Time to Get Smart About Vandalism

The Copper Mountain Park vandalism is the most recent example of a big problem: jerks tear up our stuff. Our local officials have a policy of hand wringing each time an episode occurs. They are “dismayed” and “troubled,” but the perpetrators are seldom caught and our public facilities continue to suffer. It’s time we became proactive and implemented a plan to catch the vandals and to prevent the vandalism. The fact is, for $500 and the cost of a monthly phone line, we could have prevented what occurred at the Copper Mountain Park.

During my career as an engineer working with municipal utilities, I’ve worked with remote alarm technologies. These devices alert authorities when problems occur and they are inexpensive and simple to install. A common security device, an autodialer, could have alerted police to the vandalism occurring at Copper Mountain. Once motion was sensed in the buildings, the dialer would have silently called the authorities and the police could have been onsite within minutes. Autodialers can be installed for about $500 and they provide constant security for the cost of a phone line, or in remote locations, the cost of a cell phone.

Butte-Silver Bow has security technology within the water system and it’s an outrage that city officials haven’t been proactive and extended this protection to other important public facilities, like the Copper Mountain Park. Chief Executive Babb and his “team” members have endless meetings with each other, but important items that would safeguard public property don’t make the agenda. If they did, then such technologies would already be in place to protect city facilities. Instead, even after the recent vandalism, nothing has been done to secure our public properties. They remain easy targets for the next jerks looking for an evening’s entertainment.

May you live in interesting times.

Click the cartoon to enlarge and read.
Polling is a powerful political tool. But, what is often lost in the frenzy of polling is that the old axiom of computing, garbage in equals garbage out, can also apply to polls.

Take health care reform as an example. Polls frequently track public opinion on this issue but are the results meaningful? Probably they are not. The results become “garbage in equals garbage out” when the people polled don’t have an informed opinion about the subject. On health care we don’t have an informed opinion because no one can keep up with this rapidly changing, complicated legislation. So, what the pollsters actually measure are people’s opinions of what they’ve heard, not their opinions about what they know. The trouble is, as people hear something different, their opinions rapidly change. This is why the polling on health care is all over the map.

It is alarming that our congress people rely on these polls as a guide for their vote. They mistakenly believe that the polls give them knowledge of how “the folks back home” feel about an issue. Instead they get a glimpse at our uninformed opinion, and this picture changes constantly. It is more like a close basketball game where the buzzer decides the winner simply because they are ahead at the moment the game ends. That’s fine for basketball, but not so fine for setting public policy.

Our representative democracy was designed to operate with deliberative, thoughtful leaders. The gang leading us today is neither deliberative nor thoughtful and their leadership is creating tumult. These days I'm reminded of that old Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.”

Butte, America

Butte has a compelling story and it seems that most people tell it as a tragedy. That was the case with the recent “Butte America” on PBS. That film continued a long tradition of telling Butte’s story as one of exploitation and loss, and at the end of the film you were left with the impression that the town had ceased to exist. While I enjoy these chronicles of our past, we need to make certain that they are not the last word regarding our city. They certainly do not make people want to move here, open their businesses, and raise their families.

Far too often we let other people define our city. As you travel around our region and meet people, and they learn you are from Butte, their reaction is often one of amused dismay. Many have either never been here, or have spent very little time in our city. Their reaction instead has been molded by what they’ve heard, and they’ve heard about the pollution from mining and smelting, about urban decay, and about hard living and hard times. These perceptions are not the reality of the Butte that I experienced. My Butte was a pleasant place to grow up, it was a good place to raise my sons, and it's been a place where my business has thrived. We must work to make people’s perceptions reflect the reality that we have each experienced.

Back in 2006, the Babb Administration, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Butte Local Development Corporation, put together a business plan. One element of that plan was “Develop a unified marketing plan and program to promote Butte as an excellent location to do business.” Of the many tasks the business plan proposed this is likely the most important, and also one that has not been effectively accomplished. On the Butte-Silver Bow website this three-year old business plan is labeled as a “Draft,” so perhaps it was never implemented. In any case this task needs to be dusted off and put into effect. This is important because our economic development efforts have fallen short partly because we have neglected this crucial task.

Our local leaders have mistakenly believed that our industrial parks, our labor force, available utilities, and our innovative financial inducements, were enough to lure prospective businesses. But we fall short because other cities offer these items as well; by themselves they are not enough. The quality of life a city offers is also part of the consideration when a company chooses a location. Butte’s reputation, formed by documentaries such as "Butte America," hurts our efforts here.

But, our local government has provided ammunition to those who disparage Butte. Our image isn’t our only problem and our community is not living up to its potential. In conjunction with an effective marketing campaign, much hard work is needed to catch up to other cities in crucial areas. We need to fix our streets, clean up the litter, corral the stray dogs, develop recreation facilities and programs, and promote neighborhood redevelopment. That way, once an effective marketing campaign gets folks to look at our city, they will like what they see.

And , here is the best part. The things we need to do, to build our economy, are also things that will improve the lives of our residents. It will be a great win-win for the people of Butte.

