The details of the
general revenue report for October have been leaked here and there over the past couple of days. No real surprises here. Year-to-date net available general revenues total $1,477.1 million. That's roughtly five percent below last year and
$17.8 million below the general revenue forecast that was released in October. Below-forecast collections are due to a decline in all the major revenue categories: corporate income taxes, gross receipts, individual income taxes. For more details, read the
report here.
Property owners in the River Market District are looking at paying up to $72,000 a year for trash pickup now that the city is no longer footing the bill.
Tim Heiple, a member of the district's property owners association, said Deputy City Manager Bryan Day suggested to the association that the city, the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau (which now operates the River Market) and the Central Arkansas Library System would contribute $45,000. Or the district could go with the low bid of $30,000 for weekends only, to be paid entirely by private property owners.
Heiple said its unsure how many property owners want to participate -- they can't be forced to -- and he said some object to a charge based on street frontage alone, rather than proximity to the market and restaurants. He said some owners propose to clean the streets in front of their businesses themselves.
The association may take up the various scenarios on paying for trash pickup on Friday.
Lisa Leitz, an assistant professor of Sociology at Hendrix College and the wife of a U.S. Naval aviator currently deployed in Afghanistan, was interviewed on CNN this morning. Her commentary on the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan is posted here. Leitz says the toll the war is taking on military families and the lack of progress being made should lead Pres. Barack Obama to change course.
In the eight years of America’s war in Afghanistan, 911 military families lost their mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters (and an additional 4,357 lost loved ones in Iraq). October 2009 was in fact the deadliest month of the war in all eight years. Tens of thousands of military families battle with the daily difficulties of war injuries. Friends of mine have had to quit jobs or school in order to care for loved ones, and they continue to struggle to secure the care these veterans deserve. An estimated 500,000 veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq wrestle with PTSD, and their loved ones fight daily battles with an overburdened Veterans’ Administration and to hold their families together.
Monday, November 02, 2009 - 14:23:57
This joint "Where the Wild Things Are" entry took home the $1000 prize at the Peabody's Boo Bash on Friday. Deserving?
Saturday, October 31, 2009 - 10:56:49
Courtesy of the Times' Brian Chilson. The sounds a little blown-out, but you get the idea. More pics and words later.
