I wish I had more time to rant and rave, but I have
things to do
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October 2, 2006
Dear Readers of The Courier,
Many people in Lincoln complain
about lots such as The Mill which are going unused. The City of Lincoln tried
to solve this problem by selling The Mill to the highest bidder and the bidder
has done nothing about the condition of The Mill. However, other communities
have found a better way to deal with blight such as this.
The state of Kansas has a program
whereby communities can give away free lots to people who are willing to build a
house and live on the lot. Several rural communities in Kansas are taking
advantage of this program. The program has a website where any can see some of
the lots available and our city, county, and village leaders can gain a better
understanding of what is being done. The website is
www.kansasfreeland.com.
Each community can choose to put restrictions on the people who become owners of
the land. Most seem to have restrictions such as a contract to build the house
must be established with a developer within 6 months, the new owner must move
into the house within a year of signing the contract and the house cannot be a
manufactured or mobile home. Some communities also have programs for businesses
to become owners of free land as long as the business develops the land.
If the communities of Logan and
Mason County had a similar program we could ensure that the new owners of our
blighted lots could not simply let the condemned building sit the way the owner
of The Mill has. In addition, it would make moving to or staying in Logan and
Mason County more attractive by making it more affordable for businesses and for
families.
September 13, 2006
Can someone please explain to me the logic of repealing
the Homestead Act? There still is open land in this country that people
could occupy and it could give people the change to repopulate somewhere like
Detroit with too much vacant land and the Great Plains that are emptying out.
E-mail
AN OPEN LETTER TO CONGRESS
September 12, 2006
Subject: Immigration
I know you care deeply
about immigration reform, so I thought I would pass the following message along
to you. I have given the same message to my Senators from Illinois, Mr. Durbin
and Mr. Obama.
Part of the
current debate on immigration has to do with the question as to whether natural
born American citizens will do the work that immigrants are doing or at least
will do the work for less money. Perhaps part of the problem is that we put
quotas on the number of immigrants we allow into this country. What if there
was a solution by which we could eliminate much of the advantage on price that
many immigrants have and let the market decide how many immigrants the country
needs?
Please
consider the following. What if rather than criminalizing undocumented
immigrants and the people who employ them we could charge employers a surcharge
to hire immigrants? What I was thinking was that our government could charge
say 50 cents for every dollar the employer pays the immigrant. So if the
employer only pays $6.50 per hour, the employer would also pay a surcharge of
$3.25 an hour to make the expense be as if they were paying $9.75 an hour or if
the employee was salaried at say two million dollars a year for a professional
athlete, the employer would pay the government one million dollars to do so. If
fifty cents on the dollar seems steep, perhaps you could come up with an
alternate amount, but overall this would allow the market to decide how many
positions employers give to immigrants and allow current undocumented immigrants
to emerge from the shadows without fear of retribution.
I suspect we
would have to limit this program to persons who are not already here legally,
since it would be unfair to change the rules on those who are currently here
legally, but it could work for any present and future immigration needs the
country has. Thank you for reviewing this letter.