We Need a Rebuilding Season

If Butte were a pro football team, we’d need a “rebuilding season”. We’ve all watched games and said, “That was a bonehead play, why’d the coach do that?” We’ve all watched teams that couldn’t hold the ball; they fumbled frequently and just couldn’t advance. That’s what it’s like watching our local government in action.

For instance, the public clearly expresses a desire for more recreation opportunities, with an outdoor pool at the top of their list. Instead of providing a pool, Coach Paul Babb commissions a study. The study finds that Butte’s climate is not conducive to a pool. The fact that we had a successful outdoor pool for decades, the fact that our neighboring communities have pools, is of no consequence. Coach Paul ignores public opinion and forges ahead with plans to build a splash park instead of a pool, a park that virtually no one wants. This is bonehead play number one.

Then there's this fumble. There is brand new park playground equipment in storage at the City Shops. It’s been sitting in boxes, in the storage building for years. It hasn’t been installed, and the children of Butte haven’t used it, because the manpower wasn’t scheduled to install it and they weren’t entirely sure where to put it. Seems like Coach Paul is not paying very close attention to the game. Bonehead play number two.

Then there's this busted play. Through the NRD program, Butte Silver Bow has spent $14,064,924 on the Greenway. This is the corridor along Silver Bow Creek between Butte and Anaconda. The idea is to create a public walking trail and access to the creek. It’s a great idea, but 14 million dollars later there is little public benefit to show for this massive expenditure of public funds. Coach Paul needed to be involved and make certain that this project was constructed in stages so there could be a public benefit as the project moved along. Instead we have endless promises about “someday.” Bonehead play number three.

How many people would have been attracted to live in Butte, to open their businesses here, if we had amenities such as the Greenway, a pool, and well-planned parks? Bonehead plays are hurting our community. Our residents are denied the quality of life that they have a right to expect, and our economic development efforts are undermined by the lack of recreation in our city. Our rebuilding cannot wait for a miraculous epiphany to give the Chief Executive the direction he needs. It’s time for the Council, and the citizens, to have a serious talk with Coach Paul.

A Slippy and a Slidey

The condition of the streets this morning was deplorable. The Platinum Street hill in particular was a sheet of ice and many cars could not make it to the top. Why does this happen?

We had many days warning that bad weather was approaching. Why can't the Babb administration plan accordingly? Why are they constantly caught by surprise? It should not be difficult to sand our hilly streets early in the morning, after a well forecast storm, yet it rarely happens. This is an issue of public safety. Our friends and neighbors could be injured and killed on poorly maintained, slippery streets.

Here we are, in the sixth winter of the Babb administration, and we still have ineffective winter street maintenance. How long must we wait?

Leftovers From the Fridge

Here are a few more things that are stuck on my refrigerator.

I clipped this from the paper awhile back. A good thought from a great man. The more you learn about Churchill the humbler you become. This guy lived a big life. A book on Churchill that is a little different from the rest is "Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill" by Gretchen Craft Rubin. You can buy a used copy from Amazon for $1.89. It'll be worth it.



I have two sons and so I re-learn this frequently.

This quote is a paraphrase from Oscar Wilde. He actually said, "The old believe everything; the middle-aged suspect everything; the young know everything." I like the paraphrase better.



This cartoon was in the Front Street Market's wine club newsletter a couple years ago. In addition to good cartoons, their wine club gives you two bottles a month for your $19.95. It's one of the best deals in town.

More…Freedom From Fear

Barack Obama has a tougher problem than did Roosevelt. FDR’s policies that helped to create jobs and raise the wages of American workers were effective because the U.S. was mostly a captive market for American industry, and because the U.S. was a large exporter. When FDR’s policies raised the wages of auto workers, all of the American auto companies were equally affected. No company had a strategic advantage. It worked because American businesses produced the vast majority of the cars bought in America, and exported cars to the rest of the world. The same held true for steel, and many other manufacturing industries.

Today we have a global economy and the U.S. is no longer a net exporter. If the United States adopts a policy that increases wages, or improves benefits for workers, this increases the cost of production. In a global economy, a likely effect will be the loss of American jobs to an area of the world where wages and benefits cost less. A raise in the wages of American autoworkers becomes a strategic advantage to auto companies in Korea, Japan, and elsewhere. Likewise, if health benefits cost American business more than their counterparts in Europe and Asia, then we have given a strategic advantage to foreign companies in those countries.

The United States previously used tariffs as a means to protect American companies from the competitive advantage that our wages and benefits created for foreign companies. But, in the interest of free trade, those tariffs have mostly disappeared. This places American companies in direct competition with foreign businesses that operate without the expense of our environmental protections, workplace safety, and wage and benefit levels. That is why American companies shut down American factories and move them to those other countries. Then they can also realize the competitive advantage.

The problem comes full circle, right back to you and me, when we realize that those companies moved factories to improve their profitability and their stock price. We all want our 401-K’s to increase in value as much as possible. To achieve this, we invest in companies that give the best return. In order to meet this expectation, businessmen, acting like businessmen, cut costs wherever possible so that they can increase shareholder value.

So, Barack Obama has to consider all these factors as he crafts policies to help our economy. How do you satisfy the legitimate demands of the American middle class for higher wages without shipping their middle class jobs to Indonesia or China?

