Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Spur the Hiatus

Over in the head shop: "Wall Street fallout spurs builder hiatus," screams the front page this morning.

When we spur something, we prompt or prod the thing into action -- as when a cowbody digs his spurs into his horse. A hiatus is a suspension of action.

You can't spur a hiatus any more than you can kick air.

Follow-up File: John Lawhorne, Our Man in Arcadia, failed to ask the county fathers why, in today's market, they agreed to pay $112,000 for a 50-year-old wood frame house that sits on cinder blocks -- $4,000 over its 2007 assessed value. (I'll bet that has changed!) And, a quick check of the records finds the building was purchased less than five years years ago by its current owner for $75,000. I'd liked the county to buy my house at a 49 percent profit...

OMIA should track the proposed refurbishment project, ostensibly one to provide office space for the building department. The building department claims the half-century old structure can be brought up to code for $28,000. Old Word Wolf doubts this.

The building is not air conditioned and no one expects government workers to toil in ambient conditions. Just installing central air and the windows and insulation to make sure we're not cooling the yard surely would cost close to that.

Also, having the building department inspect the building department's work (RFP's, bids, contracts, execution, etc.) is a clear case of the fox guarding the hen house. ... just when citizens need a real reporter on the job.

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