As well as, of course, Democrats. Anyway, a lawsuit has been filed by Fairfield resident Fred Plump (attorney: Ed Still — these are great names!) to get Riley’s appointee thrown out and an election called for. Again, there seems to be a great big precedent in that a Federal court already ruled that Riley couldn’t appoint a member to the Mobile County Commission when the previous officeholder was elected mayor of Mobile. Seems a 100 point match. That case has been appealed to the US Supreme Court, which will probably hand down its usual partisan decision of “whatever benefits the Republicans!”
The surprise, I guess, is that some people raised cheers. Maybe, if the tax increase is voted down, they can volunteer 1/100th of their take-home pay to the city. Meanwhile, here’s what Crazy Larry had to say:
“If a penny’s going to break you, you’re already broke anyway, so don’t worry about it.”
Does he realize that people won’t actually being paying a penny each?
Crazy Larry wants his tax increase now and has no interest in answering the questions of the city council. He’s the mayor, give him his tax increase! Now! No time to wait!
And what form is that? Well, as mentioned yesterday, it’s a form where the voters don’t get to decide on the thing, because they just don’t appreciate it and keep voting against it, and instead the city council will decide. The usual suspects — John “Horse Track” Rogers, and Gene “I’m Not Sure What He Does For A Living” Hallman — are all for it, though.
The Birmingdome would seat 57,500, with room for expansion. There is, of course, no pro football team to put in it, and only one college game a year (the Alabama A&M-Alabama State Magic City Classic) that would have a chance of filling it. UAB football is, of course, a sad joke. I guess they plan to keep it busy with tractor pulls.
So, Mayor-For-Now Crazy Larry says that the voters don’t get to decide on a half-billion dollar bond issue to build the Birmingdome because the bonds would be floated by the Civic Center Authority and not the city, even though the city is going to have to pay for it anyway. Of course, every time the voters have been asked to decide on the dome, they reject it. Silly voters.
So, Gaston Randle, rogue Lipscomb city councilman, who was picked up in Brighton for wandering around outside a funeral home apparently drunk, somehow did fifteen hundred dollars worth of damage to the plumbing at Brighton city jail while he was there. Actually, the mayor of Brighton says that this is a “guesstimate” and it’s probably more. They say he ripped out a sink, lavatory, and pipes. He says that the sink just “fell off”.
