Small Town Politics = Entertainment

Even though I live in the Atlanta area, I'm technically inside the boundaries of a tiny city. Probably less than 1,000 eligible voters. I've been watching the city council squabble for years. It is great because the area is mostly ghetto, but the "old guard" citizens apparently still think this is Mayberry. The areas that aren't ghetto are full blown tree hugging hippies, including our mayor.

Between the city council meetings and the NextDoor forum the entertainment value has been awesome. Not quite British House of Commons good, but funny enough to follow along.

I wish I was entertained by the small city politics here (10,000-20,000 people, depending on whether the University is in session or not). Mostly I'm just depressed about what idiots they are.

I live in a town of ~1400 and am a trustee on our town board. The BS is unbelievable sometimes, and the rumors & gossip spread like crazy.

Sounds a lot like an HOA.

Lately I've enjoyed watching the super conservative council members stonewall the hippy mayor. They already tried to impeach him (wasting a ton of city money on lawyers) to no effect. There are emails talking from the older council members stating they need to teach the new mayor "how things work around here". All this for a city that is about two square miles total and a relatively tiny population.

I live in one and near another small city.

The other city has lots of problems and continual bickering in the city Gov't.

My city jus seems to roll along smoothly. Why is that ?

Must be something in the water.

spitfirebill wrote: Sounds a lot like an HOA.

A few years ago it was just like a HOA. We had a VERY aggressive code enforcement officer who acted as the previous mayor's enforcer. If you crossed the mayor or the tenured council members you could expect a visit from code enforcement. Grass too tall? Ticket. Brush pile at the back of the property? Ticket. Vehicle parked anywhere but the driveway? Ticket. Vehicle parked too LONG in the driveway? Abandoned vehicle ticket. Some people got for tickets for violations that could only be seen if you either went into their fenced back yard or walked behind their house. It was insane. The code enforcement officer eventually quit and things quieted back down.

slefain wrote:

spitfirebill wrote: Sounds a lot like an HOA.

We had a VERY aggressive code enforcement officer who acted as the previous mayor's enforcer.

When we lived in Kansas, had to deal with an aggressive code enforcement officer from Park City. Turned out he was the BTK serial killer.

Karacticus wrote:

slefain wrote:

spitfirebill wrote: Sounds a lot like an HOA.

We had a VERY aggressive code enforcement officer who acted as the previous mayor's enforcer.

When we lived in Kansas, had to deal with an aggressive code enforcement officer from Park City. Turned out he was the BTK serial killer.

Wow, ours was just a lady with a LARGE chip on her shoulder. The city just outsourced code enforcement which makes me a little nervous if they are paid per ticket.

City council meeting is tonight. I can't wait to hear the debate over the "National Payroll Week" proclamation.

slefain wrote:

spitfirebill wrote: Sounds a lot like an HOA.

A few years ago it was just like a HOA. We had a VERY aggressive code enforcement officer who acted as the previous mayor's enforcer. If you crossed the mayor or the tenured council members you could expect a visit from code enforcement. Grass too tall? Ticket. Brush pile at the back of the property? Ticket. Vehicle parked anywhere but the driveway? Ticket. Vehicle parked too LONG in the driveway? Abandoned vehicle ticket. Some people got for tickets for violations that could only be seen if you either went into their fenced back yard or walked behind their house. It was insane. The code enforcement officer eventually quit and things quieted back down.

did someone that he'd "screwed" go and have a "come to jesus" meeting with him ?

slefain wrote:

Karacticus wrote:

slefain wrote:

spitfirebill wrote: Sounds a lot like an HOA.

We had a VERY aggressive code enforcement officer who acted as the previous mayor's enforcer.

When we lived in Kansas, had to deal with an aggressive code enforcement officer from Park City. Turned out he was the BTK serial killer.

Wow, ours was just a lady with a LARGE chip on her shoulder. The city just outsourced code enforcement which makes me a little nervous if they are paid per ticket. City council meeting is tonight. I can't wait to hear the debate over the "National Payroll Week" proclamation.

all the more reason I'm happy I …

A) don't live in the city (double taxation)

B) don't live in a sub-division (berkeley a bunch of HOA's)

C) live far enough out in the boonies that neither is likely to happen

our township tried to incorporate a few yrs ago … the try was defeated ~ 2:1

wbjones wrote: .... our township tried to incorporate a few yrs ago … the try was defeated ~ 2:1

So all three of you voted?

I've got news for you, it isn't just in small towns. Liberals are screwing up government at every level!

when I was a young boy, I remember my parents were part of the driving force behind turning my hometown's government from committee to Mayor/council.

It was quite corrupt at the time.

One of my memories was riding with my mom in our pickup truck from 9th street all the way to our home at 34th street (about 3 miles) with a cop car on our back bumper. No lights flashing, no sirens, just driving along planted so close behind the chevy truck that you could not see it's grill behind the tailgate.

