While the Federal Governments in the US and Canada throw stimulus money to the wind, the Municipalities are on the front line of debt, foreclosures and real service cuts. Here’s a sample of my reading list from this week on this topic.

Iqaluit struggles to make tax-avoiding homeowners pay up

The City of Iqaluit continues to struggle with homeowners who don’t pay their property taxes, although its arrears list totals nearly $1.5 million.

There are currently 56 names on the city’s arrears list, including 12 businesses, in the city of about 6,200.

Almost 80 per cent of the debt is owed by individual homeowners, with some owing upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

BBC NEWS | Americas | Chicago shuts down to save money

Public services in the US city of Chicago have been shut down for a day as the authorities face an expected budget shortfall of some $300m (£184m).

Non-essential services such as rubbish collections, libraries and health centres were closed, in the first of three planned reduced service days.

City authorities hope the move, with workers taking an enforced unpaid holiday, will save an estimated $8.3m.

Local governments face painful choices – The Elkhart Project- msnbc.com

“The reality for local government is they’re probably in (fiscal year) ’09 seeing the decline in property taxes in concerted fashion for the first time,” said Hoene. “That means 2010 and 2011 are likely going to be more of the same. Even if a recovery in the housing market begins right now, they’re still a couple of years away from seeing any rebound in those revenues. We’re just entering the woods.”

The problem is not limited to residential properties. A decline in commercial real estate values is also cutting into local tax bases.

“We’ve got a ton of businesses that have gone out of business and we’ve got empty buildings here that people have picked up and left or filed bankruptcy,” said Elkhart Fire Chief Mike Compton.

Other sources of revenues are also down. Local governments that rely on sales taxes have been hit by the drop in retail spending. And state governments have cut back on revenue they pass through to municipalities.

Report: Atlanta must cut pensions | ajc.com

The long-anticipated report was released by the City Council’s Select Committee on Pensions, created last summer to look at the city’s pension obligations — its future debts to cover benefits for workers and retirees. Last year, those obligations totaled almost $1.2 billion, dwarfing other city costs. This year, after the world recession, pension costs are expected to increase because all the pension funds have lost money in the stock market and other investments.

“What we have is not sustainable,” said councilman Howard Shook, who co-chaired the committee.

Tax Bills Put Pressure on Struggling Homeowners – NYTimes.com

Hard times are causing more homeowners to fall behind on their property taxes. But in thousands of cases, they are not responsible to their local governments, but to private companies that charge double-digit interest and thousands of dollars in service fees.

This is because in recent years struggling cities and counties have sold their delinquent tax bills to the highest bidder. It seemed a painless way to turn old debts into cash to finance schools or public services.

But housing advocates say the private companies may be exacerbating the foreclosure crisis, pushing out homeowners faster than would governments, which are increasingly concerned about neighborhoods becoming wastelands of abandoned properties.

City seeks ways to run utilities more cheaply | IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star

Facing billions in needed improvements to its water and sewer systems, the city is considering making drastic changes to the way it runs those utilities to help cut costs.

Later this week, city leaders will begin mulling suggestions. Those could include merging water and sewer operations, using new waste-to-energy technology and considering alternate financing structures such as public-private partnerships.

Cities Tolerate Homeless Camps – WSJ.com

Nashville is one of several U.S. cities that these days are accommodating the homeless and their encampments, instead of dispersing them. With local shelters at capacity, “there is no place to put them,” said Clifton Harris, director of Nashville’s Metropolitan Homeless Commission, says of tent-city dwellers.

In Florida, Hillsborough County plans to consider a proposal Tuesday by Catholic Charities to run an emergency tent city in Tampa for more than 200 people. Dave Rogoff, the county health and services director, said he preferred to see a “hard roof over people’s heads.” But that takes real money, he said: “We’re trying to cut $110 million out of next year’s budget.”

This post was written by Mike Thomas for UrbanWorkbench.com ©2010.

