Barking dogs and roaming cats have caused headaches for Mayors ever since there has been dogs and cats and Mayors. Ask any Mayor.

But birds?

It’s not quite Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds,” but former Mannington Mayor Frank White says he’s had enough of the winged creatures for a long time. White said his neighbor, City Councilman Jeff Michael, has been providing a regular smorgasbord for birds, with seed, bread and even French fries.

As a result, White said there are up to 60 birds at a time on his property. He said most of the birds are pigeons, which he calls a nuisance.

He’s asked the city to intervene, but current Mayor Bob Garcia said he’s not sure exactly what powers Mannington has in the situation.

So, we have a former Mayor complaining to the present Mayor about a Councilman feeding the birds.

I love these kind of stories.

Since I’m not involved.

Have you seen the latest Rasmussen Poll?

Only 17% of U.S. voters want their child to grow up to be a politician, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Sixty-three percent (63%) say, No way.

What a sad commentary on my profession.

Yes, I am a politician and darn proud of it.

Yes, I would encourage my children or anyone’s children to become a politician.

How about you?

Do you believe this poll?

How good is your city’s website?

According to OhMyGov …

Federal agency websites are beginning to catch up with the private sector in terms of citizen satisfaction, reaching their highest levels ever, according to a study released this morning.

Good for federal websites!

But, what about local government websites?

I follow a number of local government websites for agendas and minutes. My satisfaction with those local websites is increasing over time. They are all not up to 2009 standards, but they are getting better. I have no big complaints. Minor bitches sure, but no big complaints.

So, how good is your city and county website?

City Councils are constantly changing. Changes don’t wait until elections. Resignations occur all the time. Appointments are made to fill vacancies.

Well, most of the time appointments are made to fill vacancies.

Then there is Wapato, WA.

The city council is this Central Washington town has turned away the only applicant for a city council seat that has remained open since January.

Eliva Lopez is a former council member who decided to apply for the open post. But at last Monday’s meeting, Lopez’s application was denied.

Council members tell the Yakima Herald-Republic that Lopez, 34, was denied because her past tenure on the council was too closely aligned with former councilman Juan Orozco, who they consider too controversial.

Mayor pro tem Tony Guzman says Lopez wouldn’t be a good fit and cause “unnecessary friction.”

The appropriateness of refusing to seat the only applicant for a council seat will be discussed  in Local Politics 101 class on Wednesday.

Mayors have power. No doubt about it. The power of the bully pulpit is one of the powers. When Mayors talk … people listen. They don’t necessarily agree but they listen.

Who’s listening now?

An outspoken Kiwi politician has proposed a new solution to the country’s child abuse problem – pay the “appalling underclass” not to breed.

Michael Laws – who stirred up controversy by calling the late Tongan King a “bloated brown slug” – has again hit the headlines.

“That there is a group within our society who give their children no hope nor opportunity from the moment that they are born,” the regional mayor wrote on the New Zealand radio websitewhere he broadcasts as a talkback DJ.

“That these ‘parents’ are known to authorities … and yet the authorities can only intervene after children have been harmed.”

Mr Laws goes on to write: “it would be far better for this appalling underclass to be offered financial inducements not to have children, given the toxic environment that they would provide for any child in their care.”

The mayor believes “the consequent financial and social savings to our community would be considerable.

“There are too many people who should not have children.”

Mr Laws said a report in New Zealand’s Dominion-Post newspaper yesterday had incorrectly attributed the view to him that all those who got welfare should be sterilised.

Mr Laws wrote on the website ”that most welfare beneficiaries are good parents” but it was the problem ones who should be offered money not to breed.

Yesterday’s Dominion-Post newspaper quotes him as saying: “If we gave $10,000 to certain people and said ‘we’ll voluntarily sterilise you’ then all of society would be better off.” 

“There’d be less dead children and less social problems.”

Any volunteers to defend this position?

With all the real issues a city council must deal with, to spend time on nonsense issues makes no sense to me.

What is a real issue and what is nonsense?

You tell me what this is.

A key committee of the Los Angeles City Council voted today to seek a law banning veterinarians from declawing cats, saying the procedure constituted cruelty to animals.

The council’s Public Safety Committee unanimously recommended that City Atty. Carmen Trutanich draft an ordinance banning the practice. The proposal was made by Councilmen Bill Rosendahl and Paul Koretz, who said the procedure caused “unnecessary pain, anguish and permanent disability” to cats.

Councilman Tony Cardenas threw his support behind the measure but voiced doubts that the city’s Animal Services Department had enough employees to enforce such a law.  He also worried that cat owners will simply go to veterinarians in neighboring cities to get the procedure, sometimes known as an onychectomy.

“I don’t want to give you false hope,” Councilman Greig Smith told the audience of cat advocates and assorted city employees. “This is not going to stop the problem.”

The Political Philosophy Class will be discussing this next week.

Your comments are welcome now.

Everyone has ideas how to win elections. Even those people who have never run for election think they know how to win elections.

Joe Garecht has written a piece “How NOT to Win Election Campaigns.”

It is recommended reading for Election Class.

It is election day some places in the country. There is none more important than the one being held in Snellville, GA.

I have read many articles over the past couple of years about the Snellville, GA City Council. The latest from the Atlanta Journal Contstitution relates …

Tuesday’s election could tip the balance of power on Snellville’s City Council, an often dysfunctional body described by one member as “a cul-de-sac of inaction.”

A cul-de-sac of inaction. That is a classic line. I gotta remember that one.

For almost two years, the six-member council hasn’t gotten along. In council chambers, they hurl insults like arrows. In work sessions, they employ political ambushes with last-minute agenda changes.

But the governing body’s penchant for tie votes on issues ranging from a controversial crematory to Sunday alcohol sales has raised even more eyebrows among residents, political observers, even a state senator.

“This election is going to have impact on the future and in what direction we go forward,” Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer said. “People are tired of the bickering. They’re tired of the arguing.”

I have no preference who wins in Snellville. I only wish them a little peace.

If your community has problems like Snellville I also wish you may achieve some degree of civility.

It was a very quick trip to Phoenix over the weekend for me.

Said good-bye to an old friend.

I didn’t check emails even once.

I didn’t read a newspaper for over 48 hours.

I feel blissfully ignorant.

 The only truly dead are those who have been forgotten. – Jewish Saying

I leave today to bury an old friend. A childhood friend. 

A few years ago I lost my childhood golfing buddy. Now it’s my baseball buddy.

At this rate who is going to remember me?