In the 1978 remake of the classic SciFi thriller, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, regular people have their bodies overtaken by pods from outer space. The pod people look just like the original humans, but they lack passion and purpose. They just exist, going through the motions.
This morning I had some serious Body Snatcher déjà vu when I read CNBI’s full-page property tax ad in the CDA Press today. Apparently the pod people have taken over CBNI. Here’s your open session for a cold pre-winter day.
Just came back from a trip out, some errands that had been stacking up. The roads are typical and not too terrible. I’m glad that I have 4-wheel drive. Do be careful if you have to go out there! Plan on taking plenty of time. My errands would have normally taken an hour and they ran an hour and a half.
Comment by Dan — December 17, 2008 @ 12:49 pm
Dan, an absolute perfect characterization of whatever CNBI was trying to communicate. After reading it, studying it all I could say is, Duh? And then I noted that their numbers were confusing. CDA “% change in taxes” is shown as +9%, yet in their narrative they show it as “an increase of 11.5%!!!!”. If I were a member of CBNI, I would be furious for whatever I paid to contribute to this very expensive full page/back page nonsense.
Comment by Gary Ingram — December 17, 2008 @ 2:27 pm
There possibly could have been some redeeming value to the message if they had showed how much the various taxing districts taxes could have been reduced if they were not cut off from the revenue going to LCDC from tax increment coming from non-project valuations, Ie. nearby affected properties within the URD. But then the principals of CNBC would have to know something about how it works and I don’t think they have a clue.
Comment by Gary Ingram — December 17, 2008 @ 2:35 pm
Gary, isn’t Jim Elder still the head of CBNI? (Concerned Businesses of North Idaho) Remember that Jim is also the Vice Chair of LCDC, our urban renewal agency here in CdA whose two districts envelope more than 14% of our city’s valuation. And LCDC gets all the tax increases since 1997 in those areas. The rest of us pay more to cover what the city and county need.
Do you seriously think Jim Elder wants the public to understand the tax burden LCDC puts on the taxpayers?
Comment by mary — December 17, 2008 @ 6:18 pm
And here I just thought it was incompetitence!
Comment by Gary Ingram — December 17, 2008 @ 6:53 pm
an ogle is the newest ed of cbni, a wealthy scion of the elite. expecting cbni to speak up for the average man is like expecting colonel sanders to speak up for chickens.
Comment by TheWiz — December 17, 2008 @ 6:59 pm
Not any more. I checked their web site, but it’s about three years old and hasn’t been updated. Again, pod people.
Comment by Dan — December 17, 2008 @ 8:33 pm
Here’s a funny: I just pulled into Schuck’s to buy new wiper blades. I wasn’t alone. There were three trashcans outside stuffed to the brim with wiper blade packaging and old wiper blades. I’d estimate that Schucks has sold over 300 blades today!
Comment by Dan — December 17, 2008 @ 8:34 pm
I see that Chrysler is going to shut its doors for a month. My guess: They’ll never open again.
Comment by Dan — December 17, 2008 @ 8:40 pm
I think that Ronda Mitchell is head of CBNI.
Comment by Susie Snedaker — December 17, 2008 @ 9:53 pm