Filibusters, Shutdowns and other General Government BS

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This post fully embraces the “rant” designation, so scroll on if you don’t want my political opinion piece. Listening to the back and forth over the past month and a half has been tiring and frustrating. The Democrats’ position has seemed pretty untenable, considering they (Democrats while in power) passed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) without Republican support, they (Democrats while in power) passed the Covid enhancements to the ACA, which included the sunset provision that’s upon us, without Republican support and now, while not in power, they (Democrats) are demanding the Republicans fix it. In response, the Republicans have proposed paying everyone during the shutdown, despite the fact that the whole reason for the shutdown is there’s no money appropriated to do so. In typical Federal Government fashion. the only solutions either side seem to be able to see is to throw more money at problems.

Every time there is a government shutdown, they seem to put more rules in place to make the next one less painful… somewhat defeating the whole point of it. Why do a shutdown if no one is going to notice? After one of the last shutdowns, things were changed to assure that government employees would be reimbursed for lost wages, even though they weren’t working. No business could survive that way… The latest enhancement to that is that government employees will not even have to way until the end of the shutdown to get paid! The ones laid off are already getting a paid vacation, but if the current proposal goes through, they’ll get a regular paycheck while off. I guess, “Why not?” All the Senators and Representatives got their check!!! They still managed to collect taxes though…

Side Note: Everyone should have an emergency fund, because it’s rare to have a 100% guaranteed income, but if you work in an industry (government) where these shutdowns occur regularly, it’s even more important. There is no question of IF there will be another government shutdown, only when… I have a hard time working up a lot of sympathy for those that were surprised by this.

James Stewart as Jefferson Smith filibustering on floor of the Senate

There was some talk about changing the Senate rules to eliminate the filibuster. It may be on the way out the door anyway, as there was an attempt to eliminate it in the last Democrat controlled Congress, but was stopped by just two moderate Democrats. And they’re not in office anymore… I am fully against its elimination. I think the minority party should have some vehicle to slow and bring to attention bad legislation, but it shouldn’t be painless. Otherwise, like this time, it’s just obstructive for no benefit. There was no pain for Senators in this latest shutdown filibuster. Sometime in the 1970’s the rules were changed to allow a filibuster to only require an objection. Yes, that’s a simplification, but accurate. Before that time, a Senator or group of Senators would have had to speak continuously on the floor of the Senate to keep the filibuster in effect, a la 1939 movie, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. There was pain for all involved as the Senate had to stay in session and those filibustering had to hold the floor for hours on end, speaking into the record. The new rules are lazy and painless. If you want to take a stand against something, you should have to actually stand!

With very few exceptions, most Americans didn’t feel any effects of the shutdown, as most things continued as is. Only “nonessential” workers were furloughed. It wasn’t until the SNAP program began to run out of money and the airlines began to feel the air traffic controller pinch that anyone really perked up. Senators cared about SNAP, because those are actual voters affected. They didn’t care about not paying air traffic controllers, until it escalated to the fear of constituents complaining about not getting to fly home for the holidays.

In my opinion, pain and risk form the answer. Senators should feel some pain when they determine something should be filibustered and their constituents should feel some pain during a shutdown in order to get their attention. Senators should have been afraid of their actions getting their constituents attention for something that resulted in nothing. As is, the whole thing was low cost theatre that had very little effect on anything.

Veterans Day Celebrations in the Midst of Turmoil – J.R. Gaylor

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J.R. Gaylor

With turmoil foreign and domestic, we pause today to celebrate the living veterans for their service, their patriotism, their love of country and willingness to sacrifice in defense of our country. As important as it is to defend ourselves against foreign threats as our veterans have nobly served, there are some very insidious threats we are facing with America against itself.

Specifically, I am referring to the acceptability—by far too many—of the lawlessness we see happening, as well as the twisted logic behind the lawlessness.

We are seeing the direct contrast of the “broken window” theory versus “progressive criminal justice” model.

The theory of the “Broken Window” holds that addressing minor crimes like vandalism, public intoxication, and minor theft creates an atmosphere of order and lawfulness versus “progressive criminal justice” which promotes reforms such as ending cash bail, not prosecuting misdemeanors, and early release of offenders.

The justification behind this “progressive” thought is ‘because someone told a lie, it doesn’t make them a liar’. Or ‘because someone took a bribe, it doesn’t make them corrupt’. In other words, ‘if a crime is committed and no one is responsible, was there actually a crime at all’?

Famously said, “a great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.”

Next July 4th, we will celebrate 250 years of the great American experiment of Independence under a Constitutional Republic from which we aspire to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility and provide for the common defense.

Let us aspire to recapture that vision.

J.R. Gaylor President/CEO; ABC IN/KY

Culver – Downtown Redevelopment

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The Culver Redevelopment Commission (CRC) will be having a special meeting this Wednesday at 6:30. (See the notice to the right.) They are really making an effort to get a good turnout, thus the venue move to the School Admin Building.

