Newark remains unstimulated

Federal “stimulus” dollars were supposed to create jobs as a means of undoing the damage to our economy by Wall Street sharpies, bankers, unregulated monopoly businesses of all stripes, and by government. But in Newark we are far from stimulated. In fact, as one commentator said, the people of Newark are selling hamburgers to each other for survival.

A tedious and uncertain trip through the federal stimulus brag sheet on the web reveals that two jobs have been created for the private sector locally. The rest of the $27,494,419 total in grants for zip code 43055 has created 26.58 additional jobs (on paper), all of them apparently are government jobs if indeed any were created.

A lot of that money went to schools and a lot to construction projects - projects the government would have to take care of anyway. So government feeds itself more of our tax dollars - as usual - as a way to stimulate our economy.

The two local jobs created (on paper at least) from a $171,787 grant went to Newark Townehomes, 11 Daugherty Circle in Newark. This is a HUD property I was told, and I think it’s owned by a corporation in Columbus, but I couldn’t substantiate that because whoever answered the phone wasn’t too talkative.

So there you have two jobs in the private sector for Newark out of all the billions nationally for bankers, stock brokers, auto manufacturers, auto dealerships and governments.

If you did not receive one of the two jobs and were are not already working for government or a school your financial outlook is probably like mine: It hasn’t been this bad for decades. Meanwhile, the greed of companies like Time-Warner Cable, property tax collectors, oil companies and other monopolies, seems boundless.

Before his election, Obama & Company were on Ohio like flies on manure. Now he keeps in contact, with me at least, by sending incessant e-mails asking for donations for this Democrat project or that. There’s a red button to use for donating.

I’d really like to donate Mr. Obama and the Democrats a hamburger as a symbol of the two new jobs we’ve received in Newark.

Unfortunately, there’s no red button for hamburgers - and I couldn’t afford it anyway.

Does Newark Council have to stay in public view?

That’s the question behind the balloon sent up in today’s Advocate from Newark Ways and Means Committee. “Without additional funding, the future of televised Newark City Council meetings is uncertain,” the balloon said.

What city council is asking is: Do we have to remain in public view, or will citizens allow us to return to the shadows?

While council could easily provide television coverage of its meetings for very little investment, it continues to make it sound like a big challenge because it still searches for an out.

I wrote about the need for televised meetings many times before it happened. June 21, 2007 I wrote “Council ignores chance for opening government to citizens.” If you go there, you’ll also find links from 5/14/07 and 4/19/07 that give more background.

You’ll also find an off-putting statement by Councilman Uible about the prospect of Council’s coming into the sunshine, along with a statement from then-Council President Marc Guthrie urging Council to step out of the shadows with televised meetings.

Time Warner: What else is available to Newark customers?

When Time Warner cable company acquired Adelphia it also acquired Adelphia's contract for cable television service to Newark. When that contract comes up for re-negotiation city government needs to be ready.

We should begin now to ask whether we're stuck with Time Warner forever, only because that company has morphed, from one little original cable provider - in one acquisition and/or merger after the other - until Newark has this giant conglomerate ensconced as ruler of our cable system.

A Consumer Reports study has placed Time Warner 13th in a field of 22 for internet service; 11th out of 14 for television service; 10th out of 17 for long-distance phone service; and 8th out of 10 in average score among the largest providers of the three services.

Moreover, Time Warner is changing the way it sets fees, basing them on how much each customer uses the internet. Likely this little quirk is going to come up in the Time Warner contract demands, or maybe that company will just go ahead and do it anyway.

The Business Week report tells a bit about how this might work.

Community cable service is no longer simply a television thing; now it's about TV, Internet, and telephone service. So are we going to be stuck with the middling-at-best services of Time Warner, or are we going to shop around for the best company with the best service and the best rates?

The cure for ESPN-TV is radio

The harder ESPN tries, the more annoying it gets. Consider:

- its cute wannabe-comedian announcers who aren't terribly interested in the action on the field.

- its carney graphics team which pastes Disney over much of what's happening on the field.

- its wasted effort to attune viewers to every other game that is being/has been/will be played.

- its affinity for showcasing stupid people in the stands and press box.

- its infantile slobbering over people it thinks we should care about but we don't.

- its distracting "reports" from its token woman on the sidelines.

ESPN presents a football game as something for which viewers must search by trying to ignore their intrusive, show-biz crap.

Which is why, during the game with Illinois, I turned off ESPN's sound and turned on the radio announcers. They tell you what's going on, and that allowed me ignore ESPN whenever it started to piss me off and I could actually hear football announcers tell me about the game.

As a bonus, the radio guys were a few seconds ahead of ESPN's delayed broadcast, so that by the time I saw it on the screen I already knew the outcome. Ha. Score one for me, ESPN, because I am no longer oppressed by your creative genius.

Greed and the Big 10

"What fascinates me is the sheer gall of an organization that makes its living off the free labor of college students and which already makes quadzillions of dollars from lucrative bowl games and merchandising and ridiculous ticket prices, and yet now has the chutzpah to say to Time Warner: 'Cough up $1.10 per subscriber every month and we'll let you broadcast games' ... It's emblematic of the way things are: no matter how much money is raked in it's never enough, no matter how loyal your customers you'll still find a way to screw them given half a chance, and one thin, red dime can never be left on the table."

Well-said, Tim Smith of Hilliard, who was writing in the Sunday Dispatch to the editor of the sports section. The headline for this column was: Big Ten Network lightning rod for seething OSU fans.

None of this is news to OSU football fans or anyone who's followed the incredibly greedy practices of this state-supported university. I mentioned it briefly 9/4/07 under the title "OSU - It's all about greed"

Where are the limits to these practices? Who controls the money-changers at our state's universities? Where are Ohio legislators and what are they doing about runaway enrichment of university administrators and sports programs? Or is it the other way: do the money-changers in fact control the state legislators? And where's Jay Hottinger when you need him?

Mayor and council ought to supervise Time Warner service

This morning, for the third or fourth time since Time Warner took over from Adelphia, my connection to the Internet has failed. Previously it has been for periods of a few minutes to a few hours.

This follows unacceptably slow e-mail service provided by roadrunner.com wherein mail would show up hours or days after being sent, and some would never show up at all. That problem, I was told by a technical person, had been caused by Time Warner attempting to route too much e-mail through equipment that couldn't handle the volume. It took weeks for that problem to be resolved.

As of now, Time Warner is delivering unacceptable Internet service to Newark. The mayor and council ought to be all over them for this. They work for the city and for the citizens.

Further, next time the contract comes up for bid, there needs to be a genuine bidding process and an assessment of how Time Warner has performed.