The Lake Norman Times recently reported that five months into the fiscal year, MI-Connection's operating revenue is about $686,000 in the hole.
Click this link for the entire article: http://www.thelakepaper.com/articles/2008/12/26/news/news003.txt
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62 comments:
Is anyone really surprised?
Miles Atkins voted against the acquisition! Guess we should replace everyone else Mayor included.
This is no surprise. But of course the mayor has cable.
Miles actually wasn't on the board when the actual vote was taken.
What I find really surprising is the article in the Mooresville Bugle that said "First year at MI Connection went about as expected".
How do you go to a meeting and miss a $686,000 shortfall?
And the latest Rader at Large says everything is just hunky-dory.
Amazing.
It is irresponsible to intertwine the town’s financial future with a business venture. It is important for the town board to admit, at least to themselves, that MI was not a good idea. Sell MI now, and please stop running those hokey “MI Connection is great” commercials. Remember this simple formula: Government + Business Ownership = Disaster. I’d be happy to derive the proof of this equation if anyone is interested ;)
Jim-
Maybe the town projected a shortfall from the outset? That would explain why the first year went as expected. Either way, it was or is irresponsible. Every councilman-and our illustrious mayor-who voted for this cable system should have to pay for it all themselves considering the taxpayers said over and over that we didn't want it. Mr. Atkins would be the only person immune because even though he wasn't on the board for the first vote, he has voted against anything to do with MI-Rejection since he was sworn in. Maybe he will run for mayor and put a for sale sign on the rundown cable system.
Yeah, let's get Adkins as Mayor. Then he can get his wife appointed to an even more lucrative 'position'.
Actually, Chris Carney and Miles Atkins both voted against the last $12.5 million or so for the cable, so kudos to both of them for that. Carney needs to come out publicly and ADMIT this was a folly, DRIVEN BY THE MAYOR BEHIND CLOSED DOORS and backed up by that fool of a commissioner, Frank Rader.
This is to 12:35 PM. Say what you will but I started seeing improvements downtown the minute that loser Wayne Frick was kicked out the door. I couldn't care less who's wife got that job as long as they're doing a better job than was done the past 20 years. You sound like a sore loser whose pissed off cause you or one of your unqualified buddies was past up for it. Get over it. While your 'worried' over a fifty grand a year position we're out here worried about useless folk like Erskine Smith bilking us for over a hundred grand a year. That's just to name one. Besides last I heard downtown folk got to pick who they want for that job. So unless you got something to say that actually makes sense shut the hell up and go away with your broken record. Why aren't you whining about this cable deal for example? Your too busy grinding the ax for your buddy the exposed mayor that's why. Everybody sees right through it. Give up the ghost man. He's history.
The original plan called for them to lose $1.56 million but instead they were losing $2.47 million, $912,000 more than the budget said they would. Wow...that's comforting.
We're not dealing with the federal budget where they toss around "a billion here, a billion there, before you know it your talking real money". This is Mooresville! $912,000 is still a decent chunk of change.
Should that kind of loss...and an admission by the Chief Financial Officer that "...it's not looking good. It's not looking very good." not be a red flag to the local paper that maybe there is trouble in paradise? Maybe they should stop believing everything the people who voted for this debaucle says?
They will never admit this was a bad idea. Another equation .. Ego + misinformation = bad decision.
"whose pissed off" "was past up" - please ask someone to check your work before turning it in.
Are we so surprised, that bafoon, RADER, paints a glorious picture about his chananigans with the whole MI thing. And where the hell is the mayor, he surely won't comment, as he EXITS from politics with a legacy worst than BUSH. Hard to believe, but we the citizens have let that bunch do this Town the most fiscally damaging debt in the Town's history. We only can hope for November, and boot them out on their asses.
Bill Thunberg takes the words "absence of leadership" to new heights. There are many of us who feel completely duped by this person. Word on the street is that even as this (the spilling of the beans of the cable fiasco) is all happening he is already cooking up his dirty little schemes trying to get funding for running again. Word to the wise: anybody who buys his promises and dishes out funds to him will be swindled out of his money, not to mention outed for all to see when the financial records have to be made public. Back this do-nothing, see-no-evil, hear-no-evil, put-out- for-a-select-few and screw-the-rest-of-us mayor wannabe at your own risk.