The presentation will be from a company called Retail Strategies. They are one of three firms that responded to an RFP the town manager put out earlier this year. As you can see from the announcement, they are proposing to provide consultation on downtown revitalization for Culver, particularly looking at the two downtown corridors on Main Street and Lake Shore Drive.

The discussion at the CRC has been to look into what can be done to make our downtown areas more successful as a first step with future expansion to the rest of the town. This is partially a response to The Dunes and how to provide services for the additional full time residents the town hopes to attract.

I have a conflict, so I won’t be there for this presentation. My two thoughts on what I would have liked to hear are:

  1. The concentration on the downtown areas is fine as a first step, but that shouldn’t be done without also looking at the town as a whole and how everything fits together. Too often Culver falls into a one step back before two steps forward pattern. Inefficient at best. Generally costly too. I know we have a rough framework of what should happen in the town as a whole from the Comp Plan, but making sure any sub-plans fit holistically into the master plan is important. How will this concentrated plan fit?
  2. The thing Culver needs more than another analysis (We’ve been analyzed more than Tony Soprano!) is an implementation plan the town can actually do. Culver did great things with Stellar, but has somewhat stalled since then. The impetus to move things forward has to come from the Town Council. I’m not sure that they have the same fire that was there for Stellar. A restating of the problems we already recognize won’t hurt, but it’s that next step towards action that matters. Will the Town Council be at the meeting and will they step up?

This is meant for the downtown merchants, so I hope they step up too. This could be a major benefit to them, but only if they participate and help work the plan. I appreciate the Town Manager and CRC taking this on. They can’t just do it though. They need active participation and help from those affected. The town can assist in this, but the merchants and property owners have to take the reins at some point and make it happen.

Innovate Indiana Series

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Suzanne Jaworowski

Easterday Construction is a member of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. As such, I was offered the opportunity to share their table at two Innovate Indiana presentations in South Bend. Both featured Suzanne Jaworowski, Indiana Secretary of Energy and Natural Resources, as the key note speaker. The presentation was moderated by Gerry Dick of Inside Indiana Business, so it presented a pro-growth vision for Indiana. This series was one of several done in various regions of Indiana.

There were a few others from Marshall County present, though I only recognized people from Plymouth and Culver. One of them spoke in the morning round-table session and made the comment that they were afraid that our County is becoming the County of “No”. It was a bit disheartening to hear a titter go around the room followed by one of the people from downstate responding something to the effect of, “Oh, we know that well!” Ugh! Not what you want to hear.

That rolled into Ms. Jaworowski’s follow-up comments. These were the key take-aways for me:

  1. Energy production is a priority of the current presidential administration and Indiana wants to step up to this challenge.
    • Indiana is promoting an “all of the above” position on energy. We still have coal-fired plants, but most of them have been upgraded and while not environmentally perfect, they are not the dirty coal plants of yesteryear. We also have productive gas-fired plants that perform well. We are expanding solar and wind energy production and looking into nuclear power. None of these are THE solution, but they can all be complimentary.
  2. Data Centers are critical to the growing AI industry and another priority of the current presidential administration. The President has specifically called out Indiana as a State primed for data center construction.
    • Indiana is a prime location for data centers due to our position within the country and our access to the electrical grid. We also have generally good internet infrastructure. The power solutions listed above add to the attractiveness of our State.
    • Indiana has taken a position requiring data centers to provide projections of their ultimate electrical needs and requires them to provide 80% of the upgrades necessary to provide for those needs. Most utility companies are taking this a step further and requiring them to provide 100% of the upgrades before any power is turned on. Locally, in the case of AEP, they require the data centers to pay the ultimate use bill from day one, before they have ramped up to that need, in order for AEP to guarantee that capacity down the road.
    • Ms. Jaworowski indicated that this should lead to rate reductions for current rate-payers in Counties with data centers. An advantage our County of No will not have.

There was a round table discussion at lunch that talked about the need to be forward thinking and support businesses that support the communities. The role of the Regional Development Authority (RDA) was discussed. The RDA has made great strides, but is still far from the goals it has set for itself.

Absent from these meetings were elected officials from Marshall County. Elected officials from our other regional partner counties where there, which puts us at a disadvantage. Marshall County often seems to be treated like the redheaded step child. The failure of our elected officials to participate won’t help that.

Culver Zoning Revisions II

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I wrote about the current round of revisions to the Culver Zoning Ordinance here. They were discussed and tweaked at the September meeting of the Plan Commission. A public hearing was held at the October Plan Commission meeting and a vote to send them on to the Town Council for approval was passed. As always, before I gently criticize, I want to start by giving kudos to people that volunteer for posts such as the Plan Commission. I appreciate them stepping up to work that is generally thankless. I always want to give them consideration and I will defend them on this, even when I don’t agree with them.

