Manchester aldermen name bridge after Judd Gregg

Was there any advance notice on this? (4.00 / 1)

I hadn't heard they were even thinking of this!  



"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    

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by: Kathy Sullivan 2 @ Tue Dec 02, 2008 at 20:40:09 PM CST

It wasn't on the agenda (0.00 / 0)

The mayor brought it up under new business.

Actually, I'm more ticked off at Mike Lopez for speaking in favor of this than I am at Guinta for introducing it or Gatsas and Garrity for supporting it. Those guys are Republicans with their own ties to Gregg. Lopez should have shown some backbone.

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand. -Harry Truman

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by: Peter Sullivan @ Tue Dec 02, 2008 at 21:23:07 PM CST

[ Parent ]

No Pass (4.00 / 1)

Peter, please don't give Guinta a pass for bringing up something without an opportunity for public input.  

Another question: how much is this little PR ploy for Gregg-'010 going to cost us Manchester taxpayers?  New signs, etc.?  At a time when we are cutting the budget, leaving spots unfilled, etc.  There is a dangerous, burnt out shell of a building on Lake Avenue just above Maple that has been sitting there for over a year, depressing the values of the homes around it in a neighborhood where you can tell people are trying to maintain their places. I drive by it every day going to work. Why doesn't the mayor bring that up under new business?  Using the city's authority to condemn that place and tear it down would be a better use of the city's money and the time fo our elected officials than naming a bridge after Judd Gregg.

Chalk me up as mad as hell.    



"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    

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by: Kathy Sullivan 2 @ Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 07:29:35 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Oh, please. "Ability to play pork-barrel politics"? (4.00 / 2)

Gregg has no such ability. New Hampshire is the second-biggest donor state. We export bacon, he doesn't bring it home.

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by: elwood @ Tue Dec 02, 2008 at 20:49:33 PM CST

The aldermen should consider (4.00 / 3)

that one good reason for not naming things after current office holders is: it looks like you're just sucking up.

It makes the aldermen look unprincipled and craven; it makes the honoree look like he's using secret bribes and threats to win the vote.

If you stick to only giving dead people such honors, you can vote 'No' without worrying about reprisals.

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by: elwood @ Tue Dec 02, 2008 at 21:06:43 PM CST

Great! (0.00 / 0)

When can I expect to see a sign at Bridge St. welcoming me to the Jeanne Shaheen Bridge?

--
"Act as if ye have faith and faith shall be given to you." -Aaron Sorkin

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Tue Dec 02, 2008 at 22:52:20 PM CST

Naming Things (0.00 / 0)

Why are any "things," whether bridges, highways, post offices, or meeting rooms, named after political office holders?  Aren't there real heroes or people of note in every community at least as deserving, or more so?  I can think of the men and women who have or are fighting in wars, or super-volunteers who have done much good in communities, or even a homeless man who recently died in the city I live in who had nothing but good to say to people. Let's name things after them, instead of just a politician who might have worked to pass something so it will bear his/her name, usually at the taxpayers' expense.  Good job Peter!  

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by: Rep. Jim Splaine @ Tue Dec 02, 2008 at 22:53:23 PM CST

Didn't it use to be considered bad luck to name things after living people, (0.00 / 0)

suggesting that they might soon be dead?

And then, of course, there's that "damning with faint praise" idea.

But, Republicans just don't seem to know any better.  Their idea of public service has been to dole out goodies from the public treasury to their cronies and friends for so long, they wouldn't know what to do, if they gave it up.  

I'm reminded of the Parable of the Unjust Steward (Luke: 16 1-16), telling us that trust is often abused, as it was in the Garden of Eden.

Judd the Unjust

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by: hannah @ Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 04:13:46 AM CST

For the record, (4.00 / 2)

Gregg lived inGreenfield, not Greenville.

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by: Jennifer Daler @ Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 05:26:45 AM CST

And Dean, THAT'S where he lived (4.00 / 1)

when he was NH-02 rep.