I thought our esteemed mayor had thoughts about regional office, either county or state house.
$912,000 is roughly $45 per citizen of Mooresville. If we all received a bill for this little "it's not looking good" fee you can bet there'd be protests at town hall.
Stop the presses! The Lake Norman Times broke this story?!! Where the heck was Mooresville Tribune? Asleep at the friggin' wheel? Something doesn't smell right here.
I saw an article in the Tribune with a headline that was something like "MI Connection: First year went as planned". Either the Tribune reporter missed the $912,000 elephant in the room or the Tribune is so afraid of irritating the powers that be in these tight advertising times that they put "happy spin" on it. Either way...it's kind of sad.
Sad, yes. Also, predictable. Dale Gowing is a well known Thunberg groupie, and he's been one for many many years. You better believe he's not going to highlight any foibles by the soon to be former failed mayor. And make no mistake. The cable is only one foible in a long string of Thunberg Foibles that we'll all be paying for in the years ahead.
Frank Rader is the biggest full of s—t waste of perfectly good oxygen scam artists in this town. I read his self important Rader At Large bull crap last week, and I almost believed everything is good and well with cable, until…I read this latest news. Rader, you’re a lying SOB and a disgrace to this town. You need to be driven out of office, and I mean yesterday.
December 30, 2008 3:29 PM : This comment is intended to specifically address your arrogant sarcasm against a previous commenter who confronted your outright hypocrisy and personal agenda.
Most human beings recognize harsh truth over eloquent chicanery, even if that truth is misspelled and does not employ correct grammar. These are usually the same human beings who hold deep contempt within their hearts for those who would abuse the powers granted to them by the people.
December 28, 8:28pm
The Tribune, and it's reporters are well in bed with the TOM officials.
I had an experience with this paper(which endorsed Thunberg, lock, stock and barrel) and found the scale always tilting on the side of the town.
The female reporter assured me they were fair and balanced. HUEEEEEEEEEEEE
Please, let's get back to the issues at hand.
Thunberg, Rader and the lot are out of the picture now. They got us into this mess and we can certainly vote them out when the time comes.
And we need to hold the Press' feet to the fire to accurately report on the status of MIC and we all know how to do that.
The problem facing us now is the MIC Leadership is not performing according to "plan". So either the "plan" was wrong or MIC execution of the plan is defective. For instance:
- They anticipated subscriber growth and that didn't happen.
- They still do not have a handle on the impact of competition in their area. Time Warner, and others, are free to build their plant overlaying MIC's customers. How many customers will be lost is unknown. Commonly known as customer churn.
- They anticipated having new and improved infrastructure and that is slow in coming.
- They anticipated having more features available for the subscribers sooner and that didn't happen.
- They overpaid (substantially) for a system that was in disrepair and are now claiming they didn't know how bad it really was.
MIC is not yet in dire straits but unless they begin to execute, they will be. What should concern all of us is a "new" plan will be drawn which will finally match reality. Unless this plan is more aggressive and expects improved execution from the Leadership, MIC is be just another mediocre system with its customers scurrying to another providers with better features. And we will be left holding the bag.
Additionally, the Board of Directors, though extremely qualified in their areas of expertise, are not experienced in the actual implementation of a system rebuild and have to rely on BVU (a supplier with vested interest in prolonging their involvement) and the current MIC Leadership for information. So far, this hasn't worked too well.
Can't a class action lawsuit be brought against the people who got us into this predictable mess? Why should we have to pay for their actions? There is a clear record of how they acted against the will of the public, and now proof is emerging that they failed to exercise due diligence, instead relying on pie in the sky figures sold to them with regard to a private (versus public) enterprise.
Apparently the Tribune is not immune to bad news in general, just bad news related to TOM. This morning they had a headline that said "Iredell feeling NASCAR's pain"...detailing 5 race shops that have had layoffs...but yet our local cable company is gonna grow 1200 customers a year in the worst economy in almost 80 years.....sure it is.
So...what happens if the "plan" isn't doing better in 6 months? Can you imagine a 100 new customers a month in this economy? How much of the "plan" was based on Iredell / North Mecklenburg continuing to grow at 2006 rates?
How much of the risk is in our tax bill? ALL OF IT.