Originally posted as Municipalities on the Front Line of the Economy

Technorati Tags: Business, City council, floreclosure, foreclosures, funding, municipal, municipal debt, real estate, taxes, U.S, United States

I try my hardest not to be all doom and gloom here at UrbanWorkbench, but someone tell me who is going to lend the US Federal Government a Trillion dollars a year?

Analysts predict that the federal deficit will hit a new record of at least $1 trillion this year, which would be not only be more than double the previous record in 2005, but would also overtake the previous record for deficit as a share of the gross domestic product…

Most economists agree that Mr. Obama and the Congress have no choice except to ignore short-term deficits and place top priority on fighting the country’s worst economic downturn in at least a half-century. But the short-term budget short-falls are big enough to pose serious headaches in themselves, especially if bond investors start demanding higher interest rates.

In just the first three months of the 2009 fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1, the government spent $408 billion more than it took in. About one-third of that short-fall stemmed from the Treasury Department’s rescue program of injecting capital into banks, which the government will book as an “investment’“ rather than “spending.”

The recession itself will add hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit. Even before Congress adds any new stimulus measures, higher outlays will climb for existing unemployment benefits, food stamps and other social programs. Tax revenues will fall because of rising unemployment, falling corporate profits and huge investment losses in the stock and bond markets.

Source: Obama Warns About Years of Trillion-Dollar Deficits – NYTimes.com

I’m sorry folks, but something doesn’t seem right about this situation. Is this the same as baling out a leaky boat as you watch the hole get bigger. Not suggesting that everyone should jump ship, but a change in course from Club Med to Club-grow-your-own veg might help.

How this will hit us in Canada, probably harder than we expect.

This post was written by Mike Thomas for UrbanWorkbench.com ©2010.

Originally posted as Obama Predicts Trillion Dollar Deficit

Technorati Tags: Canada, Club Med, credit, Economic, economy, Federal government of the United States, Gross domestic product, Recession, United States, United States Department of the Treasury

Just what we need, more seniors holding more voting power…

In at least some key B.C. ridings, seniors may well decide the outcome of this election. Their electoral firepower, where it’s concentrated, deserves respect. In Victoria, for example, residents 65 and older numbered over 62,000 in 2007. That’s roughly one-third of the Capital District’s total voting-age population.

In Greater Vancouver, last year’s population over 65 years old was about 392,000 — again, roughly one-third of the 1.2 million voters in the region.

‘Zoomer’ Voters Wield Clout :: News :: thetyee.ca.

I’m sorry to sound age-ist, but hasn’t the older generation done enough to screw things up? This age group is looking for pension funds to stay afloat and aged care facilities to be built to incorporate the aging demographic. For many of the older voters, making decisions that could be beneficial for the sustainability of society is not desirable, even if the need is obvious. This is the generation of luxury and convenience never before seen outside of palaces, estates and castles – and they’re not going to give it up easily.

Sustainability Redux

All of this is probably a moot point anyway, as the political parties don’t have the will to make changes that will improve the sustainability, but impacting convenience of the everyday constituent. Recycling, Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs and installing water saving showerheads have a minimal effect on perceived convenience, but allow people to feel like they are part of the solution rather than the problem.

But the problem, and I think the recent financial events reverberating around the world bear testament to this, is that this could get a whole lot worse in a hurry. It feels like we are in a cartoon car precariously balanced on the edge of a precipice, waiting for the one wrong move that will send us tumbling down. Neither the average voter, nor the seniors have an appreciation for this, and most of them would rather be blissfully ignorant of most troubles, I’d imagine.

This post was written by Mike Thomas for UrbanWorkbench.com ©2010.

Originally posted as The Senior Vote

Technorati Tags: BC, British Columbia, Canada, elderly, election, elections, senior, Sustainability

I stumbled across this quote while looking for something entirely different.  Written at the start of 2008, James Howard Kunstler writes his predictions for the year 2008 – from the section on housing and finance….

