"WHO'S FOOLING WHO?' robert palmer
FOR SOME OF YOUR QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE SCHOOL LEVY ,PLEASE CHECK OUT THE PAINESVILLE CITY SCHOOLS WEB SITE. SOME INTERESTING ANSWERS. ALSO JUST A REMINDER THAT MR. TAYLOR WILL BE AT ANDY FLOCK'S TOWN HALL MEETING THIS THURDAY AT 7:00P.M
Image, image image... that, next to 'perception' (with diversity not far behind)is all I hear about Painesville. This blog site is bad for Painesville's Image!
"We as citizens need to change the image as well as the perception of our lovely town". I keep hearing this same mantra.
Yes I tend to agree: ask a reputable real estate agent what they feel is the true perception of Painesville? Do many of them steer potential buyers away from Painesville? Has our housing become investment property for some buyers, or a place to purchase if your son or daughter attends the local college?
Image can consist of making a property owner repair his or her sidewalk. It can also consist of refusing to cover your recycling area, without an excuse that can be "we're looking into..." Try using that one with the housing inspector Grinch?
Telling people that our electric costs are "almost 50% cheaper then surrounding communities. Mr. Council President, take anyone's electric bill; yours, mine, a total stranger's, and compare days and usage, and then please show me the 50% savings. We have an image of cheap utilities, Mr. School Board President, show me what our current taxes are compared to surrounding communities. The one across the river is rated excellent by the State of Ohio; what, is there something in our water?
Why does our image need another five year plan every three years?
Now comes Fridays News-Herald 09/24/10, with a human interest story about a company from Canton that comes to Quail Hollow for a meeting As part of the meeting they build bicycles for under-privileged children and non- English speaking children in Painesville. Now, you're traveling from say, Syracuse New York, and you read this article in the paper. Honestly, what would be the image and perception of Painesville that would form in your mind? Blame this blog.? Blame the local paper?
Read this week that one of Painesville's largest employers was sold to a holding company. What will they think of our image after they drive down Lexington Ave. to their new acquisition? We can only hope they don't look at what their tax bill is. [They will] They may consider even moving to China but it might be cheaper to move to Beverly Hills. Remember we're saving them around 50% in utilities right? I believe if this fact was true many commercial properties in town would already be filled.
Perception: you drive by a manufacturing plant that produces Chevrolet's , yet the employee parking lot as well as most of managements is filled with Fords? What's your perception? Probably 75% of the city and its schools employees live outside the city limits. Not saying some don't have valid reasons but with percentages this high, they must know something. Sure they pay income tax, what's that their fine they have to pay to work here. Wouldn't these people be the the ones that would add so much in the housing and retail to Painesville?
We hire a Downtown Painesville promoter to "showcase" the city, and he honestly does a pretty fair job (or his support staff does). Listen to him, great... then the first thing he does is move west to Cleveland Heights... go figure?
I can't tell you what the answer is, only that the people in charge of our city and schools don't seem to have a clue either. Flowers and Raider Pride....along with throwing more money will not change the image. Sorry, it's not working along with the people at the controls.
"Who's fooling Who"????
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Come on people what kind of people do we have living here in town? January 27th its a general question. You call yourselves Painesvillites?
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posted by terminator1 @ 8:46 PM
23 Comments
23 Comments:
Anyone in Painesville who gets written up by the inspectoress general should go down and take a picture of RITA'S DUMP and go to court with that. Tell Judge Mike that you have other plans also. No resident or business could get away with this crap. Only our own arrogant city manager.
Why no bikes for Chardon, Concord, Mentor, just us. Now lets all deal with that IMAGE!
Let's do another study.
You bring up a very interesting point. Let's see this 50% savings Joe. I don't believe it either. Just tell us the truth.
Been to Charter Oak Park lately?
General Paine's birthday.
I got tired of paying the high cost of gas to heat my house, so I purchased electric heaters "because Painesville's electric rates are so low." Oh, yeah? It's costing me a fortune. Less than the gas, but that's about all I can say about it. I purchased the infrared quartz heaters that are a lot cheaper to run and safe to leave on 24/7. I figured with that, along with the low rates for electricity, I would have it made. Well, let me tell ya. The first part of our bill goes down with more usage, but the second part does not. Now when people tell me how cheap Painesville's electricity is, I figure that they were duped just like me. I guess if you say it's cheap often enough, people will believe you. What a load of garbage this town is. Honestly, if I could move out, I would.
