Friday, March 19, 2010
Government A Decent Proposal: Save Shelby County
Posted by Mary Cashiola on Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 8:30 AM
[As stated previously, the Flyer's cover story this week takes an early look at the consolidation process and players. To read it, click here.]
Tom Guleff and Ron Williams say they fell in love on Facebook.
That's a joke, but Guleff, a Republican who lives in Midtown, and Williams, a Democrat who lives in unincorporated Shelby County, became friends through the social media site.
That friendship became the basis of their anti-consolidation group, Save Shelby County.
"We could not have done this 15 years ago," Guleff says. "There's no way he and I could have linked up."
The group formed as a "counter weight" to Rebuild Government.
"It goes back to the listening tours," Williams says. "I could never get a straight answer about why are you doing this? How is it going to save me money? What are the advantages?"
"There aren't any answers," Williams says. "The perceived one-stop shop feature won't benefit me. It will benefit businesses."
The pair say city government doesn't have the stomach to do the things it needs to do to control costs. If the argument is that you need to cut staff, for instance, you don't need to consolidate to do that.
"The bigger you make an organization, the more layers of management there are," Williams says.
They say that Indianapolis and Jacksonville became more efficient by cutting red tape. They also have questions about how the debt of the two governments will be handled or what will be done about retiree benefits.
Guleff says a metro government will only lead to a continued exodus of people and wealth from the county.
"I don't see what's in it for our community. There's a reason why most folks moved out to the county," he says.
Save Shelby County says they share the same concerns as people who are pro-consolidation — crime, services, retaining talent — but thinks consolidation is an idea of the past and one that, if done, is irreversible.
"People say, 'What's wrong with you? Why don't you want consolidation? It's good for Memphis and what's good for Memphis is good for the rest of the county," Williams says. "If that were the case, we'd be benefiting from Memphis right now."
For more information, visit their website at saveshelbycounty.org.
Comments (9)
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Nice to know someone is out there doing research and asking pertinent questions about the issue. This is a true service to the community. Thank you to Tom and Ron for helping the voters become informed.
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Gentlemen, I'm for saving Shelby County, too, especially when you consider that TWO-THIRDS OF SHELBY COUNTY IS MEMPHIS.
Thank you.
"Why don't you want consolidation? It's good for Memphis and what's good for Memphis is good for the rest of the county," Williams says. "If that were the case, we'd be benefiting from Memphis right now."
I love the attitude the "outside Memphians" have, that they'd be better off without Memphis around - which is the source of all crime, poverty and corruption here in the Mid-South, obviously.
It's not a surprising attitude when you realize that people are exclusively motivated by a combination of fear and self-interest, but when will people realize that WE ARE ALL IN THE SAME BOAT and that the city vs. county&suburbs discussions aren't a zero sum game - one winning doesn't always mean the other has lost.
Steve, Agreed. If our city can't get its act together, we can consolidate with the entire state and still not solve anything. List your frustrations, grievances, or things that you'd like to change in local government, be specific. With that list, what is most important and how as a community do we solve them. That's the approach we should be taking. Consolidation is a problem looking for a solution. If we truly live in a dysfunctional city and/or county, what have we been doing politically for the last 20 years? How did we spend huge sums of time, money, and effort into civic discourse and election cycles and still get it wrong? My friend, that's the discussion we should have had before someone launched us on this path to consolidation. I can't blame our problems on the current structure of government; it's something I can't accept. Your friend, Tom.
Too many talking points and too little real information from Save Shelby County. We guess we could all do nothing, how's that working for us?
SSC engages in revisionist history. In the past 20 years, we have tried functional consolidation, we have tried shifting services, we have tried tax revenues sharing, we have gone after and got more federal money, we have outsourced services to nonprofits, we have tried it all. But because they don't know about it, it must not have happened. And the results from these 20 years is that the trajectory for the COUNTY is running in the wrong direction.
In other words, it's time for dramatic action that transforms things for all of us.
If SSC can't blame our problems on the current failed business model of local government, then tell us why. The experts on government see it differently, but maybe you know something they don't.
Also, you guilty of most of the accusations you so readily charge: you had a political position in search of a justification.
If Fred Smith can see that it's time for consolidation, if Mark Luttrell can say it's time to have a conversation about a different government, if A C Wharton (who has the most direct knowledge of both governments) says that they both are broken and can't be fixed, it seems clearly like an idea whose time has come.
Talking about what a new government can be is not a waste. The waste is in fighting for the status quo.
Finally, how can you oppose something that hasn't been written yet? At this point, all that's been proposed is that we look at a new government and that we all get our opinions to the Charter Commission as it writes a charter. That sounds like democracy to most of us.
Why do people think that a consolidated government means we all turn into the city of Memphis? It seems to me that a consolidated government simply makes everything more efficient and gives us all better, more direct representation. There would be no passing the buck between city and county. It would seem to create more accountability, which I think is what we all want in government.
I don't know that I can point to a direct benefit I will receive from a consolidated government, and who knows if it actually creates financial savings, but is that really the point? If it's better for the entire county and better for business, I would think that makes it better for us all. We need to be thinking forward, and if there is a better solution out there, let's hear it.
SSC needs to get some facts straight -- Rebuild Government can't provide concrete answers about savings and retirement benefits because there is no Charter in place yet. And there won't be anything solid to debate until August.
So SSC is basically against something that doesn't exist. Kind of dopey if you ask me.
Consolidation has the potential to lift this whole county up, improve our standard of living, attract better jobs, and provide a better future for our kids. That's what I'm praying for. But until August, none of us will know.
However, if SSC really thinks things are great the way they are now, you have to question their judgement.
Tom Jones, I can't believe you are that concerned about Ron Williams and I. You shouldn't spend all your time attempting to counter us with your constant spin. Don't worry, no one has come to us with a bag full of money, political promises, or county credit cards, yet. I am sure when they do, you'll be the first to know. :)
I've heard about consolidation most of my life and I still don't know what it means to me economically or how it can improve my quality of life. I've heard no specifics just retoric. I do know however that all through high school I studied from outdated textbooks from all white East High School. Did I get the same quality of education? If so what was the justification for me not having the same text books. If not, could the difference be in the fact I had outdated text books? I also know my children's computer education equipment was Texas Instrument; utilizing a specialized software program whereas the county used Commodore; a PC based software, which we still use today and the learning curve for the county students moving into the workforce was zero while my children had to learn PC, putting them behind the curve. Futhermore I know i've been paying two property taxes to the county's one; what's just about that? I feel its time for the press to put in print and put before the voting public where we are now; both governments side by side and the proposal of a consolidated government which is where we want to be and we all can see where the MONEY is going and that all residents are recieving a just return on their investments. The so called professional politicians; public servants actually, are spinning retoric among themselves and comming off to the public as a secretary telling the world she's in management. I feel if the politicians who call themselves our leaders had to live out of their paychecks and by the standards we have to like the rest of us a lot of things would change.
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