Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - MarcNelsonJr

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 154
1
Oh yeah!  Real Classy when a Facebook page is set up to enable attendees of the festival to warn each other of the activities of local law enforcement?    Real Classy to have postings on that page citing law and encouraging those who come into contact with the local police to video tape that interaction?

Yes..  That's all Class!

Citing the law?!? We can't have that!  ;)

As for taping police encounters, good police should welcome it.

2
Doesn't everyone want police protection, but not police harassment?  :D

3
You going to ask Marc out on a date, Jaybee?


Maybe.  He always has the sexy data ready, and the links to tap it all. 

Definitely the kind of person I like to hang with.  :)


It's OK for two grown men to go on a date, is it not??  ;)

NTTAWWT!

4
Here's the report the BoE is citing in their budget request. It's a FY11 report from the state Department of Education. Depending on which costs are counted, they put Allegany County at either sixth or seventh in per-pupil spending.

So depending on who's counting, Allegany County is somewhere from 5th to 7th in per-pupil spending, in a state with the ninth-highest per-pupil spending in the country.

Still think the BoE is "underfunded"?

6
The state average in per pupil expenditure is $12,491. Allegany County is at $12,803.

Where are you getting these numbers?

The state Department of Legislative Services puts Allegany County per-pupil spending at $14,723 for FY12. More than 19 other counties, more than 40 other states, more than Washington DC.

Here's the chart again:


7
Allegany County Discussion / Re: Pilot school?!?!
« on: May 20, 2013, 12:17:39 PM »
How about we shoot for not sucking? Salisbury University, another school in the state university system, has a four year graduation rate of 48%.

Hey, go for it.

8
Allegany County Discussion / Re: Pilot school?!?!
« on: May 20, 2013, 11:00:38 AM »
Well, Marc, I suppose we could aspire to be the bottom of the barrel in everything, but that's not really a place I want to live. Given how things go here, however, it is possible that our county motto says, "Someone has to be last," and I missed it. My bad.

There's a reason you can't buy waygu beef at Mor For Less. The people that shop there can't afford it, and the people that can afford it won't shop there.

FSU could raise its standards to Ivy League levels, but who would go there? Would you advise your kid to take their 1550 SATs to FSU?

I'm certainly not arguing that massive federal subsidies to run unprepared students through mediocre colleges is a good thing - it's insane. But bureaucracies have to expand, bureaucrats have to eat, and so FSU needs butts in seats.

9
Allegany County Discussion / Re: Pilot school?!?!
« on: May 20, 2013, 01:16:33 AM »
Before they begin an expansion they may want to raise their admission standards.

Why?

FSU's mission is to suck up the maximum amount of federal education dollars. A pilot training program fulfills that mission admirably, or at least as well as a sociology or mass comm program. And a dropout's Pell Grant or subsidized student loan money spends just as well as a graduate's.

Regardless of how well universities do at educating people, they do an excellent job of employing vice-presidents and diversity officers in cushy jobs. Why risk derailing the gravy train?

10
Allegany County Discussion / Re: First for the flood control...
« on: May 19, 2013, 11:38:33 PM »
That's awesome.

11
I do know that while we're #5 in state funding, we're actually in the middle of the pack overall.

No, we're fifth in total per-pupil spending. As in, only four counties in the very rich state of Maryland spend more per pupil than we do.

If we're not adequately funded, than neither is PG County, neither is Baltimore County, neither are 40 of the states.

We spend more per pupil than does Washington, DC. If we in Allegany County can't run an adequate school system on a thousand dollars more per pupil than they spend in DC, then we have a serious problem. You don't have to have a kid in public school to know that.

12
Our school system is underfunded.

In dollars, how much does the BoE need to be properly funded? I've never heard any specific number, just a constant demand for "MORE!"

#5 in per-pupil spending in a rich state with very well-funded schools is not enough. If we spend as much as Montgomery County, will that be enough?

You don't have kids in schools, so how do you know?

Note to BoE backers: belittling those who do not have children in public schools is probably not a good idea. Remember that most of the people who fund the schools in this county do not have children in them.

Telling them, "Shut your mouth and open your wallet!" is probably not the best way to make your case.  ;)

13
Maybe there is room to trim there too. 

I'm sure. We are talking government, after all. :)

I just can't support cutting a core government function like law and order to provide raises for an already well-funded school system.

14
The fact that a jail comes before schools is a little screwy.

From the FY14 preliminary budget...

BoE funding from county: $29,770,045, or 36% of the general fund.

Detention center funding: $6,894,159, or 8.3% of the general fund.

BoE enrollment 2012:  8913
Average number at the detention center 2012:  150

And which ones would you like to let out on the street to pay for BoE raises?

15
Local Events / Re: Allegany Boardgaming Society
« on: May 16, 2013, 12:34:47 AM »
We played nothing but new (to us) games last Saturday - ranging from Power Grid to Survive!:



And this Saturday, there's even more gaming goodness... Game Day XL will run from 11 to 5 instead of our usual 1 to 5! Why? Why not?  :D

Drop by for a while, or stay and play the whole day! It's always free, and it's always fun.

16
The fact that a jail comes before schools is a little screwy.

From the FY14 preliminary budget...

BoE funding from county: $29,770,045, or 36% of the general fund.

Detention center funding: $6,894,159, or 8.3% of the general fund.

17
National Politics / Re: Gov. Taps AP Phones "Where's Nixon"?
« on: May 15, 2013, 08:12:55 PM »
You forgot the rest of the talking points, Ace.  ;)

This administration has been happy to leak all sorts of classified information when it suits their political purposes - even this leak that they were supposedly so worried about. From the head of AP:

Quote
Finally, they say this secrecy is important for national security. It is always difficult to respond to that, particularly since they still haven’t told us specifically what they are investigating.

We believe it is related to AP’s May 2012 reporting that the U.S. government had foiled a plot to put a bomb on an airliner to the United States. We held that story until the government assured us that the national security concerns had passed. Indeed, the White House was preparing to publicly announce that the bomb plot had been foiled.

18
I think the point being that everyone needs to realize paid parking isn't about making money. It's about encouraging turnover.

I wonder if that's the real complaint. There's no trouble finding a place to park if you're just doing a bit of shopping. But if you expect to park all day for free while you're at work... Then yeah, you might say there's a "parking problem."

In that vein, I do think just having timed spots could work better than meters for downtown Cumberland. Because it shouldn't be about the money. If it is, then the city is approaching it wrong. I don't necessarily have a problem with metered parking per se, but I do agree, it shouldn't be a deterrent.

Switching over to free one-hour spaces would be fine with me. For the district courthouse, you have the George St. garage. And there are several lots around the district court that could be used for parking, given sufficient demand.

And between the mall's pseudo-cops and the city's parking enforcement people, we already have the personnel to mark tires.

19
With the 5th-highest per-pupil spending in the state, I'd hardly say the public schools are being "short-changed."

20
But I thought "we don't value education"?  ;)

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 154