Poll: The million dollar question

My community really needs a community center.

Education is the greatest means to effective change in a community.  Higher level thinking generally leads to higher level behavior on a whole.  I Thank God for every single committed Educator, we desperately need you!

What DeSoto County needs, like so many other communities, is JOBS! We lsot a prison, a major employer. It’s a poor couunty, and getting poorer.

Oklahoma City needs to improve its streets.  The potholes are terrible

 My community is an extension of Trenton, a note-so-nice city.  It has a college and large state buildings.  It needs to allow citizens to plant trees on our streets.  It needs to hold the State accountable for all of the facilities they have put in our town but do not take care to make them attractive or to help our town evolve into a comfortable family town.  Everything is spread out.  Lots of money spent on the town hall but somehow, surrounded by traffic, noise and overhead planes from an airport that appears to be able to disregard the entire community –constant fly overs and constant disturbances.  Open space is made into large corporate centers or condos.  They appear nicely done but long-time residents that pay high taxes do not see that their streets and homes are protected or developed with a residential plan in mind. 45 mph on a residential street with kids walking to a major park or to apartments that have been stuffed into the community over years to accommodate state workers.  We need a plan that includes all the areas and we need to take down some of those empty buildings and build new attractive areas.  With high taxes, some of that should be spent on a new long-range plan that brings back this city to a residential area attractive to live in, safe to walk in, and a new traffic pattern that respects all of the residential streets.  Students belong out of the residential areas because that brings noise and a degrading of the homes they rent and lowers the failure of the homes people have worked hard to maintain and own for years.  The city should begin to think about how their decisions impact everyone and not just those areas that are new and more expensive.

I would love to see the Small Business Administration (SBA) hold more workshops to help ordinary people start and maintain thriving businesses. It would create jobs, help people help themselves and aiding the economy through American innovation. 

I strongly want to see dedicated, fabulous teachers who love teaching, be hired to teach our kids and young people in rehabilitated public schools; so America’s future working adults have a strong foundation of learning, skills and citizenship in America…. and to be able to compete effectively with the rapidly advancing World’s nations.  We were always #1 in the World.  We have fallen far behind.  It’s heartbreaking to witness. It’s time to reorganize our educational system and attract excellent teachers….in all communities in America.  Secondly, I would love to see San Diego organize “Community Participation” as was portrayed in New York.  What a powerful grassroots initiative to give voice to the people…. and take it away from overpowering, special interest groups loaded with money…. that have very little interest in what the people actually want and need. It’s a courageous baby step toward giving voice to The People!  Thank you for the inspiring “Need To Know” program tonight.  It was renewing for my public spirit.

Can I help you out a bit. What you are asking for would cost quite a bit more than what you are asking for. Try this instead…

http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=J281PJGM9GzpnpD2hdDnjxp7KKV9SGnhKDKGTvp9jKq27QWVh3rp!712472910?oppId=164233&mode=VIEW 

Hopefully that helps… (^_^)

There is quite a bit of money out for infrastructure. Here are two grants that would completely fund what you want. 

http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=MspqPJLLtQGhd2pBFtcmC4K2HHhC2KZYHMkcJn1NxNBh7l18hZn6!755456391?oppId=128193&mode=VIEW 

http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=MspqPJLLtQGhd2pBFtcmC4K2HHhC2KZYHMkcJn1NxNBh7l18hZn6!755456391?oppId=144974&mode=VIEW 

Have you ever considered getting your friends together and working with some of the Tech companies for customer service. A lot of them are finding that they are loosing customers because people don’t like talking to people from other countries, but the hours are so convenient. With 4 rotating part time shifts you could employ everyone in your town and solve their problem as well.

I would love to help you out but it would depend on where your community actually is and the demographics involved therein. What I will say though is that most of the agencies that run community centers would love to help you get one started. Contact a few and ask them what would be the best way to do so would be, how to procure funding in your area, potential partners and above all else what they can do to help. Trust me, they would love to help.

What you are asking for is a change in the policy of the teachers unions, not a funding of the instructors themselves. The money is there for education and always has been. Check out Grants.gov for education funding. Then understand a few basic truths about the issue.

1) Teachers are normally let go based on seniority, not how well they did. So if a great teacher came in and had wonderful ideas and full of spirit she would be let go for cuts long before a burned out teacher that was just there for a check and hated the kids. 

