Sigh

It was primary election day in Pennsylvania. At 5:15 I was number 112. Out of a possible 973. Yes, I know it was just the primary. Yes, I know it was raining. But still, isn’t it sad how little people here in Reading care?

Today was the day we were to choose the final candidates for mayor. I know I’ve mentioned the financial distress this city is in before so this really was important. One of the individuals today will have the task of getting Reading out of the current mess it’s in.

There were seven Democrats vying for the post and three Republicans. Granted, I don’t have TV so I wasn’t able to watch any of the debates. Nor have I seen any of their ads. But I did read the propaganda they distributed and the interviews printed in the paper. I listened to the discussions on the radio.

My opinion, and this is just that, is that they’re all scary in their own way. Nothing any of them said filled me with much hope. So the choice for me became one of who will do the least harm. Again, isn’t that sad?

In other news, I met an agent from the Homeland Security office today. No, not at work. On the street. He was stopping people passing by to ask about the possible residents of a certain apartment building. Yeah. That about sums up the state of this city, doesn’t it?

Hope your day was more inspiring.

What Did They Say?

I was scooting along on my way to work this morning, listening to a local morning show when the news came on. There are only three or four minutes allotted for local news and they try to cram in as much as possible.

One of today’s stories concerned the ongoing tussle between the city and the water authority over rate hikes and money needed as part of the Act 47 financing deal. There was already a 12% increase in water but they’ve been arguing over a sewer usage hike. The water authority said no. The city said yes. Today’s news stated that the water authority has given in to a matching increase in sewer fees because doing anything else would require a complex formula that would take too much time. Huh? Did I hear that correctly? I listened again in half an hour and yes, I did. Um, okay. So no one knows a seventh graders who takes beginning algebra who could help with that?

Then I read the newspaper. Their version is slightly different as they gave it marginally more attention than the radio news had time for. According to the article there, it’s the city having trouble with the formula. They’re the one who actually process the bills. The city managing director said that currently sewer rates are calculated at 161% of water consumption. If they raise water by 12%, the complex formula to keep the sewer fee at its non-12% increased fee would make the bills take twice as long to calculate. Apparently he doesn’t know any seventh graders either.

This made me curious. Just how hard was it to come up with a formula that could raise water rates without significantly changing the sewer portion of a bill? I haven’t had algebra in almost 30 years so admittedly I’m a little slow. It took me four minutes, including testing, to come up with something that could be applied across a broad spectrum. That’s the entire length of the radio stations news broadcasts. And, in case you’re wondering, it is not anywhere near anything resembling a complex formula that would cause even the slowest of computers to double its calculation time.

If anyone in the city government is interested, I’d be happy to share it with them. But I’m sure they’re not. That would mean they wouldn’t get the extra revenue their idiocy is going to bring in.