Gumby is a green clay humanoid character that does good deeds and see’s the good in people and wants to do the right thing.
“ the City Council shouldn’t be snookered into sleep mode”
Glum was one of the Lilliputians who regularly traveled with Gulliver. His name fit because he was pessimistic, known for statements such as “We’ll never make it,” “We’ll never get out of here alive,” and “We’re doomed,” to name a few.
In the past few Days we have gotten the opportunity to see two very opposite and distinct views of the Fiscal shape of the City through the eyes of seasoned veteran newspapermen. They offer a sharp contrast in viewpoint about as opposite as Gumby and Glum.
One optimistic and the other very pessimistic and insulting to the City Council – “the City Council shouldn’t be snookered into sleep mode — as the majority usually is during its rubber-stamp budget season.”
Gumby is showing us that Lowell is in good shape –“Hopefully, the brighter local fiscal picture means an improving economy for all.” While GLUM is telling us “there is a whole lot of fiscal uncertainty on the horizon.”
Gumby is telling us” It was nice to read the good news announced by City Manager Bernie Lynch, who certainly has taken his share of lumps as he guided the city through the worst economic times since the Depression.”
While GLUM continues to attack the Councilors “For councilors to think that city workers deserve a pay raise simply because they “sacrificed” during the recession years is irresponsible.”
Glum tells us “According to the state Department of Revenue, the local tax levy has increased $30 million under Lynch, from $77.2 million to $107.5 million in 2012 — a 39 percent increase.”
(Yet he avoids mentioning the previous 5 years which saw the City using ALL it’s reserves and getting us placed on a state watched list…some would say a sin of omission or accuse GLUM of protecting his friend.)
While The Optimist Gumby tells us “the average tax bill in Lowell rose by 5.7 percent from 2001 to 2006 and 2.5 percent from 2007 to 2012.” “The projected city increase this year is 0.4 percent. Most area communities are again looking at a 2.5 percent hike.”
The other good news in this proposed budget involves a $4 million capital improvement package for city buildings, including $2 million in badly needed repairs at some of the city schools. Lowell’s residential tax burden is better than 240 of the 322 communities in the state. Only 82 towns have a lower average real-estate tax bill.”
One has to wonder if the reality lies somewhere in between? Should the city temper its raises and increases in department budgets or should we move ahead with long overdue repairs and invest in our schools and buildings? Increase recreation and give our employee’s some added salary?
Do you think the Manager and council have been correct so far? It is hard to argue that Lowell isn’t in one of the best financial shapes of any city in all of Ma. or that Manager Lynch and the council deserve credit for it. Unless you have an agenda (See R. Elliot) or just have a GLUM outlook (see J. Campanini) or have some personal beef with the Manager (see both names above).
These two stories – Kendall Wallace’s Saturday Chat and Today Sun Editorial certainly paint opposing views of the Manager, Council and financial shape of the city by two men who have long been in the journalism field and who both over the years have their share of detractors and supporters.
So who do you most agree with and identify with ? Gumby or Glum?
I find it interesting that Mr. C, oops I mean Mr Glum, seems to make it a profession to bad mouth the city and its economy when one would think that a careful reading of the evidence suggests that Lowell is on an obvious upswing. While there remain problems to still fix, there is no way to objectively look at how Lowell is doing when compared to other mill cities and when compared to where it was at a few years ago that the city is on the uptick. And, many of the city’s problems, including foreclosures and unemployment, are far outside the city’s scope to prevent. Though, the city has begun to figure out how to reclaim foreclosed properties, fix them up, and get them back on the tax rolls.
Construction is going on everywhere. More visitors arrive to take in the city’s Parks and Museums, its baseball and hockey games, the upgraded Tsongas Arena’s events, the summer music series. Various cultural venues are investing in serious upgrades. UMass Lowell is investing massive amounts of money in expansion of facilities. More students, more faculty, more staff all boost the local and regional economies. Mr. Glum needs to take some sort of tonic, purge himself of his bloat, maybe even look across the street from his office suite and see the construction work going on in the JAM area.
Does any objective observer believe all of the above would be taking place if the city was being badly run? Does any objective observer believe the various mill/condo conversions would be happening if private sector investors did not have a positive view of the city’s fiscal situation? Oh, Mr. Glum, your act has worn so, so thin we can nearly see right through you.
Please enlighten all of us as to what should be cut from the city’s budget – - or find some other ax to grind in a land far, far away and a long time ago.
Let’s hope Gumby prevails. Contrary to what the editor says, it would be irresponsible to go back on the promise of small raises when the finances improved as the City would lose the trust of its employees.
Glum writes.”The city’s unemployment rate remains troublesome at 9 percent, and the number of new foreclosures, while slowing, is a stubborn concern.”
Yet, the state reports Lowell’s unemployment rate at 7.6% for April 2012
And earlier today on City Life, the Register of Deeds stated that things were moving in a positive direction. Mr. Howe wasn’t promising any rose gardens, but said there are signs of an improving real estate market.
From http://www.lowelldeeds.blogspot.com
The big jump in mortgages is very good news. That suggests more people are refinancing and since it’s unlikely that they are doing that to extract equity from their homes, it’s more likely that they are going to better rates and reduced monthly payments which is good news for the economy since any money saved by the household on mortgage payments will undoubtedly be spent on something else.
Not sure how to completely quantify this, but the city’s unemployment rate has little to do with whether taxes are raised less than one percent or even three percent or four percent. Employers with large numbers of jobs to offer are looking for a few things from a community: safety, education, and some sort of vibrancy in the community that will attract potential workers. All three of these require public investments. They do not require knuckle-head loans to ex-baseball players. The city of Lowell can not be blamed for the unemployment rate; that’s a regional problem. That said, as an old and changing mill city, Lowell’s unemployment rate is not so bad. Of course it is bad for those without a job though, that goes without saying. Mr. Glum needs to take a few classes at UML on the economy, regional development, and civic engagement; change that upside down frown into a smile there Glumy Bear.