It appears to me with all our venting, nothing but nothing can be done about all these issues. No one has a credible plan that will hold up in court. All we can do, is stop the talk, walk the walk, and that's only in November.
Let's start the New Year focused on what's best for TOM, and not what's happened with this bunch. Blood pressures rise, and we are helpless.
A group of us should meet, and discuss agendas for 2009, and not let the Mayor, Town Administrator, and Janet Pope set agendas.
We are the people, and agendas should be set by us. C'mon now, off your duffs, and let's be very very active in 2009. Email or call me at any time, and I will gladly participate. Enough talking already !!!!!!
Vic's idea is the most reasonable I have heard yet. Screw the elected officials, have our own meeting. Determine what is best and set it in motion. Time for another tea party.
Vic, you've already ripped the town off for thousands with the right-of-way issues. That was good taxpayer money.
I would just like to see the cable deal watched a little more closely in the media....once the politicians have the only newspaper in town in their pocket they are pretty much free to rape and pillage.....especially in a community that ignores tax and water fee increases like they are just a fact of life.
Before you know it we'll see a "capital improvement fund" fee on our water bill that helps offset the failing cable purchase.....and the Rader will still say it was a wise move.
Mr. Marquis, those of us who have been paying attention know that there is a poster on this blog who attempts to extort silence from you each time you speak. We also know you had every right to charge the town a fair price for the right of way that was yours. To equate your charging the town for your right of way with the corrupt manner in which the cable purchase was made is only an indication of the depth of this person's mal-intent and insidiousness. We suspect this is also the same person who attempts to cherry pick their issues by attacking Miles Atkins' wife for having fairly and squarely been hired by the Mooresville Downtown Commission as director. We hope you will send a message to this particular silencer that their tactics will no longer work, and that you will continue to speak out against financial atrocities such as the corrupt cable transaction and others like it despite their transparent attempts to muddy the waters.
I'm with 9:17!
9:17 p.m. you've hit the nail on the head buddy. Whoever wrote the comment on "December 30, 2008 12:35 PM" wrote the one on "January 1, 2009 8:00 PM". I've been tracking this loser on this blog. They backed the crooked former police chief who was rooted out, and they hate Miles Atkins, as well as anybody who talks back to their little establishment buddies. 9:17, if it's all the same with you, I'm gonna borrow your words and call 'em "The Cherry Picker".
Boooo to the Cherry Picker! Yes to Vic's idea to throw the bums (the mayor and his sidekick Rader) out on their bums!
I wonder if the Cherry Picker is a Sheriff Redmond supporter as well?
Happy New Year!
Again, I implore us! Stay on topic. Ignore Cherry Picker and stick with the issue, which is MIC. Anything other is counterproductive.
1. The Cable deal was not a corrupt transaction as 9:17 alluded. Unless we find evidence of corrupt activities, this deal passed all the checks and balances in our Town Government and is not corrupt. Was it poorly thought out by our Town Board? In our judgment, yes. Was it passed over our objections? Yes. But the jury is out on whether it is corrupt or not. If you know of factual evidence of corrupt activities, bring them forth and legal action will follow. Otherwise, we should stay with the issues.
2. 9:14 is correct. We need to make sure the Press is on top of this. Today, only the LKN Times reporter attends the Board of Directors meetings. Also, **we** need to attend to get a better understanding of why MIC is not functioning as promised.
3. We need to demand of the MIC Leadership a better view of where this pseudo-governmental endeavor is heading. And the Town Board needs to get deeply involved with the progress of MIC, or lack of!
We'll get our chance in November to make our political case. Until then, we are should be gathering our 'FACTS'.
I'm with 7:10am -- stay on topic and focus on the issues. We can blow all the hot air we want, but unless we can find a group of qualified individuals to run, we'll be stuck with the same old stuff. We need to begin NOW organizing a slate of candidates to run against those who are up for election.
As someone fairly new to your town, I was told about The Gatton Report. It has taken me several weeks to go through previous posts and comments. I have since sent this link back to a citizens group where I lived who are fighting some despicable public official misconduct.