2) Washington Superintendent Michelle Rhee wanted to offer the teachers up to a 100% raise each if they would earn it based on the improvement of their individual students. (Not if they were on grade level but if they learned anything that year.) Do away with tenure so that they could get rid of bad teachers and replace them with great ones. The union refused to even allow it to be voted on and then had her fired. 

3) Teachers Unions are not there to protect kids, they protect the rights and wages of the teachers. Ultimately when dealing with a limited amount of anything you must have either one side win or another. What you need is a state funded kids union. LOL

The number one priority by a landslide the world must address in a massive way is reversing the catastrophe of global warming.

start a dialogue to detemine the needs.
organized a committee, draft the plan, and initiate a starting point

Retiring some of the community’s debt and, if there is anything left over, establishing a “rainy day” reserve seems to me the best way to use a $1 million windfall.  While it’s always tempting to spend a gift of money, a community — even more than an individual — needs to achieve sustainability and maintain balance on an ongoing basis.  So I believe that the normal maintenance and improvement of public services — from police and schools to parks and potholes — should be funded by ongoing, repeatable revenues.  Let’s not splurge with our one-time million dollar windfall!

I would build a nonprofit cooperative greenhouse, cannery and online store that would include training and assisting it’s small growers. It would put people to work immediately growing healthy inexpensive food for our community and create new small acreage family farms with greenhouses. Families could use any size area’s they have available to grow for the coop taking their profits as income or food shares. With the profits off of the facility (based on sustaining the system with a little to grow), the coop members (the community) would vote to use it as they see fit, supporting schools/teachers, roads, bike trails, libraries, etc,..  This would bring a stable economic growth to our community and keep the money working from within. The ownership by the people would help bring participation of it’s use and would benefit any community, large or small. The USDA has statistics the show a family of 4 consume 135-266$ of food per week. Multiply that be the number of single family homes in your community and see just how much money your community consumes in food in just one week, that leave your community. Research how many small producers you already have in your area to build off of (cheese, meat, eggs, bread, vegetables, candy, flowers, and so on), it would surprise you! The sales of the facility would be based on the % of your community deciding to commit to supporting the coop. Jobs, community projects, fresh local food, all in the hands of the local people, a win-win for everyone.    

No need for more cops, and pot holes are not a priority.  The priority is social services. When we are wise enough to invest in helping homeless families, providing youth services to disenfranchised youth, invest in the elderly, high school dropouts, cultural programs for minority groups, then we save billions as we have less needs for jails, cops, etc.   When will we get it!?

The need for all American children who were born here to speak a different language it critical.  It is one of the most important things we can encourage our children to learn.This country needs to be able to compete globally and as well as communicate in our communites that have a number of ethnic group within them.  We are one of the only progressive countries that does not require our children to learn another language fluently, and like math and science, we are slowly fallen behind the rest of the world in this area as well.  We need to bring language centers to the communities where our children can learn to speak  other languages fluently. The advantages of knowing another languages is endless.

Have a homeless shelter and food kitchen.  Our town has homeless population but does not acknowledge it.

While all areas mentioned  are worthy of dollars, the  homeless and jobs are at the top of my list especially at the local level. Parks & libraries may attract more visatation for reasons other than enjoyment due to increased homeless; sports arenas/ arts are good only if you have the money to attend. Even if you manage to snag a job, you need a fixed address/ transportation.  European countries have  areas designated for alternative transportation, re bikes, walking as well as mass transit re trains etc.  Unless you live in a largley metropolitan area, the only alternative transport  is your feet or bicycle where you are expected to travel along major highways in 3 foot suicide lanes. Let some distracted motorist drift a few feet off the road and you have a fatality. Additonal roadway footage for alternative travel would be a twofold win, encouraging those to walk and bike for health and transport.  A lane for slower alternative vehicles would be especially helpful   I understand that education is a big problem area, but until we change our attitudes towards education  dollars thrown into the existing system is useless.  Dollars spent  should be to study what works in other countries and to revamp how we perceive education.  More vocational and less Fcats and sports programs (very few benefit in expedition sports unlike music/art), and tho college is big business, let the best and the brightest attend free.  If education is truly the source of our countries economic health, make it  easy for those who have proven themselves(grade wise) worthy of said education. Spending big bucks to end up with a minimum wage job and a boatload of debt is not prudent.  We  put too much emphasis on the diploma to get a decent paying job, and not on education itself.  Kids are doing less work in college than ever before and paying more in the process. A good deal of graduates find themselves still without a job or a minimum paying one at best.  Technical and vocational schools have been stigmatized unfairly thus making them undesirable to those best suited.  A diploma is only a piece of paper;  education and knowledge should go hand in hand. 