What happens out there on the housing market scene will certainly redound in banking and finance and whatever still constitutes the US economy generally. The fears and uncertainties surrounding all credit-backed tradable securities derive first from the millions of troubled home mortgages dangling slowly in the wind. These fears and uncertainties will multiply as defaults commence in commercial real estate, and desperate individuals next enter a wave of credit card default, all of it, too, securitized and sprinkled all over the world. None of this stuff has yet been priced into the public disclosures of the many troubled banks and bank-like companies holding it. Nor does anyone really know how this is affecting the hedge funds, and their staggering leveraged positions in things that are looking more and more like quicksand. I can’t imagine that quite a few major banks will not collapse in the first half of 2008.

It is hard to escape the conclusion that many hedge funds will also blow up, given the unsoundness of their counter-parties’ positions, not to mention the frailty of the bond reinsurers. But the death of more than a few hedge funds could easily unwind the entire global finance system — meaning a period of destructive chaos followed by a set of severely different institutional arrangements, with untold loss of imagined capital wealth along the way and big changes in everyday life. The world has never really been in a situation like this before and it is impossible to say what it might lead to. But there is no doubt that the American public has enjoyed an artificially high standard of living in relation to the value of what we actually produce — fried chicken, hair extensions, and the Flaver Flav Show — so the conclusion is pretty self-evident.

Kunstler’s forecast 2008

Certainly not far off the mark, timelines and outcomes are impossible to predict with much more accuracy than this, makes me think that we should go and read the rest of the predictions  – check them out here.

This post was written by Mike Thomas for UrbanWorkbench.com ©2010.

Originally posted as Kunstler’s Outlook Comes True?

Technorati Tags: economy, forecast, Housing, Kunstler, USA

Developments in the financial sector have left many people wondering how far the impacts of the credit crunch are going to hit. In a local paper, the advice was to sit tight, it’ll be alright, while other commentators take a tougher stance, questioning the foundation of the whole US market.

Jim Kunstler

I wish I knew whether this extravaganza of ruin might settle the question as to whether America goes into hyperinflation or implacable deflation, but the net effect is that money is leaving the system in big gobs. And if not money per se, then the idea of money as represented in certificates, contracts, counter-party positions, and gentlemen’s agreements. This is the day that America finds itself a much poorer nation. The capital we thought was there, is gone.

I wonder if this is how people thought in the 30′s, as things rolled steadily towards the depression. You still get the feeling that you are only being told half the story, that it might just be twice as bad, or worse, after all, no one in the business really has an interest in precipitating a mass market exodus, it would crucify their business, or at least their career. And the government has to maintain a stoic face through these massive buyouts of reckless companies, so we can’t really expect the whole story from them either.

And to tell you the truth, I don’t think people want the whole story, people want comfort, not fear, myself included, I quite like the moments when I can believe that everything is alright and will remain so for my children and their children.

But those moments pass, and I imagine how it would be possible to escape this crazy consumeristic society we live in without severing all ties to reality. The statistics of consumption are staggering…

Citiwire.net » Population Control: Important After All

But hello! With less than 5 percent of world population, the United States consumes a quarter of the world’s natural resources. We generate immense pollution. If every one of the world’s 6.6 billion people consumed at an equal scale, we’d need five or six planet Earths to accommodate them.

Is there a point of no-return for society? Have we passed it? Are we on an out-of-control rollercoaster?

Where do we stand?

Technorati Tags: financial, kunstler, finances, development, credit crunch, banks, consumption, depression, recession, government

This post was written by Mike Thomas for UrbanWorkbench.com ©2010.

Originally posted as Financial Wonderings

I use words every day to communicate, sometimes I write thousands of words a day. Not everyone can or wants to read what I write, sometimes its too technical, sometimes it’s just in too much of a niche for many people to care about.

But when there is an event that everyone cares about or wants to know something about, building a picture or telling a story is one of the most powerful methods of communicating. Sometimes I forget that. Tonight I was reminded by Franke James’ blog called My Green Conscience – I finally caught up in my reading and was floored by the simplicity, (and the effort).

