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Water Rates

Dolan - “I would like the Committee to explore the possibility of offering a rebate to qualifying seniors who live in condos, money that they could then use toward association fees.”

This guy still doesn't get it. He's going to explore ways to offer me a rebate as a senior because I'm getting shafted by having to pay tier 3 rates in a one-meter condo building? What about everybody else getting screwed if they don't happen to be a senior?

This is not brain surgery, although having a brain is required. Do away with the tiers. Everybody pays the same rate for the water they use. In one meter condos and apartments, simply divide the cubic feet by the number of units to arrive at a per unit cost. Actually, you could do that without eliminating tiers, but because they want their hands so deeply imbedded in our pockets, they won't. The only reason they are "considering" a rebate for seniors is because seniors raised such a ruckus they had to do something. From their point of view, even if they rebate seniors, they'll still be able to screw everybody else.

And what's a "qualifying" senior? Someone who makes less than $20K a year? And how much of a rebate? 5%? What am I supposed to do now, say "Thank you for screwing me less than everybody else, even though you're still screwing me."?

I think maybe I was wrong by saying he still doesn't get it. I think may he gets it perfectly. He's trying to buy off seniors with a little bitty bone. It's apparent he thinks we're all too stupid to see what he's up to, and will just roll over and accept it.

Listen, nitwit - we saw through your idiotic override scam, and we see through this horse$hit as well. Do away with the tiers.

His dictionary defines fairness as "whatever gives me the most money".

Re: Water Rates

Pal: Don't you get it? Robbie really doesn't care about you. His political base is two income yuppie couples with two kids and a lab on a leash living in single family homes. The shmucks in condos and rentals are subsidizing us yuppies in the single family homes. Why don't you all register to vote for the next election and force Dolan to pay attention to your needs?

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Two points:

1. I do get it. I'd have to be an idiot not to get it. I know he doesn't care about me. But I have news for you too, pal. Even though you're in his so called political base, he doesn't care about you either. He cares about Rob - period. The sooner you figure that out, the better off we're all going to be.

2. I've been a registered voter since 1968, and I voted in that last little election. You know - the one where he got his ass handed to him about some cockamamie override.

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At the next Mayoral election - if no one runs against him - the blank ballots will win - then let him try to explain his lack of popularity - embarrassment will finally force him out!

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It's not likely that this increasingly impotent tyrant will be running in the next election because the heat is on right now (or perhaps it's better to say the freeze) and getting worse by the week. He and his machinations are being investigated from directions he never imagined possible. If he's smart, he will bail for some other, any other position, and soon, a la Mikey F. If he continues down his path of arrogance (a virtual certainty), he will find himself confronting some politically lethal situations that will make it unlikely that he would find any safe haven with an acceptable (or any) paycheck, especially when he has to start hiring his own attorneys (he'd be an even bigger fool to count on the legal acumen of Vanny and that pack of incompetent fools). His total disbelief around the override vote against him (make no mistake that this was a very personal vote against him) points to a level of arrogance (& willful ignorance) that make it likely he will continue to hear only what he wants to hear rather than the reality. But his house of cards is being held up with the flimsiest of threads now. Morty and Margaret cannot save him. Neither can Lisa or Jen or Martha or Jess. As CT and her miserable cast of "exemplary" losers go down (which they are most certainly doing), they will make sure others pay. So while those disastrous investigations proceed, the other even more dangerous ones around city doings are quietly gaining steam. GI and Crocodile Tears and Frankie and Johnny will all be so "shocked and disappointed." Bobbie will be bumbling with silly questions. Deer in Headlights will be the new look. They'll all be racing to see who can ditch the sinking ship first, racing to rescue their own sorry a$$es, GIC, and political standing.

Melrose is full of wimps who won't step up to speak, let alone run for office, even when there is grossly obvious wrongdoing. But some things are not dependent on the courage or ethics of the voting public. Arrogance is the real undoer, and Melrose is overflowing with arrogant a$$es.

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Hear No Evil, See No Evil and Speak No Evil
The BOA should have term limits. The lack of moral responsibility on the part of these elected officials (SC members, too) who refuse to acknowledge improprieties, look the other way and feign ignorance equals a "code of silence" which is the foundation of the operating culture of organized crime. Hopefully, the younger, newer members will show some leadership and actually challenge the status quo. JLB's decision not to seek another term was a loss. Holding out hope for SF, JL and MZ (but Zwirko needs to separate from GI).

