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.

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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.