The post puts a personal spin on the explosion in Toronto, and through good background research, images and simple text the story unfolds.

The beauty of blogging – the ability to loosen the formalities and tell a story to engage readers, listeners or customers.

What story do you have waiting to be told?

Image courtesy of Franke James.

This post was written by Mike Thomas for UrbanWorkbench.com ©2010.

Originally posted as Communicating with a Story

It’s been an interesting long weekend with lots of summer activities going on, but one common theme has been people talking about goats and chickens around town.

In response to the brief story and random question featured in the Castlegar Current, people about town are thinking about chickens and goats in a new light.

This is the vox pop section from the Castlegar Current (via Raymond Koehler), (click on the image to view full-sized)…

At a birthday party this morning, another two families agreed that allowing chickens and goats would be great, they even commented on previous neighbours that have had chickens in the past, with no problems.

I have to wonder if those on council who voted against further discussion of this matter actually talked to anyone regarding this proposal.

I’m sure this isn’t the end of this story. 

This post was written by Mike Thomas for UrbanWorkbench.com ©2010.

Originally posted as Goat Talk About Town

We received our Crop Share Certificate from the Creston Grain CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) today. As you can see from the image above, we hold share number 79 (which was out of a possible 200 for the 2008 season).

In addition to receiving a certificate, and 1/200th of the CSA’s harvest for the 2008 season, we are taking a tour and picnic day in a couple of weeks to visit the farms, see the crops, and meet the farmers. Also, we are visiting some other organic farms in the Creston area as part of the day trip. This is an exciting opportunity to show some community support for the farmers who are a key part of this initiative. Let me know if you are going to be there!
View Larger Map

This post was written by Mike Thomas for UrbanWorkbench.com ©2010.

Originally posted as Creston Grain CSA

The City of Rossland is going ahead with a rebate program for the replacement of old toilets with newer, low flush models. This is in addition to the Province’s (BC) recent announcement that all new houses will be fitted with low flush toilets. The final details of the program have not been ironed out, but it raises an interesting question that impacts everyone.

What standards of performance do toilet manufacturers have to meet?

When I’m talking about performance of a toilet, this is purely a function of what can be flushed using the water available, and not surprisingly a standard test has been developed in the past decade to determine the relative efficiency of various toilet models (pdf – 6MB).

Some toilets perform really well, others are just not as good. Out of interest, I’m going to see what models are available in the local stores around here, and check them against the test results. If you are considering an upgrade to your existing toilets, I’d recommend checking out the study linked above. Just like purchasing a fridge or washing machine, you want to get the best value for the money you are prepared to spend.

Potty Humour from the B.C. Citizens for Green Energy

On a side note, unfortunately not all commentators see low flush toilets as a good thing and have resorted to low grade potty humour in response to recent Provincial announcements on water and sustainability. First some commentary by the Golden Star…

In a recent press release from Gene Vickers, co-spokesperson for the ubiquitos B.C. Citizens for Green Energy (BCCGE) entitled “The low-flow flaw of compromised commodes” the group has focused their ever-vigilant eye on the, sorry just want to read it over one more time to be sure, yep, the water saving low-flow toilet.

In what appears to be put forward as a logical progression: because the liberal party wants to legislate low-flow toilets, the opposition wants to, as stated, “predictably” call for a ban on run of river, BCCGE would have us believe that, actually it seems unsure of what they would have us believe, is the message intended to suggest that low-flow toilets are somehow connected to run of river projects?

Source: BCLocalNews.com – Community News Papers from across BC Online

And now some of the offending article….

Barry was straining so hard to purge his country of legislated loos that he tried to start a citizens’ uprising — or as he called it, “a movement.”
As he put it, low-flow toilets were inadequate for really big jobs like “an act of congress.”
That being the case, these compromised commodes couldn’t pass an act of legislature either.

