Take two thick slices of Noonie's day old bread, smear Honey Cup honey mustard
liberally over both. Cover both slices with green leaf lettuce. Then on one slice only lay smoked turkey on the lettuce,
a tomato slice on the turkey and sprinkle it with shredded carrot. Then on the lay a slice of provolone cheese over the
carrot then a green pepper ring on top of the cheese. Sprikle with sprouts. Cover with the other slice, lettuce side down.
The letuce should be stuck to the bread with honey mustard so it doesn't fall off when you turn it upside down to cover the
sandwich. Slice sandwich in half with a knife. Wrap in tightly in plastic wrap. Use too much wrap. Tape on label. Tadaaa!
Weighs one pound. Costs Four Bucks.
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yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your
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Sinking fund
Thursday, September 25, 2008
I learned a new term from a comment in the last post: Sinking Fund. It's a fund of money built up to pay off the principle of a bond at the end of its life, or to buy back the bond earlier.
For a long time I've had the idea that the city should have an endowment that would generate its own revenues. Part of the revenues would go back to grow the endowment and part would go to the general fund. I figure if we could save up a billion bucks or so in an endowment, its revenues could offset taxes by at least ten million per year. We could have a Burlington "Endowment Clock" on city hall residents could point to with pride. It would be like the "Debt Clock" in New York except the number would positive.
It would have to be protected from impulses to raid it, of course. The strongest way I can think to do that would be by an amendment to the city charter forbidding the withdrawal of principle ever. It takes an act of the legislature to change the charter which would be one layer of protection. Another might be for the state to pass its own law or even constitutional amendment making it ridiculously hard to amend charter items having to do with municipal endowments in Vermont. It could require three consecutive statewide yes votes of 99%, for example.
Anyway- Sinking Funds made me remember the idea because even short of a municipal endowment, we could do 'sinking funds in reverse' if you will. Which is to say establish the fund first, and then put out a bond. Pay the interest on the bond with revenue from the fund and pay back the bond's principal at maturity with the money we've had all along. Wait- I know what you're thinking- why not use the money in the fund to purchase whatever we need directly and forget about issuing bonds? Hmmm. Interesting idea reader. I like the way you think. I'm gonna be watching you...
But getting back to the here and now, the anonymous commenter in the last post made a charge against the Kiss administration vis-a-vis a sinking fund for a water bond-
"The failure to fund the sinking fund is another factor (though undisclosed) behind the Administration's magician's [Jonathon Leopold's] claim that Burlington can't afford to educate its kids. I don't have time to explain this to you, but it is a huge problem and you should ask your city councilor to explain it to you if you don't understand it. That's their job."
So I once again put out the call. Anybody know anything about a sinking fund for a water bond that isn't being funded? Because quite honestly, I don't really expect my city councilor to explain it to me. It may technically be his job, but as I've said for years- the civic imbalance between the mayor and the council is one of the most under reported dynamics going. It was me who called for city councilors to be paid back in 1996, and for office space and resources to be dedicated to councilors.
The mayor has a staff. He has an operating budget. He has an office. He has a salary. He has a parking space. The councilors don't have squat and as a result they get pushed around constantly. They got suckered into giving Brendan Keleher a second pension. They lean on each other's credibility like a house of cards and pass the mayor's budget unanimously every year to hide the fact they haven't read it. In psychology that's called "diffusion of responsibility" and it happens for a reason. None of them can possibly analyze the mayor's budget responsibly with the time and resources they have. So they all just vote for it, knowing that if there is ever a problem they can point to the fact that all the other councilors voted for it too.
The institutional power of the mayor's office is so much greater than that of the city council, that the poor suckers aren't even allowed to know what's going on with Adam Cate, a city employee who has been on paid leave for three months because, well... nobody knows. Pathetic.
Oh man- I'm up too late again. One good thing though- John Briggs from the Burlington Free Press finally bookmarked this blog today. Jesus Briggs- for a guy who supposedly knows what's going on in this town, it sure took you long enough to get around to bookmarking the most powerful blog in Burlington Politics!
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"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses
yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your
teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed,
to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
-Emma Lazarus, 1883
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Junktique's New Site
Junktique's Old Site
Jessica Sklar
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I vote Bedrosian!