People run for local government office because they want to help. To further their causes, they campaign by saying they have lived somewhere for some amount of time as if becoming an elected official were like filling out a credit application and “number of years at current address” meant something. What these people don’t understand is that it’s all about ideas. Surprisingly enough, you can run for office, get elected, and continue to get elected for years without ever having a decent idea.

Last night the Ypsilanti City Council voted to spend $20K to study the impact of an income tax on the City. Ypsilanti is on a list kept by the State of Michigan of cities that are expected to go bankrupt by the end of the decade. Something needs to be done. Something must be done. So let’s just do anything.

Rather than suggest that the City enforce ordinance violations like the ones the Historic East Side Neighborhood Association pleaded to the Ward 3 council rep to do, the blue ribbon panel on finance recommended studying the idea as an alternate way to generate much needed income for the City. Paul Tait said that the tax could be partially offset by a reduction in property taxes. That’s a great idea if you own a home in Ypsi. The average household income in Ypsi for a family that owns their home was $55,148 in 1999. The average household income in Ypsi for a family that rented was only $20,311 in 1999.

I could have saved the City twenty grand if they had only listened to me. Instead, they are asking us to screw over the poor because council doesn’t have any ideas.

Is this sour grapes? It probably is, but don’t be too hard on the guy who came up with his own ideas.