Thank you, David. Continuing to experiment with how to get folks focused on topics we typically overlook.

Not easy Joe. The audience is not that big and so many people are just unaware of what is happening around them. I was in a friend's house on the weekend in HRM. It is worth more than double than my house. He pays $200 less in tax and I'm on a well. I'm not seeing a great performace from Council but then again, they have no money and really no where to go. They've been stiffed by all three parties when in office.

I've made several attempts at promoting new ways of understanding the tax challenges (equalization calculator, tax unfairness lookup tool, and "how many houses to catch up?" analogies, as examples), but it's very difficult to break through. And, when going door to door for my own campaign, not that many expressed a knowledge or great concern with the tax issues. It's going to take some leadership to do what's necessary, and far more creative leadership than what we have in place. :(

It's very difficult to swing the electorate unless the incumbent has really screwed up. Or you are very well known, or have a pile of cash and people resources.Your answers to Raymond Mac Donald this am are spot on. NSCC and CBU would also have major collection problems due to our community economic situation. Jury is out on him. He could be a plant. There are some good councilors but some real deadbeats as well. The Mayor is doing her best but she should have served another term on Council before running for Mayor. She was too green and didn't reach out for advice or even take people up on their offers early on.Good sources say she's not running and Cecil definitely is. A strong leader who can beat Cecil's machine is needed.

Joe, your accurate correction of RMD's comments has already forced him to pull in his horns. Just an idea for your future comments ( I don't have the energy at my age to be posting regularly ). Feds just announced 188M plus 27M for Halifax Military. We (CB) are delighted to see this coming to our Province. This is one of many, many announcements (non CB) that happen regularly.Perhaps Brian Comer could copy this and hand it to his CB jealous/hating colleagues when they tell him that CB gets everything. Once again, this is a one-off of pretty regular announcements.

Thank you, Pauline. I'm always surprised to see how close we are to solutions, yet how seemingly befuddled our elected folks seem to be.

Thank you, NWV! I'm glad that you check out some of the videos and ideas. I'd love to be able to go more in depth, but I simply haven't been able to nail down a process that doesn't turn it into a full-time effort. Still working on it. The video format is actually a little bit faster than writing articles, and I prefer it so that people get a sense of who the person actually is that is behind the ideas. There are so many times people show up to be critical, and you never quite can tell what they're all about or what their biases or motivations are.People do tend to think that municipal governments are small potatoes. But, I always think of them as closest to the real concerns of the people that live within them. That makes them the number one advocates (in theory), even if an issue falls into the scope of responsibility of the province or the federal government.And, I think there are some ways that the municipal government can pull off some great things. But, it's frustrating at how often those opportunities are missed.We're arguing over $15 Million with Houston now, and it's almost as if everyone needs a reality check. With the amount of money flowing into this province, if all it takes for the CBRM to be satisfied is $15 Million, sign the cheque already. Ha ha :)