program? Right now, the County has a mental health millage in place that gives nearly a million dollars a year to LifeWays, an organization with a budget over $100 million. If that money were instead used to fund a jail expansion for low level offenders we could, arguably, build as much jail space as we need.”
Yet two out of the three, at least, will likely pass as our esteemed altruists and political influencers loll about in the smug glow of their social achievements while badgering their poorer neighbors to be virtuous, like them, and cough up more cash for the common good.
Naturally, knowledge of this amorphous common good is the un-taxable intellectual property of our own iron triangle: the overeducated bourgeois, the overindulgent non-profiteer, and the overstaffed government agency—each of whom will for different reasons need (continuous) access to your pocketbooks if Hillsdale is to achieve its widely agreed-upon destiny, that is, becoming through the powers of local government the trendiest small-urban hub in south-central Michigan; a prototype for aspiring late stage hipster towns across America.
Sansone’s article was specifically recommended on The American Mind’s podcast.
Hoitenga is sponsoring Senate Bill 898.
Alice Herman’s favorite tall-man-who-crosses-his-arms, the fastidious Abe Dane, gets a mention, too. This “rubbing shoulders” genre is relatively new, as far as we can tell (and that isn’t very far), and leftist reporters are still trying to figure out how to liven up the heroes in a way that can impress their readers. (True to form, the most telling line in the Swan piece is given to Gail McClanahan: “She was kind of brainwashed.” Comforting!) Last week, we saw the Times attempt to dramatize the utterly normal lives of Cindy Elgan and Amy “I did a complete 180” Burgans, small town county election clerks in Nevada, as they began to realize they hated the majority of their benighted neighbors. But thank God there are forms that can be improperly filled out! Otherwise, Our Democracy!
Next they’ll be saying he’s well-spoken.
We really can’t wait to read a new spate of peer-reviewed fusionist analyses of “political polarization.” A plague o’ both houses!
Synodality means that Christophe Pierre gets whatever he wants, no matter how many of the relevant American bishops object; and what he wants is for Scott Hahn, among others, to be uncomfortable.