Posted on 08/01/2009 12:22:50 PM PDT by devane617
CLEARWATER (Bay News 9) -- Money is so tight in Clearwater that the city can no longer afford to fly the American flag.
The city's parks and recreation director ordered the removal of more than a dozen flagpoles from across the city this week, saying that budget cuts make it impossible to properly care for the flags.
According to Bay News 9's partner paper, the St. Petersburg Times, the city says lighting flags at night and removing them if they are damaged are tasks the city cannot afford to worry about anymore.
Can anyone from Clearwater give us some idea as to what was retained in the budget.
Want to know how to order a pizza in 2012? Click the link and see.
http://aclu.org/pizza/images/screen.swf
Let me guess...and they hav e not laid off 1 useless city ee.
Isn’t Clearwater under occupation by the Church of Scientology?
OK, shut down the lights, maybe ask for boy scout or other civic group volunteers to pull flag duty daily, but why spend money to remove the flag poles? Afraid someone will raise the Gadsden Flag?
Maybe they could have given the task to some boy scouts, if it was about the money.
Now that would be a crack-up, if it weren’t so feasible these days. My guess is all that hype about HIPPA and patient confidentiality in recent years, is about to go by the wayside, as the children of the state take over.
Ridiculous.
Yes it is. Perhaps that is the actual reason for this “decision”.
Talk about no info....Check out the P&R page at the City of Clearwater website:
http://www.clearwater-fl.com/gov/depts/parksrec/index.asp
No names anywhere that I can find...
Oh, my gosh! That’s well done.
LOL! Now, that's a good idea.
Not too sure how many flagpoles Clearwater has, but my neighbor in Chicago spent about $300 last year to light his single flagpole.
Removal of flagpoles probably helps prevent vandalism and slows down deterioration of the poles.
Why pay workers to remove the flagpoles if there is no money?
I gotta think removing the flagpole will cost more that $300 and there will be no more vandalism on an empty pole than it receives now. Spending dollars to save pennies ... gotta be the gubermint.
I’m sure if they would contact the local VFW, they could probably find some folks that would volunteer to take care of the flags. Contact a local flag company and see about getting some flags in exchange for some free advertising.
I wouldn’t want to fly an American flag either, if we go Socialist.
I’m not so quick to jump on them. To start with, those are probably extra large American flags. Assuming 8x12 foot, they are priced from $100-$130 each (if larger, MUCH more expensive), and with constant use, they probably only last in those conditions (Gulf Coast) from 1-3 months, less a week for every time it rains or has a high wind.
Lighting is even more expensive, perhaps $100/night. Add those costs for each and every flag. Then add the expense of weekly maintenance, along with “repair/replace when damaged”.
It starts to add up in a hurry.
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