As a person that tends to attend meetings and pay attention to what’s going on, I don’t have a lot of patience for those that complain about things happening without their knowledge, when it has been advertised and presented in public meetings. Culver is above average in asking for input in most cases. In this case I may fault them for some large changes to the Zoning Ordinance that were probably not adequately advertised. As stated in the meeting notice to the right, a public hearing was properly advertised for “…amending the Culver Zoning Ordinance to correct clerical errors and make revisions.” I don’t fault them for thinking that what they added/changed were minor improvements, but not everyone will see them that way. That agenda item sounds pretty innocuous and for the most part it is, but there are a few things included that may end up causing some controversy:

  1. The first, which I mentioned in a previous post, is the change in accessory structure height for the S-1 District. This was a specific request from the farm community that has been carried forward. It allowed a 50′ accessory structure height without need for a variance. This was to accommodate grain legs on silos. Since that time, Culver created a specific AG district, but there is still some farmland within the S-1 district. Interestingly, the AG district only has a 35′ height allowed, but I’m pretty sure both should be at 50′ per previous conversations. This is a minor issue for these districts and are an easy accommodation to the farm community. Since a future goal in the Comp Plan is to expand our extraterritorial boundary, it just makes sense to play nice with that community. Slipping in a change is not playing nice. The Town Manager has been having meetings with the farm community, so a heads up on this would have been good.
  2. Another that may cause a stir with the extraterritorial land owners is eliminating the average setback requirement on lake frontage. This sentence being eliminated is, “Where property immediately adjacent on either side of the lot is already developed with principal structures, the required setback shall be determined by a line drawn between the farthest extension of the adjacent structures including any decks or raised patios.” Admittedly, this has been a controversial requirement and has spawned many BZA hearings, but it has been in place for decades. Many houses have been forced back from the lake because of this rule. House shapes have been changed to meet this rule. Where variances were requested, neighbors howled and called foul!!! I would be extremely upset if I had been forced to follow this rule sometime recently only to find out that it had been eliminated on a whim…
  3. Under the Development Standards and under Definitions, a new “Institutional” category was created and defined. This has been discussed for years and under the previous building commissioner, there was a subcommittee of the Plan Commission formed to work on this. At that time, the thought was that it affected both the private school and the public schools so representatives of both were included in the discussions. The new definition excludes the public schools, stating it is “Specifically for Culver Educational Foundation…” I don’t know if the public schools were consulted before being excluded, but it would seem they should be part of this.
  4. Under Intent, the language that set a minimum front yard setback of 10′ has been removed in favor of allowing the Building Commissioner to determine an “average” and allow that as the setback. This seems loosely defined and a potential issue. I understand the intent, which mostly refers to the average setback on a block and realistically one side of the block. But lawyers will be lawyers, i.e. block, neighborhood or zoning district? Both sides of the street? What if there’s an alley breaking up the block? Average implies the mathematical definition, but the intent is when 4 of 5 houses are 5′ off the sidewalk, the 6th one can be 5′ off the sidewalk too, but that’s not the “average” if one of the original five is setback 25’…
  5. Under definitions: Nuisance Building – Includes structures with appearances that detract from the neighborhood (such as properties that are not properly maintained, abandoned, structures covered with graffiti, or vacant buildings), as well as properties that present safety issues (such as fire-damaged buildings or structures that remain partially built or partially demolished). Nuisance Real Property – IC 32-30-6-6 While it references Indiana Code, this definition goes farther than the code definition. While I don’t particularly have a problem with the definition, I have to question why it is being added and how it is intended to be used. My concern is that it portends an expansion of the duties of the Unsafe Building Committee, which already often ventures into aesthetics verses safety. First off, area of aesthetics slippery slope, extremely subjective, and being fair with them is tough. Second, for some reason, this seems to be an area where Culver is all stick and no carrot… It would seem to be more productive to help find tenants for vacant commercial buildings and with our shortage of houses, help find new residents for vacant homes.

There were only a few people at the hearing in on Tuesday. For those of us that did attend, they didn’t have copies of the proposed changes for us to review. They also voted to waive reading them aloud at the meeting. When the notice leads by saying, “…correct clerical errors…” it’s not too surprising that there was no one there to listen, even if it had been read aloud. I had already commented on 1 & 2 at the September meeting and they said there was no agenda on 4. In the spirit of Culver seeking input, it would seem that some notice should have been given to the Township Trustees, the school superintendents, the Lake Maxinkuckee Environmental Council and the Lake Maxinkuckee Association. That would have allowed information to be circulated to those affected. My sense is that may well have increased the attendance and audience participation!

The list of changes is 9 pages long… The five I listed above are the ones that jumped out at me as potentially controversial or difficult to administer, but that doesn’t mean others aren’t affected by more of them and might have comments on them. Because this is a change to an ordinance, the Plan Commission is only sending on a recommendation to the Town Council. The council then adopts, rejects or sends the changes back to the Plan Commission. I believe that requires another public hearing, so there’s still time. We’ll see how it goes.

Finally, I want to reiterate my commendations to Mr. Gorski for tackling this. My commentary here is in no way meant to diminish the work he put in. Sometimes you can’t know or glean the history and the historical reasons may or may not be pertinent, but should be explored never the less. He is on his way out, leaving the Building Commissioner position after three years. I want to wish him the best in his future endeavors.