I’m not sure whether you’re aware of the gravity of what you have done here. You have waged psychological warfare against public corruption. You have mercilessly terrorized the corrupt, exposed and bombarded their power structures. They are left with only two unpalatable choices: cease and desist the schemes that have been padding their pockets for years, perhaps generations, OR continue their thieving and risk the consequences, at times dire. Your ceaseless pounding on these wretched, abhorrent, glutinous and loathsome creatures has forever altered the fabric of your community, whether you realize this or not. No one appears to be immune from the avalanche of truth. Not the mayor. Not commissioners. Not the police chief. Not top management. Not the economic development clique. Not the city. Not the county. Not the District Attorney. Not the bottom feeding businessmen and self-proclaimed community leaders who’ve been bolstering up or covering up for the corruption in the system. No one. What has happened in this sleepy little southern town is a phenomenon. It should be studied, taught and repeated nationwide.
Thank You Jan 1 9:17, My family and I were still ripped off by the Town, but have put all this stuff behind us. The poster you mention will be licking his wounds, when we prevail by ridding ourselves of the likes of TOM Mayor, Town Board, excluding Miles Atkins.
He is an ally to running this town. With Miles, and citizens together, we will bring Mooresville to a new correct path to the future.
Just for the record 8:00 pm, go to Town Hall and research all your gripes with me, and if you can read English, you will find that your'e a moron.
(Shucks, I promised I wouldn't add fuel to his fire, but still did it one last time. )
Welcome, Mark O, to the blog and to Mooresville. While I like to think we have a core group of people that want their town back, it won't really be rid on the right track until after November. I just hope people will remember marching in front of town hall in the summer heat last year.....there are a number of officials counting on short memories.
I can't wait for this election. Let me know when we're organizing and I'll be there. We need to get people reading this blog and catching up on whats been going on. We need to do it really soon. Does anyone have any ideas to spread the word? Jamie do you have anything that we can pass out in our neighborhoods to get people to read the blog like flyers, pens, or buttons, or something like that? Does anybody have any ideas of things we can start doing right now? Why wait until Novemeber?
"You just need to be a flea against injustice. Enough committed fleas biting strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and transform even the biggest nation."
~Marian Wright Edelman
The common thread here is the fight against outright fraud, county wide. There are laws that have been broken and we taxpayers must expose and seek prosecution. In many cases the commissioners have thumbed their noses at these issues. If you connect the dots in Mooresville you will find the connections throughout the county. "Preaching to the Choir" is part of the process but we must follow through with the legal process. Why let these crooks off easy by letting them retire or lose an election.
I agree 100%. These white collar con men posing around as "public officials" and/or their hangers on have developed the mentality of "oh well, if I'm caught I'll just be voted out of office, or I'll just be fired". Throw a couple of them in prison for a year or two and that bravado will quickly come to a swift end, and then you'll see some REAL change around here!
Con men is a good description of many of our current officials. And yes, there are solid connections throughout the county.
We need to keep in mind that it's 10 MONTHS until election day....and sometimes the general population forgets....although at this rate the cable company will be down another million or so...and we'll still be waiting to hear the results of the Cops for Kids investigation....
We have a new District Attorney as of Jan 2. We will quickly see her true colors in dealing with the current investigations and cronyism. I hope she is tough, hard working, and honest. There is plenty of work to be done.
Jamie wrote
"The Cops for Kids’ audits could be complete and presented to Mooresville commissioners as early as Jan. 2"
What happened at this meeting? Did it take place? Were the results of the investigation discussed? If so, are they public?
There is nothing in tonight's agenda about "Cops for Kids" audit being presented....but it wouldn't surprise me if it somehow "snuck in"....
Hey Vic, if you are so smart why can't you spell?
1/05/2009 6:52 pm
It's over "cherry picker".
I will never again give you the time of day, and will continue posting on this blog,(which has a great group of people)and never again pay attention to your ignorant remarks. BYE
Hey, 6:52, a/k/a Geeky-Winner-of-the-Spelling-Bee-Contest a/k/a Cherry Picker! You're solid proof that a good speller can be twice as ignorant as a bad one...don't you have some fat public official asses you can go kissing instead of skipping dinner to see how others orthographize? Go ahead. Get your little dictionary out. You know you want to. What's the matter? Too proud to admit you're too dumb to know what that word means? Hmph...
With all that money that Vic stole from the Town he should be paying all our cable bills.
Wow......I believe when you you acuse someone of a crime you may have just stepped in to that ugly little legal libel/slander thing that Ms. Gatton talks about on her home page.
