Thank You Romulus Voters. (Detroit, Troy: homes, buying, closing)

[killface0]

I would like to thank Romulus voters for voting "No" on the recent millage.
Now I can't use the library. In fact, Romulus residents can't use ANY metro Detroit library starting May 1, 2011

Property values have gone down. Therefore the taxes you pay have gone down. The cost of services has remained the same. You are paying less now in taxes. Voting "Yes" on the millage wouldn't have changed your taxes by very much.

Thanks again for making Michigan worse.

[zthatzmanz28]

Maybe now they can get that toxic injection well operational?

[ForStarters]

Take a look at becoming a member of the Detroit Public Library. If you live outside the city, you can become a member of the DPL Friends Foundation for $150 and get a Detroit Library Card, as well as a bunch of other cool benefits. Detroit has a fantastic library system with 24 branches city-wide, and is an easy way to access to books and resources.

Friends Foundation - membership (http://www.detroit.lib.mi.us/friends/membership.htm - broken link)

[Coldjensens]

I can thank them personally as well. One of the assistant librarians from Romulus is being given my wife's job at another library because my wife has less seniority.

Troy library closed, Romulus closed. I think that Ecorse either closed or was partially reduced. Other libraries are on the rocks financially.

It may only be a matter of time before more libraries close, or get taken over by their respective cities.

I cannot make sense out of the way the Couty runs the libraries. If the guy who does the laundry at the prison gets cut, he can take a library clerk's position and become a library clerk regardless of whether he has the skills, he just has to have seniority. If the guy driving a sewage truck gets a DUI conviction and loses his license, well he becomes a library clerk too. If these guys just sit there and do not (or are incapable of doing) the work, there is nothing that can be done. Too bad, they are protected and cannto be let go. This may be a problem caused by the county workers union rather than the county. However it is just plain dumb. I am not sure why the cities contniue to pay the county to run their libraries. This makes no sense. Some city libraries operate outside of the county system. I wonder how those libraries are doing by comparison.

If we join the DPL system can my wife get a job there?

[Shinhiryuu]

Whats sad is borders is closing too, so books are a rarity now

[Coldjensens]

It is sad. I really do nto care to read books on a computer. I have not tried a Kindle, but I like the "go anywhere" capability of books. I often read myself to sleep and if I wake up and cannto get back to sleep, I amy pick up my book and continue readong until I fall asleep again. I read at odd times/locations, at the beach, on a boat, on the porch in the rain, riding in a car, etc. Bookks are tough and convenient. It is easy to mark your place wiht a finger or anything at all while you look away and have a conversation. Not sure that a Kindle will work for that. I also have touble reading on the computer becuase you have to look away and lose your thought when you navigate between pages. I need to try a kindle and see how it works, but at present, I prefer books to computer reading by a huge margin. In fact, When I get sent things online. if they are long, I print them and read them on paper. I can read a lot faster that way and concentrate better.

[killface0]

In addition to the library closing, Romulus has pretty much shutdown. They've laid off most police and firemen, closed the parks, eliminated fireworks, festivals, etc..., reduced snow plowing and other city services taken for granted.

This is reminding me of the "bad" future in Back to the Future 2 when Biff owns the future.....

[leroythelion]

Originally Posted by killface0

In addition to the library closing, Romulus has pretty much shutdown. They've laid off most police and firemen, closed the parks, eliminated fireworks, festivals, etc..., reduced snow plowing and other city services taken for granted.

This is reminding me of the "bad" future in Back to the Future 2 when Biff owns the future.....

There are plenty of cops on Eureka every morning! Where is that ticket money going?

[Shinhiryuu]

Originally Posted by killface0

in addition to the library closing, romulus has pretty much shutdown. They've laid off most police and firemen, closed the parks, eliminated fireworks, festivals, etc..., reduced snow plowing and other city services taken for granted.

This is reminding me of the "bad" future in back to the future 2 when biff owns the future.....

marty i got to tell you about the future!!!

[Retroit]

That county-run library system described by Coldjensens sounds absolutely stupid. The residents of every Wayne County city should be complaining to their city councils about that. I've never heard of such a stupid system.
------------------
I love to read books myself, and can't see myself buying a e-reader (Kindle, etc.) any time soon. A book is not a computer and a computer is not a book (to me). I haven't taken a book out from the library since I was a kid though. I prefer to buy them. The only think I use my library for is tax forms.
------------------
Hooray, for cash-strapped cities closing their libraries (or reducing hours). Something must be done to reduce costs, and libraries are one of the least used and least critical facilities that a city runs. In my city, there is an ongoing debate on closing "senior centers". For the life of me, I can't figure out why we need them when there are so many other options for meeting places. Many churches have senior clubs. They certainly don't need a huge facility just to sit around and talk and play cards. Ironically, the Senior Center in Eastpointe started out as a Teen Center. Just goes to show how the "entitled class" changes with changing demographics.
-----------------
As for cities running out of money due to falling property values, I think now is a good time to re-evaluate how taxes are collected. It doesn't make sense for a city's fixed costs to be based on variable revenue. It would make much more sense to assess property taxes based on something that changes very little year-to-year, like square footage of homes instead of assessed value.