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Glad if anyone feels hopeful, but ultimately it seems that the old "has to get worse before it gets better" is more comforting in an odd sort of way. None of those new ones (or even JLB, for that matter) inspire confidence, based on what we've seen so far and based on their alliances (in the case of JLB, JL, MZ their political alliances with Ed Foundation otherwise known as DolanLobbyPAC and/or RD directly (or via wife's employment by RD), SF with his perpetually RD-aligned dad). The only "hopeful" thing here is that it's already so bad, that the dissolution of The Machine becomes more inevitable with each passing week and each exhumed bad act.

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Yeah unicorns and rainbows are what this guy thinks he can promise us, while he also thinks we'll just suck it up and pay/reelect, pay/reelect, pay/reelect. Nope. No more. And no, rainbows and unicorns are what he can sell to his flamingo foundation, but not so much the rest of us. What a crass a$$hat to think we are all that naive and will just keep writing the checks for whatever new scheme he thinks he foist on us.

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High rates is one thing. Artificially high rates, incurred because of a deliberately nfair rate structure - someone tell me how that's any different from stealing.

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Furious
High rates is one thing. Artificially high rates, incurred because of a deliberately nfair rate structure - someone tell me how that's any different from stealing.


Remember the BOA voted for these rates. Current and retired Aldermen continue to steal our tax dollars for their health insurance. This "earned benefit" should be eliminated permanently. All supporters of the Override! Voting Day results should be interesting. People are tired of the political system and the lying thieves who care about themselves first.

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If the public and taxpayers saw how much manipulation of the city budget and Dolan personnel have been moved into the Water/Sewer Enterprise Fund, there would be a march on city hall. Every time we flush or take a shower, we are paying salaries and benefits that have nothing to do with water and sewer services. Unfortunately, the BOA are too cozy to reveal such.

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Went to pay my water bill last night and it's not pretty. I pulled out some old bills, and it's doubled from just 4 years ago. Bob Snow must be right. The money must be going to someone other than for water. Can't trust local government any more than Beacon Hill or Washington. All they know is how to take our money.

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Dolan moved employees like his Brigit (who seems to be strangely absent in her "news" postings lately....) to be paid partially out of water and sewer now (and others). His ruse goes something like, "with the new water meters, she has to spend a large part of her time contacting citizens...." or some other scam. It's inaccurate at best but more likely adulterated fraud like so many other aspects of this administration's "creative" bookkeeping.

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Scam
Went to pay my water bill last night and it's not pretty. I pulled out some old bills, and it's doubled from just 4 years ago. Bob Snow must be right. The money must be going to someone other than for water. Can't trust local government any more than Beacon Hill or Washington. All they know is how to take our money.[/quote

With your most recent bill (and the big increase) how much does the city indicate that your water consumption has increased? This is where I think a good portion of the fraud is. They falsely increases the consumption to put people into tier 2 where they pay double the amount for water.

This has to be looked into and corrected. It's impossible for people to pay $250-350 a month in water when last quarter people where paying half that amount. It makes no sense that some with new meters and some with old meters would all be seeing a huge increase in consumption. That's clearly falsifying of records and we need to figure out how to expose them and stop them from robbing the citizens of Melrose blind.

Do I smell another Boston Globe article coming?

Rob Dolan Does Many Good Things

It's interesting how all the naysayers on this site never mention how many good things Rob Dolan has done in his time as mayor. The streets are getting better, he has improved the schools including building a new middle school and being involved with many groups in the city. I don't see all of you sitting at your keyboards attending all the events in the city like Rob does throughout the year. Rob Dolan supports Melrose and I support him.

Re: Rob Dolan Does Many Good Things

Whatever you've been smoking, I want some of it. Improved the schools? Have you had your head in the sand, or perhaps stuffed in some other location? Let me explain it to you - Rob Dolan supports Rob Dolan. Your comments indicate clearly that you have been living on another planet for the last ten years. Unbelievable.

Re: Rob Dolan Does Many Good Things

The city is much better since Mayor Dolan took over. Before him, our children were attending a middle school falling apart. Under his stewardship, our children now attend a shinning new middle school and receive a strong education. Our streets are much improved and the value of our property has rocketed upward. He simply is one of the best mayors this city has had in my many decades in the city.