That’s the problem. A few thoughts about solutions in a future post…

Bump on a Log

On September 8, the Montana Standard ran an article that discussed the possible need for a construction manager for the new Archives building. The article highlights how things have deteriorated within our local government and it shows how the Council has had to take over some of the management functions of the Chief Executive.

First a little background: Ellen Crain, the Archives Director, appeared before the Council and requested that a construction manager be hired to oversee the new Archives building. She told how acrimony between the architect and the contractor is causing difficulty. She also said her volunteer panel was being overwhelmed by the project.

Under prior administrations, it was county policy that the Public Works Department oversees construction projects of this magnitude. Public Works staff, as well as other staff members, visited jobsites, tracked budgets, and conducted weekly meetings for all large construction projects. Under this arrangement, Butte Silver Bow successfully completed projects like the new landfill, the new jail, the water main replacements, the Silver Lake water system rehab, the public improvements at ASiMI, the bus transfer center, and many others. Never was there a need to hire a separate construction manager.

Nowadays, things have deteriorated. The Chief Executive no longer uses the Public Works Department to manage such construction projects. This is probably because his reorganized department hasn't the experience and the technical capability. Instead, a volunteer group must struggle to understand and control the multi-million dollar Archives project. This is not the correct way to spend taxpayer dollars and to assure that public facilities are being properly built.

Lastly, at the meeting, the Council had to investigate the need for a construction manager while the Chief Executive sat idly by. This isn't how it should be. He was not elected and he is not paid to be a bump on a log. The Council should tell Mr. Babb that he is not their thirteenth commissioner and that he has management responsibilities. They must remind him that it’s his job to oversee the staff and to make available the information needed to support a staff request. Also, they should question him to make certain that he supports what his staff is asking for. The Council can, of course, gather whatever additional information they want, but they shouldn’t have to perform the management functions of the Chief Executive.

Things From The Fridge

Here are a few of the things stuck to my refrigerator. You can click them to view a larger image. (Remember that ctrl + and ctrl - will adjust the image size.)

This is from "Youth" by Joseph Conrad. An excellent short story. Forget "Heart of Darkness," this is the Conrad story you should read. Here is a link where you can read it online for free. It will be 45 minutes well spent.
http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/noa/pdf/27636_20th_U08_Conrad-1-34.pdf


This excerpt is from "A Short History of Financial Euphoria," by John Kenneth Galbraith. I learned about this little book from an Eliot Spitzer interview about the financial meltdown. (Remember Spitzer, the former Governor of New York?) This book can be read in an afternoon and it should be made compulsory. Also, Eliot Spitzer should be one of the architects of the financial recovery. It's a shame that his misbehavior has removed him from consideration. He now writes a blog for Slate magazine and it is worth following. Here is a link to it.
http://www.slate.com/?id=3944&qp=28174



My two sons tease me about writing a blog and they were delighted to give me this.

Hapless

We recently got a glimpse into the problems within our local government when the Animal Control Director resigned. She apparently has been away from her duties for a month or more. Chief Executive Babb told the Montana Standard that he’d been managing the department’s day to day operations. He also said that now he’d evaluate restructuring the year-old department and taking it in a different direction. “We need more people on the street picking up animals,” he said.

This is curious stuff from our Chief Executive. The animal control department was organized little more than a year ago after the voters gave Babb clear instructions to pick up more stray dogs and get a handle on Butte’s nuisance animals. A large budget was put at Babb’s discretion. He hired who he pleased, spent the budget as he saw fit, and was responsible to oversee the operation. The city sat back and awaited results.

Well, the results are in, and it isn't a pretty picture. The new Director has left, the money got spent, and the result is little change in the number of stray dogs on the streets, no apparent increased enforcement of the laws regarding nuisance dogs, and people are still being harassed and bitten. Now, in a move that has become comically predictable, Paul Babb plans to study the problem and reorganize.

When Paul first ran for office he liked to say “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” We have all seen that he likes to plan, and we have seen where those plans have lead; crony hiring, crumbling and dirty streets, employee lawsuits, inadequate recreation, dead trees that are replaced yearly, litter in the streets, increased government costs, increased bureaucracy, and the list goes on. In keeping with his homily, can we assume that he planned to fail?

Probably we can’t. Hapless is a better descriptor for our Chief Executive. A large part of his job is to be our city manager. Mundane tasks like garbage, parks, roads, stray dogs, urban renewal, and water and sewer services, are his responsibility. But, he evinces little interest in these critical areas of local government. To compound the difficulty, he has mostly hired department managers who were friends or acquaintances, and they likewise had little or no experience in their areas of responsibility. Consequently, there is no leadership from the top, and Paul hasn't hired many staff members that can give him proper advice.

This is why, even after five years, the Babb administration has not created proper recreation programs, why they can't remedy the litter problem, why they have failed to stop potholes from sprouting everywhere, and why stray dogs are a perennial problem. Paul Babb is entangled in a thorny thicket that prevents his seeing what needs doing and it also prevents his knowing how to do it. It is hard to sympathize though; he planted that thorn bush, and he waters and fertilizes it every day.