Why no Citadel city government? Good question.
What functions does a city government provide? The big ones are police, courts and schools. In our case we will have the county sheriff and the county courts to take care of those functions. We also plan on having our own private schools, so that one is covered as well. What else?
In my current situation, I live just outside the city limits of a town of about 50,000 population. Unless you look on a map, you can't tell where the city limit is located. I live on a quiet residential street that looks just like the ones on the other side of the city limit line. I'm on the city water and sewer system, but that was just a matter of convenience for the developer. It's easier to hook into their system than build a whole new water treatment plant. My garbage gets picked up by the same company that picks up all over the city. I imagine that the city gave them an exclusive contract. The city isn't providing the service, they are just granting the monopoly.
The only real difference is that my property tax bill comes from the county instead of the city and it doesn't include a fee for the city library. If I want to, I can pay a $50 annual fee to get library cards for everyone in my household. Since I don't use the library, I don't bother. The nice thing here is that I have a choice.
Look around next time you drive out of town. Just because you aren't inside the city limits, doesn't mean that there is no law and order, no services and no "civilization". The sad reality is that outside of the police, courts and schools, most of what the city does is provide a way for your neighbors to reach into your pocket through the tax system and get you to pay for their favorite pet projects. That could be mass transit, parks, a convention center, a sports stadium or any number of other "nice to have" features. If 51% of your neighbors want it, you will be forced to pay for it, whether you want it or not.
A city government for the Citadel would provide no added value. Our Patriot Agreement covers everything we agree to for living inside the wall. After that, we will buy the goods and services that we choose, not what the 51% mob says we have to buy. We don't need a mayor or city council or various administrators to be paid six figure salaries to run our lives. We will do that ourselves and have far better results for it.
VJ
Exactly, and the agreement was hammered out without one single politian putting their hands on our money so we could have their "help." ;)
ReplyDeletePinch me as I must be dreaming! Every day, after reading the III blogs, FB pages and K's blog, brings more hope that we will once again be free.
ReplyDelete"AnonymousOctober 16, 2012 6:44 AM
ReplyDeleteWho is going to manage the mundane tasks such as snow removal or road maintenance? I would like to believe that in a catastrophe people would pull together but I am not so sure that shoveling snow has the same priority to everyone."
I would also like to think that we would all pull together to take care of snow removel, or any other challenge that comes our way. I would say it could be a fair indicator that someone who isn't interested in doing so, might not have the mindset required to make the basic premise (http://iiicitadel.blogspot.com/2012/10/remember-premise.html)of the Citadel work.
However we will have to address the mudane tasks eventually. Perhaps we could have Patriots serve on a rotation to take care of maintaince tasks. Maybe the lease fees would go toward the maintaining of the Citadel. Perhaps the Citadel would be divided into areas that all the people who live in that area are responsible for the maintaince of that area. It just has not been decided...yet...so now is the time for your input Patriots.
I would go on to say that image and first impressions go a long way in how the world will "view" us. It would be in our best interest to present an organized, clean, and competent settlement to the outside.
Here's where clever design pays off.
DeleteSince most of the space insuide the walkways, and maybe a perimeter road, building radiant tubing into the walking and few driving surfaces with drains, fueled by either a central system, or a series of central systems, will allow the primary walking/driving surfaces to turn snow into snow melt, run into drains, through filters, and into either community resevoirs or personal storage tanks.
Details haven't been laid down yet, but the technology exists and has been used in various forms for years. The primary variable will be the amount of fuel needed.
But the concept is that when snow threatens and begins to fall, a series of hydronic valves open and let warm water start to circulate in the concrete/cobblestone of walkways, driveways and roadways, shunting the runoff into our water storage systems.
With wood as such a plentiful resources, cost of operation would be minimal.
III
A cool idea, but it doesn't answer the question. All you've done is shift the need for snow removers to needing experienced people to build and maintain this system, along with the pipes and water storage. So who pays for them? Who pays for the fuel costs to keep this running? Even if it's wood, someone has to cut, haul, store, and burn it.
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