The small city of East Orange NJ has a population of approximately 100,000 and is in need of an anti litter campaign. This town used to win awards for being the cleanest town in the country and now it is the filthiest. A program on anti litter needs to be implmented in the schools and ordered  from city hall to emphasize and raise the consciousness of the populace to keep the area clean. We need the proper receptacles in which food containers etc. are discarded and not the cheap plastic containers which fall apart and become litter themselves. This problem needs to be addressed especially on the main shopping streets like Main Street and Central Avenue. Central Avenue being the venue on which there are many “Fast food” restaurants and the litter problem is the greatest.

The top need in any community is to make people aware of the need to curtail population growth. Although many people are aware already, U.S. births exceeded deaths by 1.56 million last year (“down” from previous years), nearly 30% of U.S. women (and their male partners) still have more than two children. Until we stabilize population growth, efforts to improve the environment, employment, education and political accountability will often fail or, at best, will be much harder than they need to be.

Education leads to opportunity and lower population expansion.  Arts lead to peaceful coexistence.  Parks lead to freedom.  Pot holes slow cars down and cops are oppressive in large numbers. Freedom, opportunity, and creativity reduce crime and lead to cooperative understanding.  

     work on students to earn the diplomas

Christopher. I think you gave the wrong links. Neither has anything to do with fixing potholes. The first link has to do with training and technology. Some of the grant money addresses monitoring trucks in real time as they travel state-to-state,
The second link has to do with technology to assist with terrorist activities related to interstate trucking.

My name is William Richie I am trying to start up a L.L.C. called No Vet Left Behind. It is to be a profitable organization designed to get homeless veterans off the streets and unemployed vet back in the work force, by providing them shelter and putting the skills that they have learned to good use within the community. As a limited liability corporation I will be able to help veterans more efficiently with less restrictions than a non profit org. funding is the hardest part to bringing this vision to life. A million dollars would be more than enough to make this vision come true. If u believe in my vision, and would like to contribute or be a partner in this endeavor please contact me at novet_leftbehind@yahoo.com. Any help is greatly appreciated       

My name is William Richie I am trying to start up a L.L.C. called No Vet Left Behind. It is to be a profitable organization designed to get homeless veterans off the streets and unemployed vet back in the work force, by providing them shelter and putting the skills that they have learned to good use within the community. As a limited liability corporation I will be able to help veterans more efficiently with less restrictions than a non profit org. funding is the hardest part to bringing this vision to life. A million dollars would be more than enough to make this vision come true. If u believe in my vision, and would like to contribute or be a partner in this endeavor please contact me at novet_leftbehind@yahoo.com. Any help is greatly appreciated       

My name is William Richie I am trying to start up a L.L.C. called No Vet Left Behind. It is to be a profitable organization designed to get homeless veterans off the streets and unemployed vet back in the work force, by providing them shelter and putting the skills that they have learned to good use within the community. As a limited liability corporation I will be able to help veterans more efficiently with less restrictions than a non profit org. funding is the hardest part to bringing this vision to life. A million dollars would be more than enough to make this vision come true. If u believe in my vision, and would like to contribute or be a partner in this endeavor please contact me at novet_leftbehind@yahoo.com. Any help is greatly appreciated       

My name is William Richie I am trying to start up a L.L.C. called No Vet Left Behind. It is to be a profitable organization designed to get homeless veterans off the streets and unemployed vet back in the work force, by providing them shelter and putting the skills that they have learned to good use within the community. As a limited liability corporation I will be able to help veterans more efficiently with less restrictions than a non profit org. funding is the hardest part to bringing this vision to life. A million dollars would be more than enough to make this vision come true. If u believe in my vision, and would like to contribute or be a partner in this endeavor please contact me at novet_leftbehind@yahoo.com. Any help is greatly appreciated       