General Paines Birthday. Your right.
What's your thoughts on a
"General Paine Day" in town?
2:32 It's cheaper here but nowhere near 50%.
1:29 Your right on one point no one else could get away with this.
Some of us figured all this out a long time ago and moved. Still have to work here, oh well.
I laugh and figure the citizens deserve it, year after year they have had good people run against the JoeHada and friends council and I watch year after year as no one supports those people and they end up moving out in disgust.
You will not see change until you get more people banded together to vote in that change.
Everyday is a general pain day here, what would you do special "water board'?
Another word on electric bills in this city. Has anyone else who questions/challenges the city noticed that their electric bills seem too high sometimes? Sometimes my bills just make no sense, and I am pretty sure I am being purposefully overcharged. Every time I call the city about it, I am told that they sent someone to read the meter again and everything is fine. Of course, what else did I expect?
On another note, I just had a neighbor tell me that his electric bill doubled for one month this last winter. He called the city. They sent someone out and said everything was fine. Of course. Next month his bill was back down to his normal $200.00, instead of the $400.00 he was charged for that one month. It was not a problem of the billing period being 45 days, either, or anything else that could be uncovered.
Every time you turn around, in every area, this city is just outrageous.
Anyone else have trouble with their electric bills?
I have no proof of this but just maybe the city only reads your meter 6 times a year and estimates the other 6 this could be a cause of a wilde swing.
This practice would make the formula for the power factor even more interesting.
This is 1:42. I guess that could always be part of the problem, but probably not, because it doesn't even out. My neighbor's, for example, would have needed to come up with a following month's bill of $100.00, and not his normal $200.00 if there was an explanation like that to be had. Same with mine. And mine a lot of times just seems way too high based on what I used with no explanation to be found in the previous or subsequent months. I think when you speak out against this city, you end up targeted in every way possible, be it water bills, electric bills, inspectors, whatever. The same thing happens to my water bills. When I call them to come out, they say everything is fine, of course. I'm watching the reading on my electric meter now. Don't know why I didn't think of that a long time ago. Maybe that will shed some light. This is a creepy, creepy city, run by a creepy, creepy woman. (Well, there's a word I haven't used in years. It certainly fits, though.)
I have talked to utility workers in and out of the city. All have told me it's near impossible to run a long time scam on your utility bills.
What the county does is charge a flat rate for water, ie. $XX.XX a month now that would save some people in town a lot of money but it would also cost single, elderly and so on. One thing that strikes me odd is no one regulates our power. PUCO decides what First Energy can charge it's customers, in Painesville the power factor is unregulated by anyone. What all goes into the "Power Factor"?
What some enterprising resident should do is ask nfor the monthly profit and/or loss statements from the city on their "businesses" I'm willing to bet that the city averages 5 million in profit at least a year on these three businesses, we'll find out. If you can't transfer that money into the general fund where does it go?
You pull into a gas station and the sign tells you gas $1.09 gal.*
What is the * for? Thats our power factor which is added to your gas purchase. So how much is gas? add the two together. Why?
Along with the council-president claiming your saving almost 50% on your electric bill.
This is 1:23. Thanks for the information and the investigation, Term. I wonder if these meters (electric) are or can be calibrated (if that is the word). Sometimes my bill seems fine, sometimes way out of line. I was told by one person uptown in the electric department a few months back that if it gets old and is starting to break, it will speed up. The last time I was up there, I got a rude, uppity woman who told me that it would slow down if it wasn't in good shape anymore. I tend to believe the first person, as the second one was just a pompous jerk. I doubt it would be a bad meter, though. And I certainly would not expect them to come out and do a proper job of checking it. Also, the fact that I do get some bills that seem fine probably rules out a bad meter. I don't know. Am I the only one who has noticed this? (Although it may be a lot harder for someone with a family to judge their consumption.)
I would be very curious also to see what they make on the power factor.
