The Hahira Mayor Council discusses water sewer rate increases and then discuss the need for a Downtown Development Authority. After the description of the Odom Building decisions to be made notice where the mayor and city manager direct their attention as Mayor Cain asks if there are any questions or concerns. Councilman Barfield indulges them with scripted acclamations for a Downtown Development Authority skillfully weaving in a reference to the already pushed through Historical Preservation Commission. (More to come on that subject and video clip.) Councilman Barfield speaks as an authority because he has much experience with DDA activities as he reminds that he comes from tenure in a city that has DDA projects and several other authorities. That would be Morrow, GA where the failed development called Olde Towne cost tax payers hefty sums and still is not functioning in the black. Links to Olde Towne can be found in comments of previous posts. This failed development occurred on the watch of Councilman Barfield so it would be apparent that monitoring of government over reach was not then a priority and still seems to warrant a blind eye when continuing to champion NGO authorities. He is now the willing conduit of the Non Government Organization (NGO) system into our to date Constitutionally pure community government. Certainly DDA entities can do things our city or any government body cannot do because the intent of our founding fathers when they wrote the Constitution was for government never to become involved in business endeavors either directly or by webs of pass through NGO entities. Never mind these NGO entities circumvent control by the community electorate. Never mind that they are not stand alone entities. Once a DDA or a Historical Preservation Commission or any other NGO is registered with the state they come under the directives of the State Department of Community Affairs and the local electorate has no control, nor can they enter Open Records Requests to ascertain activities and/or budgets of the NGO because they will scream proprietary rights for their business interests. I suspect that to be the real reason even the GA Attorney Generals office was ignored when they sought assistance in answering my request for records of property acquisitions and sales from the former declared DDA which was signing deed exchanges from 1982 into the late 1990s. Local governments know they can claim Home Rule as protection against Attorney General inquiries and the only remedy to Home Rule is personal expense for legal representation to argue for Open Record compliance. Most government bodies can find deep pockets when they dont wish to divulge information that might discredit their intents so it basically becomes an impenetrable defense against citizen inquiry. The final discourse on the DDA was a scripted description of the all too familiar facilitator controlled educational venue complete with the added protection of a moderator to ensure the flow of information is one sided and focused only on the information desired to be heard. While we are inviting experts and persons with experience perhaps we should invite the Morrow GA Citizens For Better Government to better explain Olde Towne to us as well as all the other corruption uncovered in Clayton County GA. I have a friend on one of those oversight committees who Im sure would come down. Would not that be the honest approach. One comment that was made was that if the DDA tried to tell individuals what they could and couldnt do with their business they could be shut down. Once they are approved and registered with the DCA they have a life of their own and cannot be revoked nor can anyone guarantee that changing DCA directives wont change their scope of authority once it is assigned. I can assure you a Historical Preservation Commission can and will control elements of every residential property and business withing the registered areas. I can also provide a business owner who can inform how the Valdosta HPC controls his business even though it is not a historical building. It merely got included within the map and therefore must submit. Grant funds are not free money. They come form our state and federal taxes and increase the budget demands of those entities. Low or no interest loans are also not free because they are subsidized by the same state and federal tax revenues and budgets. Lending institutions never loan monies unless the subsidized fees and/or tax benefits support their required profit margins. Public/private business endeavors at any level are open invitations for crony capitalism and/or covert kick back strategies. That is the very reason our US Constitution makes no concessions for government mixing directly or indirectly into private business or real estate ventures. These relationships are and have always been Fascist relationships and clever stepping stones for those who are progressing us into Socialism/Communism. State and federal governments do however love the NGO networks because they give them direct links for insuring compliance with the system.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 15:39:48 +0000
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