Fair Share Challenge: What Taxes Do For Me

This post is in response to a blogger challenge from my friend Isy. She was fed up with millionaires who don't want to pay their fair share of taxes, as well as tea baggers who say silly things like "Get your filthy government hands off my Medicare!" She decided to write a post about her life, putting in boldfaced type anything that is funded or subsidized by taxes (federal, state, or local). I hope lots of bloggers take up the challenge and it makes its way all over the internet.

Now, some of you may know I have been critical of local government corruption in Baltimore, particularly when it comes to the degradation of The Senator Theatre, which got very limited funding when Tom Kiefaber was running it, but just got a lot more funding now that Baltimore City has taken it over and chosen some politically connected cronies to run it. It's important to be aware of it and speak out when tax dollars are being misused and public officials are acting inappropriately, but we all also have a lot of things to be thankful for that are funded by taxes -- things we almost couldn't live without.

Yesterday, I drove by city streets to Whole Foods, where I bought yummy stuff to eat. Many of the farmers who grew it probably received subsidies. Perhaps Whole Foods received subsidies as well, to build their store there. I know they have received such government help in other communities. Everything that was for sale at the store had conveniently arrived there on trucks that traveled over highways and city streets. Thank heavens for that, because I wouldn't want to shop at a store with empty shelves!

After I went to Whole Foods, I drove over more city streets to get to the farmer's market. Lots of delicious stuff there for sure! It was a lot of driving that day, but luckily, my car doesn't use much gasoline.

Tonight, my friend is coming to visit me, and she's arriving at Penn Station by Amtrak. Maybe while she's here, we'll visit the art museum, which we enjoyed last time she was here. Or maybe we'll go to the Inner Harbor and see the aquarium or the U.S.S. Constellation.

Later this year, I'm going to Massachusetts. I'll be using the interstate highway system to get there. It would be a pretty circuitous and maybe impossible route if it weren't for all those bridges built in the 1930s by the WPA. All of that infrastructure is getting quite old now, yet we all still rely on it every day. I often see Department of Transportation workers out on the highways and bridges fixing them. The resulting traffic jams are a bit of a pain, but it would be even worse if they never got repaired! Getting the funding to repair our nation's infrastructure is a continual political challenge, largely because of arguments in Congress like the one last week, where some people thought it was more important to subsidize Bill Gates and Dick Cheney and other wealthy people than to fund basic programs that benefit us all.

My sister just got a job working for the school system. Her kids are being educated in the same school system. Her husband works at a non-profit. My other sister works for a public university. Her ex-husband works at a library. My parents used to work at a different public university, but now they're retired. They're getting social security and Medicare. I hope those things are still available when I'm their age.

I've started selling things online, which I love so far. It means I can work from home, but sometimes I have to go to the post office to put things in the mail. I used to work for various corporations, but then I got injured. I'm glad I was able to get state disability and worker's comp, but it's a good thing I didn't have to rely on them entirely, and had savings, because they wouldn't have been enough. I'm thankful too that there's still some government regulation of the banking industry or my savings and my retirement fund would probably be long gone.

It's a struggle to start a new career, and I'm no longer receiving any disability, but fortunately, I haven't had to go on food stamps or anything like that. It's nice to know they'd be there if I needed them. I wonder if I would qualify for any government grants for small business, but I haven't looked into it.

I don't know what the corporations I used to work for would have done without public schools and public universities. Even with those systems providing them with skilled and trained workers, they were still having a hard time finding enough people with the right skills.

I have cousins who are in various branches of the military. I hope those who are still serving stay safe.

I've had a couple of friends who had to go to hospitals recently. I'm glad they got good care.

I also want to note my gratitude for electricity. Without it, I'd be writing this with a pen by candlelight, and you'd have trouble reading it.

UPDATE: The Fair Share Challenge now has its own blog!

Senator Theatre – Possible Buyout

There’s a report from the Baltimore Messenger that the City of Baltimore has offered to buy the Senator Theatre by buying out Tom Kiefaber’s debt. I am strongly in favor of saving the Senator and having it remain open as a community-owned nonprofit, however, I have some thoughts and concerns about the City’s offer, as reported.

The biggest concern I have is that the Senator needs to remain open during the transition. A closure would surely result in losses to nearby businesses, as well as causing a depressed look in the area, which might drive people away and encourage crime. Psychologically, that is just not the message to send to the community and visitors to the area. Tom Kiefaber has a Photoshopped image of what the Senator might look like if closed. It was on display in the lobby recently, showing a very decrepit appearance. It’s something I don’t want to see in real life. (I tried to find that image on the internet, but couldn't find a link, so if anyone has it, let me know.)

I spent some time thinking about other historic buildings and theaters I’ve been aware of that closed and then had to struggle to reopen, and my recollections are not pretty. I think if the City does not have a plan in place for what to do with the Senator, so that it can remain open during the transition, it is likely to close for at least a year or two, not some shorter period.

My second biggest concern is that the report about the City’s buyout plan says that a steering committee would have to determine whether the Senator can be sustainable as a nonprofit. Well, who is going to be appointed to this steering committee? Will it be members of the community who are fully committed to finding a way for the Senator’s operations to become self-supporting? Or will it be some sort of bureaucrats who don’t really care if the answer they come up with is “No, it won’t work?” It seems to me that whether or not a solution is found is very closely tied to how determined the steering committee members are to finding one. For that reason alone, it’s imperative that the steering committee include members of local resident and business groups from the immediate neighborhood.

If the Senator is going to remain open daily, there need to be movies playing there, which means someone who knows how to run a movie theatre needs to be involved. There’s no way there will be special events every day, and the theatre needs to be open regularly to continue to provide the attraction to visitors that it currently does provide.

I’m a little disturbed by some of the attitudes I see posted in comments on the Messenger article. I never understand why some people think that because one problem isn’t solved, it means government shouldn’t spend money on solving other problems, or why some people think no money should ever be spent on the arts. What we’re talking about here isn’t a huge amount of money when it comes to government budgets, and putting it toward solving other problems, such as the crime in Baltimore, wouldn’t solve those problems. And for people who think government should never spend money on the arts, I’d really like to know what they think their lives would be like with no music, no movies, no TV, no books, no visual arts. Pretty boring, I would think.

Anyway, in my opinion the amount of money the City is talking about spending is not huge in terms of their budget and if done right, it could help keep the Govanstowne/Belvedere Square neighborhood vital during this difficult time. It would also help preserve and enhance the attractiveness of Baltimore as an arts-oriented community.

I also realize I’m relatively new to Baltimore, but I don’t get the attitudes a few people and some in the media seem to have toward Mr. Kiefaber. I think he's a nice guy who has been successful in keeping the Senator running for the past 20 years in the face of rather staggering odds. Yes, he has sometimes appealed to the community for help, but you know, for those of us who think the Senator is an important part of Baltimore, that shouldn’t be a problem. He also appears to be a very community-oriented businessman, very respectful of the neighbors and nearby businesses. I’ve seen plenty of business people who are just out to make a buck, so I have to say I prefer the community-oriented kind. If Kiefaber were just out to make a buck, he’d have ditched the Senator long ago, but he’s trying to preserve something he thinks is worth preserving. And hey, if you don’t agree, at least don’t be mean. That’s the way I see it, anyway.