Once we pulled into our driveway, he lit them up and proceeded to "pull us over" for doing 1 mph over the speed limit. I think the only reason my mom did not get worse was because I was with her and only a young boy (7 at the time)

mad_machine wrote: when I was a young boy, I remember my parents were part of the driving force behind turning my hometown's government from committee to Mayor/council. It was quite corrupt at the time. One of my memories was riding with my mom in our pickup truck from 9th street all the way to our home at 34th street (about 3 miles) with a cop car on our back bumper. No lights flashing, no sirens, just driving along planted so close behind the chevy truck that you could not see it's grill behind the tailgate. Once we pulled into our driveway, he lit them up and proceeded to "pull us over" for doing 1 mph over the speed limit. I think the only reason my mom did not get worse was because I was with her and only a young boy (7 at the time)

mom should have slammed on the brakes because a deer or something jumped out in front of her..

I go to our city council meetings every month. 2100 residents, great schools, low taxes and one bored policeman, then someone wrote a story.

It ranked various cities based on crime rate, taxes and school ranking among other things and suddenly we had planned neighborhoods and gated communities popping up everywhere someone would sell a pasture or back 40 for what seemed like too much money. Had 1810 houses planned to build in 3 years!

It was great and frightening drama to watch these big city invaders explain how they did things in the city they just fled.

They complained about everything! Cows in the city limits, deer and foxes cavorting on the football practice field, trash pickup was a guy in a one ton truck that you hired or not, horses at the Dairy Queen, and of course junk cars.

It was funny until we realized the newbies had organized and got their candidate elected as mayor and got a few council seats. Suddenly we had 6 police officers, an ordinance officer, Taxes had effectively tripled and spending went crazy for a dozen projects to satisfy everyones gripes. Then the housing bubble burst and all this future income for the city just stopped.

Better take this stuff seriously! We went from a $600,000 surplus to 14.6 million dollar debt in 2 years.

egnorant wrote: I go to our city council meetings every month. 2100 residents, great schools, low taxes and one bored policeman, then someone wrote a story. It ranked various cities based on crime rate, taxes and school ranking among other things and suddenly we had planned neighborhoods and gated communities popping up everywhere someone would sell a pasture or back 40 for what seemed like too much money. Had 1810 houses planned to build in 3 years! It was great and frightening drama to watch these big city invaders explain how they did things in the city they just fled. They complained about everything! Cows in the city limits, deer and foxes cavorting on the football practice field, trash pickup was a guy in a one ton truck that you hired or not, horses at the Dairy Queen, and of course junk cars. It was funny until we realized the newbies had organized and got their candidate elected as mayor and got a few council seats. Suddenly we had 6 police officers, an ordinance officer, Taxes had effectively tripled and spending went crazy for a dozen projects to satisfy everyones gripes. Then the housing bubble burst and all this future income for the city just stopped. Better take this stuff seriously! We went from a $600,000 surplus to 14.6 million dollar debt in 2 years.

Sadly the only people looking to overrun our area are hipsters. One was looking to rent our duplex next door. Apparently the extreme cultural diversity (we are have refugees from around the world) mixed with the "you've never heard of where I live" mentality is attracting hipsters at an alarming rate. We are way cheaper to live in than the previous "hip" part of town, plus it makes them look "edgy" for living in the ghetto. I can't wait for the first "artisanal bacon" store to open downtown.

The hipster looking to rent next door is having his rent paid for by his parents. Apparently it is worth spending their own money to get him out of their basement.

Type Q wrote:

wbjones wrote: .... our township tried to incorporate a few yrs ago … the try was defeated ~ 2:1

So all three of you voted?

yep … actually the biggest reason it was voted down was the "leadership" wanted to include the entire township in the "city limits" … would have made it bigger (area wise) than Asheville … but only about 4500 population … with a realistic city limit we would have been about 2000 - 2500

they PROMISED us that the property tax rate would never exceed the mandatory % dictated by the state for an incorporated town/city … another reason it got shot down … not enough voters believed them

1988RedT2 wrote: I've got news for you, it isn't just in small towns. Liberals are screwing up government at every level!

well, as conservative as I am, I gotta point out that the conservatives haven't done any better pretty much anywhere

In reply to egnorant:

That is largely what has happened in Oconee County, SC. Rich yankees move south to their Lake Keowee lake-front houses, get elected to various offices, then start passing ordinances. One was to outlaw sofas on the front porch. For those not in the know, Oconee County is where the infamous Deliverance scene was filmed. Almost all of the industry has left the county so guess who is left paying the taxes? The county is broke-ass and the few people I've tried to deal with on the county level are the crotchiest people on earth. The pissedest thing is this is where I would like to retire to.

spitfirebill wrote: In reply to egnorant: That is largely what has happened in Oconee County, SC. Rich yankees move south to their Lake Keowee lake-front houses, get elected to various offices, then start passing ordinances. One was to outlaw sofas on the front porch. For those not in the know, Oconee County is where the infamous Deliverance scene was filmed. Almost all of the industry has left the county so guess who is left paying the taxes? The county is broke-ass and the few people I've tried to deal with on the county level are the crotchiest people on earth. The pissedest thing is this is where I would like to retire to.

So the few tax payers left are on the Ned Beatty side of the mountain man equation. Weeeeeee!