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by: elwood @ Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 07:19:14 AM CST

[ Parent ]

A-ha! (0.00 / 0)

Thank you for remembering my question, elwood.

birch, finch, beech

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by: Dean Barker @ Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 18:44:51 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Somewhere, You Just Made Roger Lessard smile (0.00 / 0)

I don't think Greenfield has any bridges in it, but I might be wrong.

If not, they could name an invisible imaginary bridge after him to stick it to Manchester.  

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by: Andrew Sylvia @ Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 10:53:05 AM CST

[ Parent ]

well I know that Rye... (0.00 / 0)

I know that Rye has a few bridges with no names.

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Thanks for all the fish

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Wed Jun 24, 2009 at 19:47:42 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Still Stunned (4.00 / 4)

When I woke up this morning, I checked BH again because I thought I remembered something about this from last night then thought it must have been a bad dream.  

Here is Judd Gregg on a proposal to extend unemployment benefits last February:

Some even claim an extension of unemployment benefits, which average $282 a week, will make job seekers lazy.

"That's human nature," Sen. Judd Gregg, a Republican from New Hampshire, told the Associated Press. "They stay on unemployment almost until the end and then they find a job."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

IIRC, he had the same attitude during the last recession, voting against extending unemployment benefits. Several of the Democratic aldermen in Manchester are members of organized labor; it is stunning to me that they would vote to name a bridge for someone who has not stood with NH's workers on some critical issues.

 



"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    

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by: Kathy Sullivan 2 @ Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 07:22:47 AM CST

Abusing the system (0.00 / 0)

Some do it. It is human nature to take what is easy, BUT....

-You have to work for a period to be eligible, so it is not welfare by any stretch of the imagination.

-The abusers are the minority. Should we punish the innocent, Sen. Gregg? Can the long term well being of any community endure without some safeguards?

Gregg's dogwhistle to the "harnessed, wealthy business class" reads: Why should we pay those no good lay abouts for not helping us pad our profits. They hear that loud and clear. You don't have to go far to hear "gubmint handout" thrown around in conservative circles.

The fat cats can hold out longer under economic stress. When the cycle ticks up, most will ride up along with it. What the fat cats care nothing of, is the chunk of the middle class that will be decimated to the point that their "life, liberty and pursuit of happiness" is set back 20 years.

To Gregg and his ilk, "Dem's da breaks."

www.KusterforCongress.com - www.paulhodesforsenate.com

www.nikitsongas.com - www.devalpatrick.com

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 08:21:46 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Abusers of the system (4.00 / 2)

The real abusers of the system are the companies that are taking government money and still paying ridiculously high salaries while still not extending credit to creditworthy customers. Grrrr.

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"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    

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by: Kathy Sullivan 2 @ Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 08:49:54 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Let me tell you about my home assessment (0.00 / 0)

Our house is assessed by the City of Lowell at $220,400.

A realtor just did a market analysis, which isn't as sound as a proper appraisal, but is close enough. I was told that because of all the "short sales" and "lender owned" properties in my 'hood, that our house won't go for more than $155,000.

That "pang" in my keester is THE SYSTEM!

PS. We owe less than $130K and are set with a 15yr@4.75%, but there is not enough equity now for us to flip out and up. :v(

www.KusterforCongress.com - www.paulhodesforsenate.com

www.nikitsongas.com - www.devalpatrick.com

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 09:22:16 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Disturbing (4.00 / 1)

The normal reaction any proposal like this is to table it and think about it.  You're saying the mayor brought it up in new business, no one had thought of renaming the bridge before, and all the alderman just said "ok"?  Why now?

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by: kite @ Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 17:27:22 PM CST

Agreed. Don't you guys have any parliamentary (0.00 / 0)

tools available? Why the heck wasn't this referred to committee?

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by: elwood @ Wed Dec 03, 2008 at 17:44:38 PM CST

[ Parent ]