Re: Rob Dolan Does Many Good Things

Boy, with people like you around, it's no wonder things are the way they are. Shiny (sorry, but I don't know what shinny means, unless you are referring to the way we climbed trees when I was a kid, or the old stickball game of the same name) new middle school (that's already falling apart) do not a "strong education" make, unless by "strong education" you are referring to how our kids are being taught to facilitate multiple OCR sanctions - well, they should certainly be experts in that when they graduate.

Meanwhile, to get back to the topic at hand, which is the water/sewer debacle and the way we ae being robbed (Robbed - get it?) blind by a dishonest and deceptive accounting and billing system foisted on us by dishonest untruthful administration, and ratified by a BOA with out the will or the morals to stop it. Have you been asleep all this time?


There is no possible way you could actually believe the swill you are posting, so I have to conclude you are just another Dolan shill spewing the same disingenuous propaganda.

Re: Rob Dolan Does Many Good Things

Rob Dolan Supporter
The city is much better since Mayor Dolan took over. Before him, our children were attending a middle school falling apart. Under his stewardship, our children now attend a shinning new middle school and receive a strong education. Our streets are much improved and the value of our property has rocketed upward. He simply is one of the best mayors this city has had in my many decades in the city.


DEFLECTION. Want to know what that tells me and everybody else who reads this board? I'm 100% correct about the falsified consumption billing.

Re: Rob Dolan Does Many Good Things

All I am doing is pointing out the many things that Mayor Dolan has done to improve the city. If you own property, the value has rocketed under his tenure. You talk about spending money on the water, but you haven't agreed that your property is worth a lot more money since Mayor Dolan was first elected. No one can satisfy all constituents on every issue, but you need to be fair in your analysis of his work. Our students attend some incredible universities including Ivy League locations. Be honest and truly look at the city as a whole and you will have to agree that Mayor Dolan's tenure has been a prosperous one for Melrose.

Re: Rob Dolan Does Many Good Things

Hey, airhead, you forgot to change your screen name for this string back to the original one. Are you "Melrose Girls High School Basketball Team is Playing Great" or are you "Rob Dolan Supporter"? Or are you an athletic supporter?

Could it be perhaps that this is the latest tactic from $hitty Hall? Flood the discussion threads with unrelated crap?

Hopefully Ms. Wright will take notice and put your posts where they belong, and I have my own opinion as to where they belong, because we certainly have more pressing issues than the girls basketball team. A pile of crap with a m&m on top is still a pile of crap.

Re: Rob Dolan Does Many Good Things

What A Dimwit
Hey, airhead, you forgot to change your screen name for this string back to the original one. Are you "Melrose Girls High School Basketball Team is Playing Great" or are you "Rob Dolan Supporter"? Or are you an athletic supporter?

Could it be perhaps that this is the latest tactic from $hitty Hall? Flood the discussion threads with unrelated crap?

Hopefully Ms. Wright will take notice and put your posts where they belong, and I have my own opinion as to where they belong, because we certainly have more pressing issues than the girls basketball team. A pile of crap with a m&m on top is still a pile of crap.



And it sounds like you have a mouthful of that. Be positive and you will feel better about yourself. This entire string is about supporting the mayor and the girls' basketball program. All you have done is taken nasty shots at me for being positive instead of saluting a job well done by the mayor and the girls' team.

Re: Rob Dolan Does Many Good Things

What A Dimwit
Hey, airhead, you forgot to change your screen name for this string back to the original one. Are you "Melrose Girls High School Basketball Team is Playing Great" or are you "Rob Dolan Supporter"? Or are you an athletic supporter?

Could it be perhaps that this is the latest tactic from $hitty Hall? Flood the discussion threads with unrelated crap?

Hopefully Ms. Wright will take notice and put your posts where they belong, and I have my own opinion as to where they belong, because we certainly have more pressing issues than the girls basketball team. A pile of crap with a m&m on top is still a pile of crap.



You gave me a good afternoon laugh. Love the word "dimwit" as well, and used so well here.

Re: Rob Dolan Does Many Good Things

Melrose Girls High School Basketball Team is Playing Great
This entire string is about supporting the mayor and the girls' basketball program.


Unbelievable. The title of this "entire string" is Water Rates, and had nothing at all to do with supporting the Mayor or the basketball team, until you chimed in with your misplaced foolishness. Apparently in addition to being a dimwit you're also delusional.

