It's confession time. I had already drafted a blog on a totally different subject when the announcement of the passage of our nation's first comprehensive health care reform legislation hit the news yesterday. This is simply an achievement too big and timely to ignore and not offer some commentary on, particularly after a year of heated debate and rhetoric that has further divided this country and destroyed what David Brooks calls "The Spirit of Sympathy" (read his column in yesterday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette or go to
http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch?query=David+Brooks&srchst=cse ).
How can one not be excited by the fact that after almost 100 years of trying, this country has finally joined the rest of the industrialized world in providing health care for most of our citizens, including the over 30 million Americans who currently have none at all. Yes, I've listened to all of the arguments that it will socialize our health care system (think Medicare) and bankrupt our country in the process. But what about families that are being personally bankrupted as a direct result of not having any health care coverage who will now be able to get it? Or finally prohibiting those who have a major medical condition from being thrown out of an insurance plan, a situation with which I have had personal experience? Or having a child with a preexisting condition who will now be able to get health insurance? Or having no cap on lifetime benefits? Or closing the troublesome donut hole in the prescription drug coverage? Or addressing the rising health care costs in the United States? Are these benefits of this new law really the ingredients of the "Armageddon" predicted by the current House Minority Leader? The sun still rose in the east this morning, and will no doubt set in the west.
Of course this plan is not perfect. But, as our President has stated many times over the past year, you do not go for the perfect at the expense of the good, and the good of HR4872 far outweighs any bad. Just as with other major legislation passed throughout our history (e.g. National Parks, Women's Voting Rights, Social Security, Medicare, Civil Rights, etc.), this country will be much better off with the passage of this transformational legislation simply because it is the right thing to do, in my view.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Homelessness Uninterupted
As a follow-up to one of the anonymous comments generated by last week's blog, I fully understand the concept of replacement dollars of the proposed city sales tax for our parks and zoo, but the phrase "for other needs" gives me pause. In addition to where, when and how the anticipated increase in this new park/zoo tax will be spent on those facilities, it would be nice to know within some degree of identification what those other needs might be. In addition to infrastructure mentioned last week, let me suggest another - the homeless day resource center about which so much has been discussed and written for years.
Even though it is unclear just how many new dollars will be generated for these other needs by this proposed new tax, I think there would be strong support to dedicate a significant amount of whatever that is to our homeless problem, the face of which can be seen early most weekday mornings at the corner of Markham and Cross Streets. Although there are many divergent opinions as to what that day resource center should look like and where it should be located, let me further suggest an excellent model for replication - the Community Partnership for the Homeless, Inc.'s facility in Miami, Florida. Go to http://cphi.org to learn more. As an aside, the State of Florida enacted a food tax much like our local A&P tax that is dedicated exclusively to provide money for their homeless issue, so there may be another possible source of revenue that could be coupled with a portion of this new tax to provide a truly meaningful bundle of sustained funds for a day resource center in Little Rock. Besides the problem of funding, though, there is also the lingering obstacle of NIMBY, or "Not In My Back Yard" (a topic for a future blog) that has plagued us for years.
So, if there can be some clear explanation of exactly where, when and how all of the proposed new city sales tax dollars will be spent before the park/zoo tax is voted on perhaps later this year, it may well be our best hope to address not only the parks and zoo, but many of those yet unidentified other needs of our city including a goal to interrupt homelessness . If so, it may well warrant the description of "a smart proposal" which most citizens, including me, would support, in my view.
Even though it is unclear just how many new dollars will be generated for these other needs by this proposed new tax, I think there would be strong support to dedicate a significant amount of whatever that is to our homeless problem, the face of which can be seen early most weekday mornings at the corner of Markham and Cross Streets. Although there are many divergent opinions as to what that day resource center should look like and where it should be located, let me further suggest an excellent model for replication - the Community Partnership for the Homeless, Inc.'s facility in Miami, Florida. Go to http://cphi.org to learn more. As an aside, the State of Florida enacted a food tax much like our local A&P tax that is dedicated exclusively to provide money for their homeless issue, so there may be another possible source of revenue that could be coupled with a portion of this new tax to provide a truly meaningful bundle of sustained funds for a day resource center in Little Rock. Besides the problem of funding, though, there is also the lingering obstacle of NIMBY, or "Not In My Back Yard" (a topic for a future blog) that has plagued us for years.
So, if there can be some clear explanation of exactly where, when and how all of the proposed new city sales tax dollars will be spent before the park/zoo tax is voted on perhaps later this year, it may well be our best hope to address not only the parks and zoo, but many of those yet unidentified other needs of our city including a goal to interrupt homelessness . If so, it may well warrant the description of "a smart proposal" which most citizens, including me, would support, in my view.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Building Little Rock's Future
While recent local newspaper articles have focused on potholes, budgetary shortfalls and exploring a new revenue source for Little Rock, a national Sunday television program recently highlighted a new coalition formed by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, Democrat Gov. Edward Rendell of Pennsylvania, and Independent Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York known as Building America's Future that would seem to have direct relevance to our local situation. Specifically, it's not just potholes that need attention as a result of last month's winter storm and cold weather, it's a whole host of infrastructure needs in our community including but not limited to streets, drainage, sidewalks and traffic control items that have lacked adequate attention for years due to a shortage of funds.
An attempt was made in 2003 to begin addressing these needs with a five year half cent sales tax to raise $100 million to be dedicated exclusively to at least start fixing the known infrastructure problems estimated at the time to cost $500 million to repair. Unfortunately, that tax failed even though it had the full support of the business community, all local newspapers and the City Board of Directors. Fast forward seven years and many of those same needs still exist, notwithstanding the $59 million funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act recently announced by the mayor's office, which becomes a perfect example of what Building America's Future is all about.
In regard to the latest move to raise the "city sales tax" to at least be on par with many other communities in Central Arkansas and the state, an argument that was first made in the city's budget and tax meetings of 2002, no one can dispute the fact that our parks and zoo need funds, but I sincerely hope that substantive infrastructure improvements will not be left out of either this year's discussions or the final proposal, as way too much time has already passed for something major to be done to ours. That is the essential message of "Building America's Future" which could easily be translated into "Building Little Rock's Future", in my view.
An attempt was made in 2003 to begin addressing these needs with a five year half cent sales tax to raise $100 million to be dedicated exclusively to at least start fixing the known infrastructure problems estimated at the time to cost $500 million to repair. Unfortunately, that tax failed even though it had the full support of the business community, all local newspapers and the City Board of Directors. Fast forward seven years and many of those same needs still exist, notwithstanding the $59 million funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act recently announced by the mayor's office, which becomes a perfect example of what Building America's Future is all about.
In regard to the latest move to raise the "city sales tax" to at least be on par with many other communities in Central Arkansas and the state, an argument that was first made in the city's budget and tax meetings of 2002, no one can dispute the fact that our parks and zoo need funds, but I sincerely hope that substantive infrastructure improvements will not be left out of either this year's discussions or the final proposal, as way too much time has already passed for something major to be done to ours. That is the essential message of "Building America's Future" which could easily be translated into "Building Little Rock's Future", in my view.
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