Source: The Live Wire

Have you retrofitted you toilets? What about other water saving fixtures around your home?

This post was written by Mike Thomas for UrbanWorkbench.com ©2010.

Originally posted as Low Flush Toilets

I’ll admit it. I like meat.

I could eat meat 3 meals a day seven days a week. Whether it’s lamb kebabs, sizzling bacon, buffalo sausages, or a juicy steak – its all good to me.

The downside to enjoying meat is the environmental footprint of the choice. And that’s one of the reasons why our family just doesn’t eat that much meat.

The Local Story

In this part of the world, the Kootenays, the ecological footprint of meat is probably higher than a lot of other places as there is no licensed facility to kill and butcher the animals within several hundred kilometres. Even animals that are raised just up the road have to be trucked to a distant facility and back to be sold commercially.

The Castlegar Section of the Columbia River Valley

Recently there was a cooperative proposal for an abattoir to be located in the Slocan Valley at a site near Lemon Creek. This was rejected for various reasons, so the proponents, a cooperative of willing local food advocates searched for an alternative site.

What seemed like a suitable site was located adjacent to the Regional District Landfill in Ootischenia, across the Columbia River from Castlegar.

I understand that this rural area was actually part of the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) until land owners in the area realized that it was worth more out of the ALR than in, and started subdividing it, (in fact I played on a golf course there this afternoon). From rural beginnings, the land is now slowly transforming into estate houses and McMansions, sure there’s still the odd orchard, but much of the land has departed from its roots of agriculture. But this is no different than much of the Kootenays, its just a few years behind. Golf and residential are the new economic drivers in this part of BC, as cashed up Baby Boomers look for trivial ways to spend their money. The difference also lies in the recent history of the place – it’s got a landfill, an airport, heavy industrial and transportation, and a modest number of rural houses.

Call me stupid, but with all this, and a golf course (which another community in the Kootenays desperately wants to avoid!),  what difference will an abattoir make? For those readers who are imagining that this is one of those immense feedlot operations – stop right there. Do your homework before you complain. This is a proposal for a modest sized, state of the art, meat processing facility – not a feedlot like the stinky one in Brooks Alberta that I had the misfortune of driving by a few years ago.

This letter was in the local paper last week…

An abattoir is, as the lady said, a slaughter house business and it stinks. Placing such an industry in, or near, any residential area should be avoided at all costs. There is not only the smell to think about, but also the seepage of fluid and biowaste into the ground and water-table. Ootischenia is no place for a cattle feeding and slaughter operation.

Castlegar News – Your Best source for Local Community News delivered in print or online

The Reality of Meat and Abattoirs

The proposal is a co-op, not a multi national corporation. The members of the co-op are locals, maybe your neighbours, people who are concerned about the environment, people who don’t see why the Province should enforce meat processing legislation that requires a facility like this to be built. These people see the value in keeping things local. Did you realize that everything that you buy in the local Castlegar Safeway has come to us via Calgary? Even apples from Ossoyos or Cherries from Creston. Breaking out of the multi-nation corporation habit of transporting goods thousands of kilometres is a tough move, but we in the Kootenays have an opportunity to grow our own meat here, process it here and eat it here – not so that it can be shipped to Vancouver or Calgary – but for us here in the Kootenays.

Consider that the proposal may be cutting edge – until you see the details, don’t assume the worst. You don’t buy a car believing that it will crash – rather you look for safety features that will prevent or minimize injury in the event of a crash. You are relying on engineering to minimize the risk, likewise, anything can be engineered. Why assume that there will be “seepage of fluid and biowaste”? Why assume it will “stink”? There are plenty of examples of previously dirty industries cleaned up. How about the Vernon Sewerage Treatment Plant – it’s right downtown and you wouldn’t even know it’s there most of the time.

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This post was written by Mike Thomas for UrbanWorkbench.com ©2010.

Originally posted as Ootischenia Abattoir