We are witnessing the dismantling of our freedom by losing
our ethics, governmental justice, education, and health. We began to ourselves
from education, sustenance, and equality, by not setting up a foundation for
the working to prosper. We must go back to simple, free living.  So, the appropriate action in order to improve
our communities is by unity and improving global relations, communication, and
truism through opening the esoteric black box.  We must reform conservative beliefs while
constantly reproving liberal simplicity by advocating cultural acceptance,
shared prosperity, and love. Conservative beliefs must be venerated, like the old
religious testaments, by reinforcing the core values (ethics and order) our
progenitors established as this county’s cornerstone. On the other hand, liberal
simplicity means; acceptance and understanding for the necessity of continual
change and realizing human adaptation, imagination, and mercy. Every community needs
a pivotal investment in the right direction. My community would need the
facilities that give them the freedom to learn until their heart is content. By
setting up infrastructure allowing the acceptance everyone who ever they may be
especially the children, the desolate, and the destitute. We will start from
the bottom up, rooted with magnanimous, placidity, harmonious, and enlightening
environments. We must start by giving those who are undermined or inhibited by money,
criminal records, or disease the right to make living. 

We say, “Children are our most important resource,” but our spending and actions belie this statement. I’d put the million dollars into schools in a way that REALLY helps our children.

Goal: Volunteer leadership in communities and trying to consider neighbors as family. It’s about getting neighbors to care about neighbors and then the community.  Create more neighborhood associations; free volunteer groups to meet and talk about the neighborhood’s issues, discuss and implement solutions (preferably thru volunteer action), or present same to city council or board of supervisors or mayor for help. Community cleanups also show that neighbors care and it can be contagious. Cleaner neighborhood can be safer neighborhoods. Yes, optimistic but what’s the alternative?

i depend on the police to have it quiet here in the flatlands of Oakland when i go to sleep – it often takes them over an hour to more to get here – so with more staff maybe they’d get here quicker -

schools money should be spent on student needs in schools to often money goes for new buildings while this looks good it is more a status statement then a need.

schools money should be spent on student needs in schools to often money goes for new buildings while this looks good it is more a status statement then a need.

Dear Need to Know;
 
If someone gave me 1 million dollars, I know what I’d do with it.  I have a well thought-out plan for a non-profit business.  I think of it as changing the world 1 city block at a time.  I believe the unit of 1 block is the best for Milwaukee, the city in which I live.
 
The plan:
Insulate all of the homes and replace the windows.  Install green appliances, mechanicals and composting toilets.  Update wiring.  Install solar panels and photovoltaic cells.  Explore geothermal as well as wind options.  Incorporate gardens, hens, and composting into yards.  Teach homeowners and renters to use and care for new technologies and products.
 
The desired results:
Enough energy would be produced to cover the cost of heat, electricity and equipment maintenance, as well as the cost of energy for transportation.Fresh, organic food at almost no cost.Jobs for locals.Savings for home owners, renters, government, and energy suppliers.Cleaner air and water.Community
 
I would implement this plan in the neediest area possible.  I had hoped to get enough funding for 1 block.  With a million dollars as seed money, who knows how many blocks I could renovate.
 
But if you don’t want to give me the money, perhaps you could share my ideas with others.  I would gladly give any information I have gathered to anyone who wanted to pursue this idea.
 
If you do want to give me the money, it’s easiest to reach me the old fashioned way – by phone.  Try mornings or leave a message.
 
414-416-0827
 
Thanks,
 
Chris Mier
2420 N 60th st
Milwaukee, WI  53210

The public education system in this country is beyond repair. So if I could do one thing to make a huge difference in my community, I would start an organic community garden. I would enlist the help of children, under the guidance of adult volunteers. In exchange for the children & adults volunteering their time & energy, they would receive organic gardening & nutrition education (not based on the politically-motivated USDA). The possibilities are endless with this kind of project.

It all starts with money , in order to assure elected Representatves are accountable to only those who elect them, TAKE ALL NON VOTER CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS OUT OF THE PICTURE.
TRUE CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM WILL ACCOMPLISH THIS AND  MAKE GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE BY THE PEOPLE AND FOR THE PEOPLE.

We can go to the moon and to mars.  Can we develop a “child find” in every community.  Parents could opt to have their children registered.  A chip, a spot, an implant picked up by sattelite!!!  Can someone develop something to save our little innocent ones from heinous crimes.  Any suggestions.  From Mary, a loving mother and grandmother.