PTC Airlines headed for crash

Attention, all taxpaying passengers: Make sure your seatbelts are fastened, and, oh, your seat cushions can be used as a floatation device. The captain has informed me that we are heading into some turbulent, irrational behavior.

We are now entering the irrational phase of budgetary crisis management, hands clinching the arms of our seats, feeling the pressure change, praying for a soft landing.

You know, its moments like these when you wish the plane had been maintained just a little bit better. All those frivolous expenditures on other things and the rules and regulations bypassed cause a knot in your stomach as the oxygen masks fall down in front of you.

How bad is it going to be? Can we ditch this budget plane in the river, or do we nose dive?

John Holt, Jr. says, “The true test of character is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when we don’t know what to do.” And many in government at all levels are proving they “don’t know what to do.”

Our President, Barack Obama, is advancing a rough sketch of what it might take to land safely, but House Speaker Pelosi did not read the memo. Moreover, “Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday offered up the functional equivalent of a plan without a plan: a broad overview of guiding principles, minus most of the crucial details on such critical issues as helping homeowners avoid foreclosure or clearing away the toxic securities at the heart of the banking crisis” (The Chicago Tribune, Feb. 11, 2009).

The new administration is counting on its guru to revive our economy, claiming, “he’s the only man qualified for the job,” insisting we wait to hear his fabulous strategy, showing us he does not know how to use the landing gear.

At the state level, the governor, House and Senate ignored the looming budget crisis, failed to proceed with emergency maneuvers, dropped another $428 million of additional taxes on Georgia homeowners, throwing us out of the plane without a parachute.

Locally, the mayor and council of Peachtree City have lost all contact with air traffic control. They have no idea which direction they are traveling.

Selling the city’s assets, the reason we moved here, is the best idea they can figure out. Furthermore, recreational venues approved in public voter referendums are now expected to break even or die. Are they going to close the library because it does not break even?

Under Council member Plunkett’s leadership, the amphitheater crashed, losing around 200 season ticket holders per year, not answerable to anyone, throwing it back to the Recreation Department to pick up the pieces.

The city’s tennis center was intentionally left off the citizen survey asking for budget priorities. The venue has been a constant source of contention, sired by corruption, plagued by selfishness.

I thought Councilman Haddix’s shining on a $1 million offer for the tennis center was unwise and tantamount to a fire sale. However, when Haddix raised the concern over the center not appearing on the budget survey, Mayor Logsdon and Council member Plunkett did nothing.

The fact that some venues are protected and others are not is dishonest and should not be tolerated.

When Mayor Logsdon ran for office, he promised new low fares and better service, but PTC Airlines is disintegrating, increasing taxes and escalating expenses annually, stealing from the reserve funds, lacking in customer service. The behavior has been unfounded, self-serving and ridiculous.

Alas, the Fayette County Board of Education has crashed. The names of the victims (teachers and paraprofessionals) have not yet been released.

The craft simply ran out of fuel because no one on staff was qualified to read the gauge. Luckily, none of the highest paid administrators was harmed by the crash.

The pilots, Terri Smith and Janet Smola, along with navigator Lee Wright will still be permitted to fly the wrecked plane in 2010.

[Steve Brown is the former mayor of Peachtree City. He can be reached at stevebrownptc@ureach.com.]

I like the way you write!

Submitted by Ellie Mae on Wed, 02/25/2009 - 12:42pm.

I could not have said it better. I just have to say I LOVED the comment about stealing from the reserves! Didn’t someone point that out to them in a presentation at the 2-5-09 council meeting? I saw the answers to the questions asked that night. What a joke. I will see if I can get a copy forwarded to you and see what you take on the answers is.

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A-Men

Submitted by Spear Road Guy on Thu, 02/19/2009 - 9:36pm.

Sooner or later, your chickens come home to roost.

Vote Republican

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