Comments on: The spies who would like you to sponsor them

Flint, Michigan wants to find sponsors for its surveillance cameras.

[Flint Expatriate]

You have to admit that Flint Mayor Don Williamson can be pretty entertaining. If only he were an oddball character on a sitcom, or a colorfully corrupt small-town mayor on The Sopranos or something. Sadly, he's in charge of a city that desperately needs competent leadership.

Flint has made the national news recently for all the wrong reasons. First there was the baggy pants "crack down." Then there was this adopt-a-surveillance camera debacle. You may be asking yourself what Williamson can do next to maintain his lofty status as Clown Prince of American Mayors?

Well, how about if the leader of a city with the worst economy in the nation issues a press release offering advice on how to eliminate high gas prices and save the entire the U.S. economy?

"Mayor Don Williamson today urged Gov. Jennifer Granholm to 'declare a state emergency' and eliminate state gasoline taxes," reports Joe Lawlor of The Flint Journal.

"Williamson, in a news release, also said the federal government should eliminate federal gasoline taxes, drill for oil in Alaska and offshore and create more oil refineries. Williamson said he believes gas prices will be reduced to $2.75 per gallon if those measure are taken, and the economy will improve."

Apparently, the mayor is unaware of just how much state and federal money from these gas taxes flows into Flint. Or that a chorus of economists has already determined that these measures wouldn't do much to lower prices and would probably hurt the economy in the long run.

But hey, given President Bush's track record, Williamson just might find a sympathetic ear in the White House.

For more on the mayor's hyjinks and a look at Flint as it battles deindustrialization, visit Flint Expatriates: a blog for the long-lost residents of Flint.
www.flintexpats.com

[ChrisMatyszczyk]

Thank you, Mr. Expatriate,
You have enlightened us. And it is instructive to know that those who leave Flint still somehow maintain their flinty solidarity.
I trust you emigrated to somewhere a little more sunny, but equally entertaining.

Chris

[eosjenna]

I don't think the business owners should be asked to pay for these cameras. If business owners are concerned with their security, they can get their own camera systems to monitor inside AND outside their business for much much cheaper than $30,000.