Yeah, I think if you are going to accuse somebody of stealing you ought to come out from under the cloak of anonymity. Are you angry because the guy negotiated a good settlement for land that the town took from him ? Is that theft or is it theft when a cadre of government officials forces us to invest $92 million in a cable system totally against popular will and business sense? Let's hear your basis for accusing someone of theft or identify yourself so Vic will know where to send his slander lawsuit.
The purchase of a bankrupt cable company was a blatant example of executive power that ignored the popular will. Mayor Bill Thunberg and three commissioners, mainly led by Commissioner Frank Rader, made a conscious decision to overlook widespread outcry, ignore clear danger signs, and blindly gamble with the assets of their constituents. It is time for us to seriously begin the process of selecting elected officials who can earn and keep the trust and confidence of the people of this community.
Hello People,
Cry all you want, you live in a town run by crooks.... Face it BRING IN ALL NEW BLOOD AND GET ALL NEW CROOKS and HANG THE ONES YOU GOT AS AN EXAMPLE TO THE NEW ONES COMMING IN. Everyone sounds so suprised. Heres an idea, how about each hosehold kicks in $100.00 and we hire a private accounting firm to audit the entire town.... schools, water, waste, etc... then you will know for sure whos to blame. Right now we all are the blame for not sticking to those who are sticking it to us. By the way this town is just doing what our Feds are doing...jokes on who
You can say all that again! I like the idea of everybody kicking in a hundred bucks for a town-wide audit. I also like the idea of making a real example of the crooks we've got in place, the mayor, Rader, and Abraham, so that the future elected officials know what's in store for them if they get out of line.
Apparently the Davidson Town Board is getting a special briefing on MI Connection at their board meeting Tuesday night. Wonder how the down turn in the economy is impacting the cable business.
Bill Thunberg's arrogant butt should be made to pay for every penny this crooked deal loses. Why should we have to pay for his arrogance? And what HE can't pay his buddy Frank Rader should have to pay since it was his funny money fuzzy math that got us all into this hot water. And while Thunberg's ducking and hiding, Rader's walking around puffed up and still lying to people about the numbers. Dumb and dumber running this town into the ground.
Mr. Marquis: I do not know you personally but my husband and I have gone thru the insinuations and barbs against our saying what we have posted and even received remarks about our body parts.
It is hard sometimes not to retaliate but if it gives you satisfaction you could do what we did over the years - when you tweak them with humor and you have a good laugh, they sometimes get the picture that humor does make fools of them and most of the time they get lost in space.
Stick to your guns and have the researched evidence to back your comments. We did that and with the help, care and support of our friends and believers we kept the guns blasting.
Good luck and best wishes.
Kay Salisbury
Thank you so much for your advice and kind words. We have decided to keep voicing our opinions, and will not respond to known ignorant postings directed at us. I've seen you and your husband at TOM board meetings, and kudos to you both for what you believe in.
Best wishes to you as well,
Sincerely, Vic Marquis
We love you gutsy warriors. Without people like you, Knox and his trained bandits would still be running this town like a whorehouse.
The big question is whether the taxpayers of Mooresville and Davidson will have to foot the bill for this SOCIALIST enterprise. Are any of the town officials making money off the bonds? More competition from AT&T will be coming in the future. Why did the town officials want to place this burden on the citizens in the first place? Like all government projects, including light rail, just follow the money!
Check out DavidsonNews.net for further information on MI-Connection. We are your partners in this venture.
The elected officials of Davidson and our town manager are going up to Bristol, VA this Thursday for a meeting with BVU, the company that was hired to help run MI-C. Apparently our leaders - who voted unanimously in support of this venture - are now realizing that all is not well in cable land. What was sold to the voters as a sure fire money making machine is losing millions per year. I predict that in 2011 at the latest the citizens of Davidson (and Mooresville) will have to pony up extra tax dollars to bail out MI-C. How our leaders thought this was a good idea was beyond me. Would you jump out of an airplane if there was a 90% chance your parachute would open? Noone would, but our leaders strapped our financial future to the MI-Connection parachute, and so far it has failed to open. The ground is rushing up at us quickly. We need to vote these people out of office (but I'm quite sure we won't because that would not be nice). This was the worst judgement call in the history of local government. Aaarghhhh!!!!!
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