MCC Ice Rink
As a business man and using just the macro numbers published today, the solution to the sports center problem is simple--- Lower costs, raise prices or probably both.  If there are “tens of thousands of patrons annually” and “750 local participants that account for one third of the  revenue”, ($400,000) rates should necessarily double for everyone.  No organization can survive if it loses money on every customer.  And no, you can’t make it up in volume.  Rental of 168,000 feet at $10 per foot would cost $1.6 million, which coincidentally is exactly what the revenue is.  Obviously way too low for a facility with four functional ice rinks.  A 100% increase in revenues would bring in another $1.6 million and give the facility a paper profit of $1 million per year till the notes are paid off.  Lest someone yell that an increase that size is unfair, will drive patrons away or deny some poor kid the chance to play hockey let them consider the alternative---no hockey for anyone.  I have no idea what rates are being charged but again, using the published figures the income is $533 per patron.  I assume the facility receives rent or other compensation from the restaurant, ice cream stand and bar.  No matter how much visitors to the area spend, the facility must charge enough to pay for itself, maintain the facility and pay off the bonds in the agreed upon time.   How the situation could get this bad is beyond me but I suspect that the board did not have the guts to increase rates to cover costs.  Is this another fast ferry?

Dear Editor,

Joe Boudreau says in today’s paper that he is not proud to live in a ‘right to work” state.  Perhaps he should move to New York where I am from.  I emphasize “from” as the high taxes caused by the complete control of New York by the unions have caused the state to be bordering on bankruptcy and taxes to be more than twice as high as they are here.  On the other hand, Right to Work states have much lower taxes, are growing and have consistently created more jobs than forced union  states. 

No intelligent employer mistreats his employees.  The workers are the backbone of any company and the most important asset.  Unions prevent hard workers from being promoted, drive up costs and lower productivity all in the search for more forced union dues.  They protect incompetent teachers, force layoffs of good employees and generally hamper good management.  Unions will never give up the dues from one unnecessary worker to help the company or the taxpayer.  Right to Work requires unions to actually earn their members’ dues.  Most workers want to do a good job.  If they do too good a job some union steward will tap them on the shoulder and tell them to “slow down, you’re ruining it for the rest of us”.  If unions are so good, why has the number of union members steadily declined in spite of laws that are slanted in favor of unions?  Now, Obama has packed the National Labor Relations Board with pro union people that are issuing new rules to make it even easier for unions to force more people to pay dues.  It has nothing to do with safety or equal pay and everything to do with being able to buy influence with politicians.  The workers are secondary.

Joe should move.

Robert Brinkman

Post: Thursday, June 21 column by Benjamin Wachs, "Democracy's not a battle"

Editor,

Benjamin Wachs’ column in today’s paper needs to be corrected.  Democracy is and will always be a battle.  He questions whether  the Tea Party has made a dent in the deficit.  Well in fact, they have.  The Tea party was very instrumental in electing Governor Walker in Wisconsin and fighting off the union’s attempt to recall him.  He eliminated a 3 billion dollar deficit and now has a surplus and is growing jobs. They will have the same effect nationally.   Wachs calls for compromise, finding common ground and claims our problems have only gotten bigger.  And the reason they have gotten bigger is because the Republicans and conservatives have compromised, tried to find common ground and been honest in their dealings with the Progressives---to no avail.  Bad people always rely on the good will of good people to get bad things done.  Every compromise has driven us one step closer to Socialism.  No More.  When the Democrats had total control of congress there was absolutely no compromise.  Now that the shoe is on the other foot the cries for compromise are loud and constant.

R. J. Brinkman

D&C Post: Response to the Irondequoit Post column about the culture becoming coarse 6/21/12

The reason the culture has gotten “coarse” is that we can no longer properly discipline our young people.  Anyone over 50 will recall that most responsible adults would not hesitate to admonish a misbehaving youngster and even slap them on the back of the head and tell them to “stop that and behave”.  No more!  With the advent of touchy feely attitudes towards our children, without the actual touching, we can no longer hold our children accountable for their actions.  They know very well that if an adult so much as touches them they can charge assault, even against their parents.  When I grew up, prompt and predictable discipline was the best deterrent against improper behavior, by parents, teachers or even strangers.

March 2, 2012 | Greed Study at Berkley

Dear editor:

I found it ironic when reading the article today by Eryn Brown about the study by University of California at Berkley researchers that linked unethical behavior and greed to personal wealth and the one percent.  The fact that the study was done in San Francisco, the heart of left wing liberal America, might have escaped these researchers as relevant.  I wonder what the results would be if the same study was done in the bible belt or any midsized town in Ohio for instance.  For myself there have been numerous times when I have been given to much change or not charged for something and I have pointed out the clerks mistake.  If you have principles or have grown up being taught right from wrong they don’t evaporate just because a person has done well.  I would also like to know if the offenders were observed to be young or older as too many of today’s youth have been taught that whatever you can get away with is OK.  The fact that they used students attending Berkley severely taints the results as far as I am concerned.

Robert Brinkman

Irondequoit Post Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Guest essay by county legislator Vincent Esposito

Editor,

Although the proposal by legislator Esposito is welcome, it does not address the root of the problem.  Instead of protecting some home owners from increased taxes he should be fighting to reduce the overall tax rate.  He is right that property tax relief would create jobs and improve property values.  But protection from increases is the reverse of what he should be promoting. The real problem is the high combined tax rate.  The gross disparity in property and school taxes when compared to the rest of the state is seldom revealed.  My combined tax rate is approximately $43 per thousand while downstate in the Hamptons, the home of the multi, multi, millionaires, the tax rate is  $9 per thousand.  Not only is that extremely unfair, it shows the glaring inequities in the state tax codes.  The only way to reduce these killer tax rates is to reign in the exorbitant pensions and benefits that the public employee unions have imposed on the rest of the population.   Governor Cuomo has made a feeble start on this but has not gone far enough.  The union members who get these benefits are also subject to the extremely high taxes that are required to pay their benefits.  A vicious circle that cannot be maintained and continues to drive people, businesses and wealthy tax payers out of the state.  A downward spiral that cannot continue for much longer.

R. J. Brinkman

President Obama

President Obama’s jobs speech before the congress left me reeling.  The economy is stalled because there is a profound lack of confidence in the ability of the economy to recover under more regulation, higher taxes and higher cost of health care.  Hiring workers for a tax credit will not happen if there is no work for them to do.  And you can’t buy a new employee for $5,000.   Pay their fair share means tax increases on the producers which are always passed along to the consumer. Trade agreements have not been held up by congress but by the White House.  He talks well but does the opposite.  Employers can’t win the race to the top with shakles on their feet  The only thing that will work, and has worked in the past, is an overall tax reduction, especially on businesses, repealing the high cost of Obamacare, and cutting spending  which will restore the confidence of the population that a recovery can happen.  The president’s jobs program will  not do that.