Re: Rob Dolan Does Many Good Things

I agree that "dimwit" was fun to see, haven't seen/used it for ages! (Nitwit is a good one too)

Re: Water Rates

Water help needed
Scam
Went to pay my water bill last night and it's not pretty. I pulled out some old bills, and it's doubled from just 4 years ago. Bob Snow must be right. The money must be going to someone other than for water. Can't trust local government any more than Beacon Hill or Washington. All they know is how to take our money.[/quote

With your most recent bill (and the big increase) how much does the city indicate that your water consumption has increased? This is where I think a good portion of the fraud is. They falsely increases the consumption to put people into tier 2 where they pay double the amount for water.

This has to be looked into and corrected. It's impossible for people to pay $250-350 a month in water when last quarter people where paying half that amount. It makes no sense that some with new meters and some with old meters would all be seeing a huge increase in consumption. That's clearly falsifying of records and we need to figure out how to expose them and stop them from robbing the citizens of Melrose blind.

Do I smell another Boston Globe article coming?


Back to the original conversation on this string. What do we do about the water rates in Melrose? How do we prove that salaries are being funneled into the Water/Sewer Fund and then charged back to residents, as well as all the municipal use of water? Is the same thing happening with electricity now that Melrose is offering their own consortium for reduced rates? Thus far the new electricity rates don't seem to be the least bit reduced. What's up with that?

Re: Water Rates

All these comments, and nobody has called Robbie on the unfairness of offering seniors discounts:

http://www.demos.org/sites/default/files/imce/2013medianwealthage.png

Of course, given the innumeracy of the average citizen, it doesn't really matter.

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You're basing your "suggestion" on the supposed wealth of that entire age group? That's not fair either. While a lot within that age group are wealthy to very wealthy, a lot are also existing solely on SS. I would expect there would be income limits for applicants for those discounts.

In any case, that's not the issue. That's a "partial solution" offered by hizzoner. The primary issues are 1: the tiered system which is inherently unfair to those in apartments or condos, 2: the billing and accounting practices the city has used, like retroactive rates, and 3: inflow and infiltration, which is the highest in the MWRA system.

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Real Facts
All these comments, and nobody has called Robbie on the unfairness of offering seniors discounts:

http://www.demos.org/sites/default/files/imce/2013medianwealthage.png

Of course, given the innumeracy of the average citizen, it doesn't really matter.
s

You can use any stat, however you like, to prove some sort of inaccurate/ self-rightious point, but the fact remains that you are a deflector of the problem. You think this current system is reasonable, and that Robbie has been fair? What a nitwit.

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Haven't seen any change to water rates. Same as last bill. So much for all the noise

Re: Water Rates

Apparently, you don't live in a condo unit.

Re: Water Rates

same rates
Haven't seen any change to water rates. Same as last bill. So much for all the noise


Sure, no change. Even my 86 year old neighbor who was hospitalized for several weeks during the last cycle got a increase in her bill. Not possible for her water consumption to go up while she wasn't even at home to use any. Same with me. The water bills are all a huge bunch of BS and everybody knows it.

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Hey Same Rates, why don't you contact city hall so they can send someone to fix your meter.[8-)]

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H2O
Hey Same Rates, why don't you contact city hall so they can send someone to fix your meter.[8-)]


Agree. Same Rates should contact city hall so that their meter can be fixed to bill them the same overly inflated rates the rest of us in Melrose are being billed. Oh wait, maybe Same Rates is a MEF Mommy who helped push the override? I'm guessing they get the special unchanged billing from city hall.

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Can anyone say when they're going to lower water bills back to normal levels?

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Lower Bills
Can anyone say when they're going to lower water bills back to normal levels?


Unless the public rises up and demands this, there is nothing that says there will be any change, only further extorting of our tax dollars. Go to the alderman's meetings! Write! Call! Otherwise, you have no reason to expect any improvement whatsoever. Not even talking about the disaster known as the school system.

Re: Water Rates

An article and a letter about water rates in the free press.

Don Conn says the rates need to be defensible if challenged. The rate tiers don't pass the smell test. They make some residents pay far more to give an unfair benefit to others. I'm a senior citizen using 900 units in the lowest tier. I don't use much and I can pay for it at higher rates. If my rate should be $1 or $2 higher it's $9 or $18 for me. I can afford it. I don't want some charity subsidy by taking from large families, condos or apartments. I pay my fair share for everything else and will gladly pay my share for my water when they fix the rates.

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watching
Lower Bills
Can anyone say when they're going to lower water bills back to normal levels?


Unless the public rises up and demands this, there is nothing that says there will be any change, only further extorting of our tax dollars. Go to the alderman's meetings! Write! Call! Otherwise, you have no reason to expect any improvement whatsoever. Not even talking about the disaster known as the school system.


