New Bedford, MA, Opinion - Jack Spillane of the Standard Times wrote a timely ditty today regarding the many parking issues related to downtown. He is right on all counts except his description of Scott Downing. I see Mr. Dowing in another light. He represents the worst of the City of New Bedford department managers and IS the problem with New Bedford’s parking. I perceive him as a self absorbed arrogant dolt who to me is nothing more than a tax sucking bureaucrat who has managed to piss off the City Council and business owners. Broken meters, hovering meter fairies, missing signs and improperly given tickets have been a long term issue which no administration seems to want to deal with. A few years back, Stephen Turner, owner of the SoCo Magazine, wrote a scathing article and refused to ever hold a sales meeting in Downtown New Bedford ever again. Who can blame him? Recently I paid $90 for a parking ticket for which I wasn’t even aware of until I went to renew my license. Last week I received a ticket for parking in a signed 30 minute space. Not for staying too long but for “No Parking Here to Corner”. Essentially, my car was assumed to be an out of town sucker. Yup, I’m making a video and I have pictures.
It’s not often that I talk well of our city councilors, but this evening Debbie Coello will be doing the city a service by insisting that Scott Dowing hold himself accountable and appear before the council contrite with data in hand. She is right that the pervasive and unacceptable management of parking issues in downtown New Bedford and elsewhere in the city need to be readily addressed. In true no-account fashion, Scott Downing hid behind Mayor Lang’s coat tails the last time he was asked by the council to explain himself. The council knows New Bedford’s future hangs in the balance. This is no time for Mayor Lang to play protect the civil servant. It is time for him to step up and do the right thing. Fire Scott Downing and hire someone who will work with downtown and Acushnet Avenue instead of being the black robed and much hated parking tax beast. Parking needs to be well regulated for the sake of business owners and the city’s reputation.
President Obama may dress well and can hold the attention of a spell bound dope smoking democrat, any indecisive independent or a moron. President Obama has been outstanding at increasing the deficit and waffling on whether or not he is the leader of the most powerful military and economic nation on Earth. Mr. Obama is quickly learning that the world respects the power of our military more than they respect white flag rhetoric. His waffling on what to do in Iraq and Afghanistan has obviously emboldened the opposition. The recent deadly and effective attacks in both those countries bolster the arguments the hawks have been warning about for weeks. It should be a clear warning to all that the dark forces so effectively suppressed during the Bush years are now testing President Obama’s military shyness. On top of that, the projected deficit for this week will top $125 BILLION dollars. Mr. Obama will be on his knees genuflecting at the feet of the Communist Chinese Government ... yet again. Never in American history have the citizens of the United States been subjected to so much bad government in such a short period of time. Just remember next week as the dummycrats of New Bedford once again return the status quo to our own local government; just try to remember that these are same people who have been in place during New Bedford’s longest running period of high unemployment, high crime and negative business growth. So, who is at fault more? The ineffective corrupt politicians or the stupid voter who continues to help reelect these dolts. Yes folks, most of your neighbors and friends really are stupid. So I’m off to commune with some intelligent life. I’ll be digging my potatos.
Perfect! Just what New Bedford needs! More jobs that require no diploma. Let us build and we will employ your uneducated and your stupid. Steve Norton of Illinois, in his editorial to the standard Times published on September 28, has both insulted New Bedford's citizens and degenerated us to the modern equivalent of useless beyond sweep the floor factory work. Is this what we call economic development for New Bedford? First Scott Lang rhetorically shoots for the moon at Fairhaven Mills and then delivers a grocery store via a secret deal where New Bedford's uneducated can get part time work at subsistence wages, if they can pass the CORI. Now the casino industry wants access to our apparently vast pool of dumbness. I don't know whether to laugh or cry at the sheer in-your-face insulting audacity
This is the correct way to place trash at the curb according to New Bedford Trash Ordinance.
NEW BEDFORD, MA — One funny thing about most politicians is they seem to be able to say the correct things at the correct time usually with a fairly receptive and hypnotized audience. The unfortunate thing is few have the balls to follow through on those words via policy enforcement. Politics is replete with unmet promises, uneven code enforcement and politicians who agree with you at lunch and then stab you in the back at dinner. Worst yet, the hacks whose job it is to enact or regulate or enforce are themselves beholden to not pissing off the politicians who sign their pay checks or pissing off the politician's financial supporters. What a political donor wants a donor gets, damn the law! However, for the situation I have in mind, the law is good, the political rhetoric is good, but the people charged with enforcement are lackadaisical in their service to the public or simply stupid.
