Budget Decisions.


The City Council Budget/Ways and Means Committee continued the discussion of where the money will be appropriated next year at Tuesday evening’s meeting.

One question that was discussed but not yet answered was how the funds originally set aside for the acquisition of a new airport would be spent.

About 80 percent of the money, $400,000, was earmarked earlier in the year as funds to construct the first major interior street in the Myers Park Development. The extension of George Phelps Boulevard to the approximate center of the acreage was part of the agreement reached for the $600,000 sale of the property between Wal-Mart and Bartons.

City Administrator Tom Short asked the Committee if it wanted to pull the $400,000 out of the $1.2 million resulting from the two sales of Myers Park property last year, or use the entire amount to help fund the estimated $4.1 million needed to complete infrastructure in the development. The Committee was undecided at that time.

Committee member Bill Putnam questioned the $800,000 Memorial Hall project.

Accordin’ to the numbers supplied to the Budget Committee, Memorial Hall now is projected to have annual expenditures of $163,543. Revenues for rent are projected low for next year because of the down time for renovation. Accordin’ to previous years’ history, there might be $40,000 to $50,000 generated in an average year.

The current plans to pump $800,000 into the memorial will no doubt put the buildin’ in shape to hopefully withstand another decade or so.

There is a growin’ sentiment that the veterans could be better memorialized, the City’s future resources could be better utilized, and a more functional community center could be realized with a different structure. Maybe ten more years of plannin’ is sufficient.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

Metcalf Auto Supply

Click & Clack
TALK CARS

by Tom & Ray Magliozzi

Dear Tom and Ray:

I live right in New York. I’ve got a 1977 Ford Pinto Wagon that came from Florida. It’s in very good shape (ugly green, though). To me it’s worth fixing, but to a limit. Right now I’m driving it with no power steering. The rack is leaking, and possibly the pump and lines. I want to switch to manual steering. Will the steering column fit, or will it need to be replaced? - Don

TOM: What a perfect car for New York City! You should nominate this car for "official vehicle of the Big Apple," Don. Why? What car could possibly be any less desirable to thieves?

RAY: Well, several of my brother’s cars come to mind. But the answer is that you ought to be able to switch to non-power steering pretty easily. You’ll need a new steering rack, and I’d look first for one in a junk yard.

TOM: Most people don’t realize that steering a car with broken power steering is a lot harder than steering a car that never had power steering to begin with. That’s because, even when the power steering isn’t working, you still have to move all the power steering-related valves and components in the rack, which is hard to do!

RAY: Once you get a manual rack for this car, you can just leave all the other power steering stuff in there and disconnect it (the pump, the lines, etc.). And then you can implement a slightly less intensive Pinto Urban Upper Body Building Program. Good luck, Don.