I dream of a time when politicians do right when the crowd doesn't demand it.

Re: Rob Dolan Does Many Good Things

Rob Dolan Supporter
The city is much better since Mayor Dolan took over. Before him, our children were attending a middle school falling apart. Under his stewardship, our children now attend a shinning new middle school and receive a strong education. Our streets are much improved and the value of our property has rocketed upward. He simply is one of the best mayors this city has had in my many decades in the city.


Oh my. He had a new middle school built. Do you believe that no one else could have done that in the last 15 years? Is that his greatest accomplishment. Because it may be a shiny new building but its still the same inside. The no bullying policy is a joke. There are many parents who will tell you that their bullying complaints have gone unheard. While others are being unfairly bullied by those in charge. The Principal from what I hear was fine in elementary school but is out of his element in the MS. The superintendent is a joke. Haven't heard a single positive word about her, but she got that raise. Our streets are improved and congested. New sidewalks and signage, stop lights everywhere gives it a nice city feel don't you think? Lets not forget those 600 quarterly water bills.

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Dreamer
watching
Lower Bills
Can anyone say when they're going to lower water bills back to normal levels?


Unless the public rises up and demands this, there is nothing that says there will be any change, only further extorting of our tax dollars. Go to the alderman's meetings! Write! Call! Otherwise, you have no reason to expect any improvement whatsoever. Not even talking about the disaster known as the school system.


I dream of a time when politicians do right when the crowd doesn't demand it.

The hallmark of integrity is a person who does the right thing when no one is looking and even when no one will find out.

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Do you really think we seniors don't see right through that cheap senior discount stunt? Give us a little more credit than that. A senior discount to me is a drop in the bucket. What's killing me is being in a condo with a single meter for the whole building, and having to pay tier three rates as a result. The Doughboy has been sticking it up my butt for three years and in the immortal words of R. Lee Ermey, hasn't even had the courtesy to give me a reach around. Some chicken$hit senior discount doesn't cut it.

My usage doesn't even come anywhere near tier two, let alone tier three. I want to pay my fair share, but I don't want to subsidize some family of five on Larchmont Road who pay tier one or two, because that's exactly what I've been doing.

Yet this boob still can't figure out why his stupid fake override failed. Well let me spell it out for you, Mr. Mayor - we're onto you, and we're all done with your bull$hit scams. Keep your hands out of my pockets, because one of these times when you pull it out you'll find you have lost all your fingers.

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You're alright Senior. You've got spunk. But I'm afraid the Mayor would react with the words of Lou Grant, "I hate spunk!"

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The family of five on Larchmont Rd. is getting screwed along with you and me, just not quite as much since they would be in tier 2. It's the small households completely in tier 1 who get highly subsidized water and sewer. Rich people get the subsidy. Under the new idea rich people over 65 will get subsidized twice - once by being in the first tier and once by the tax credit because they're 65. The young families are charged to cover those subsidies.

I understand Melrose Towers, Station Crossing and Town Estates are all in tier 3. List here the other properties being gouged by the third tier. Show how many residents the mayor is punishing for not living in single family homes.

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Water Tax
The family of five on Larchmont Rd. is getting screwed along with you and me, just not quite as much since they would be in tier 2. It's the small households completely in tier 1 who get highly subsidized water and sewer. Rich people get the subsidy. Under the new idea rich people over 65 will get subsidized twice - once by being in the first tier and once by the tax credit because they're 65. The young families are charged to cover those subsidies.

I understand Melrose Towers, Station Crossing and Town Estates are all in tier 3. List here the other properties being gouged by the third tier. Show how many residents the mayor is punishing for not living in single family homes.


Well - let's all stop complaining and show up at the next BOA meeting!

Re: Water Rates

When are they deciding what the new water rates are?

Re: Water Rates

Looks like only two of you bozo's went to the alderman meeting about water rates last night.

Re: Water Rates

All talk - No show
Looks like only two of you bozo's went to the alderman meeting about water rates last night.


Not hard to figure out where this comes from.

If you watched the meeting, it's clear that everything that needed to be said was said quite eloquently by Mr. Taymor of Larchmont Rd.

Re: Water Rates

"If you watched the meeting, it's clear that everything that needed to be said was said quite eloquently by Mr. Taymor of Larchmont Rd."

AND Mr. Mroz who understands how ALL the pieces fit together, not just the limited sphere of the rates.

Re: Water Rates

yup