I just got done looking into hooking up with solar power. Doesn't seem to fit my reality right now, though. At least not yet. I was hoping something could be hooked up to the meter, but apparantly the regulations, etc., make that prohibitive right now. He may have said impossible, too, would have to go back and look at my notes. The alternatives don't seem like they would make a big enough difference for me right now to make it worth my while.
I'm stuck in this damn town, and I can't move out yet. The only alternative is to get McMahon and her cohorts out, the way I see it.
Anyway, thanks for the info. Again, has anybody else noticed any problems? Also, if you have a chance to ask about the calibration of these things, Term, I would appreciate any info you get.
1:42 I for one received a $6500.00 utility bill afew years back I took it to council. Council-President Horvath told me it must be some kind of mistake. I answered him you really think so? It was corrected within days.I have a hard time understanding why so many are having problems,does your power factor charge seem to jump around alot?
7:20 pm
All you have to do is call and ask them to come out and replace your meter, they will do that.
Here is some of the things that can help you understand how your bill jumps around.
1. When the city has to buy power on the "grid" or retail market the prices can change depending on how many others are also buying on the open market. This is one reason they keep trying to "lock" into long term deals, to avoid exactly what is now being complained about.
2. Be careful when you are using the most power, "peak use" power always costs more than "off peak" will. So, if you come home from work around 5 oclock like everyone else and turn on your lights, AC, Stereo, computer, electric oven, etc. you have just jacked up what your paying to do all that compared to someone working second shift who comes home at 11pm and turns it all on.
3. Pay attention to what you have running, it is easy to run up electric charges without realizing what is happening. Ever go in the basement and forget the light is on in the storage room and leave it that way for a week?, turn on a fan in the upstairs window and forget about it for a week?, etc.
4. How many of you realize even simple things like how you load your freezer or refrigerator can affect how long it runs.
We all could use ideas to save on electricity, I hope people don't get the idea that in their family home, if they would watch television between 1:00am to 6am instead of from 6:00pm to 11:00pm their bill would be smaller. Your bill is metered monthly not hourly, along with it being averaged out.I've been told after a power distruption when the power comes back on there a jolt to your meter and adds a cost to your electric bill? Could be a wives tale I don't know.
What you may save in electric cost the city charges you higher for water and sewer charges. You make a good point asking what profit they make and what they spend it on.
Maybe their should be a citizen utility board? No it would just be loaded with Hada wanabee's.
Wonder what possessive reasoninging Mary and Joe use? Both seem stuck on 50% of something. Forget grading and electricity.
Here's what the truth is we're only getting 50% of what we pay for in city or school services.
Interesting take on the news article. Never looked at it that way I realize what I believed was a positive article and human interest story really paints the city is a poor light without really meaning to.
The image of our town is directly linked to our schools. With the dismal scores and general thoughts of what Painesville schools represent. I don't care to agree with you most times but in this case it all comes back to the schools. Now how do we get this levy passed? No chance. The one argument that always works is "We can't let the quality of our schools suffer" Sorry can't use that one.
We have 50% quality and currently spending 50% more than most.
This is 1:42 and 7:20 again. Thanks someone for the conservation tips, but this is isn't anything I am doing.
By the way, did we have a hike in rates a couple of years ago? Does anyone know? Also, does anyone know why sometimes the Power Cost Factor is listed as the Power Cost Factor, and sometimes it is listed as the Power Cost Adjustment? To answer your question wondering if my Power Cost Factor jumps around a lot, Term, the answer is yes. I was told when I called uptown last time that the KWH charge goes down the more you use, which is true, but the Power Cost Factor does not. He also said that the Power Cost Factor should be no more than 1/3 of your bill. Now, the man I talked to DID tell me that he was helping out with the phones, and was not an expert in the area of questions that I was asking, so just to make that clear. However, on my bills, my Power Cost Factor is never less than 2/3 the cost of the KWH charge, and most of the time, much more than that. He said the Power Cost Factor was based on what they pay for the power themselves.
Can these meters be messed with when they are reading them? Is there anything they can do at that time to push them forward? Probably not, but does anybody know? And based on my experience with this city, I would be afraid to ask for a new meter. I can only imagine what I would get.
This is 12:55. Guess what I now have? A correct electric bill. Thanks for the blog, Term.
And what about our water bills? Those meters are underground, so there is no way to even try to check for accuracy.
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