An opportunity to demonstrate freedom, not force

[mvpel]

Hi everyone,
One of the ballot measures defeated in the April 12 election in Merrimack was the funding of the renovation and expansion of the Merrimack South Fire Station.

Designed and built nearly 50 years ago for part-time staffing, the South Fire Station is now home to three firefighters, full time.  It has very little living space, a tiny kitchen, and limited provisions for equipment and supplies.  There are no provisions for female firefighters, either in sleeping quarters or shower/restroom facilities.

The measure on yesterday's ballot to fund a municipal bond issue for an up-to-$825,000 project to expand and renovate this fire station, which required a 60% vote, failed with 4,311 "yes" to 3,378 "no" - falling short at 56.1%.

I think that this issue presents a golden opportunity for those of us who believe in voluntary, instead of coercive, mechanisms in government to step in and demonstrate just how effective these mechanisms can be.

The $825,000 total represents only $192 per "yes" vote, or a mere $16 a month for one year.  This strikes me as eminently do-able with a small investment of funds for web, subscription processing, and publicity expenses.

We'd then have a project that we could point to as an example for the rest of the state, and the nation, and we'd have the pride of knowing that we had a hand in building something important to the community that will last another 50 years or more, without using tax-based extortion and force to do it.  And, we'd be able to use the project as a pilot for building an intellectual, communications, and software infrastructure that could then be applied to other traditionally force-funded
projects.

We could put together the full spectrum of funding and fundraising options - one-time donations, credit card autopay and invoiced subscriptions, names engraved on bricks in the walkway or on plaques, and so on.  We could organize a 501(c)(3) so that contributors would have the same tax benefit of deductability as they'd have for their property taxes.  I'm sure there's many other things that I haven't thought of.

If you're interested in and excited about the possibilities for such a project, please e-mail me directly at mvpel@yahoo.com to be added to my contact list, or respond to this thread.  I'm just starting to sketch out some ideas, and could use a few more clever brains thinking about the various parameters.

Thanks!

    -Michael Pelletier.

[cathleeninnh]

Not that you could identify the "yes" voters, but that would be the primary target group, right? I think it would be a great campaign, and a visible one for future candidates or other liberty lovers to make a good impression. How about using the "buy a brick" concept? Not actual bricks but something lasting that shows who supported their community voluntarily.

Cathleen

[mvpel]

Here's the presentation for the fire station renovations:

http://fire.ci.merrimack.nh.us/Publications/Station_2_Renovation/Station2Renovation_files/frame.htm

I found these sites for companies which do engraving of bricks and tile for fundraisers:

http://www.brickmarkers.com/ - graphics available
http://www.donorbricks.com/
http://www.tspetmemorials.com/bricks.html - $40 each
http://www.bricksrus.com/index.asp - finished pavers for $19 each
http://www.engravestone.com/ - $12 each - 2 lines

I'll be putting some feelers out in the next few days.

[Lloyd Danforth]

This is an excellent idea, should have great visability, and, even if you don't raise the 825 large, a more modest addition could be considered.

[GT]

This is an excellent idea, should have great visability, and, even if you don't raise the 825 large, a more modest addition could be considered.

If it's a truly privatized project I doubt you'll need 825,000. If the voters are responsible for directly funding the project they will be more apt to get competitive bids and eliminate extravagant expenditures.

[JonM]

Indeed.  Some people may donate effort or materials instead of cash.  If you formulate a plan go before the service clubs.  Merrimack has a Lions club and a Rotary club.  The clubs themselves will probably be willing to donate some money, and their members businesses may as well.  A thermometer in the town square to gauge progress is always nice too.

[mvpel]

The problem is, much of the fundraising that goes on in New Hampshire political and social organizations is penny-ante stuff - bake sales, 50/50 and other kinds of raffles, etc, where you're lucky to net a few hundred dollars at the expense of dozens of volunteer hours.

I'm not sure if that represents a problem of method, or something more fundamental.

The thing is, I see is 2,600 Free Republic participants, myself included, (plus additional anonymous donors) manage to raise about $64,000 to $68,000 a quarter, every quarter, within a matter of weeks from one-time and monthly contributions, and it makes me wonder what might be possible in Merrimack if we sat down and did some serious pencil pushing and set a year timeline.

It's the kind of pencil pushing we'll need to do if we're ever going to get the taxman out of the loop in our society, so we might as well do it now, I figure.

[JonM]

If you aim low you hit low.  Aim high, you may hit low, but you may hit high.  A VP from a local community hospital spoke to my Kiwanis club yesterday.  They raised 3 million to expand the hospital, much of it in increments of $250,000 or more.  Now a fire station doesn't have as wide ranging an impact as a hospital serving upwards of a dozen towns, but there are likely people with deep pockets in Merrimack who could be persuaded to part with some of that money for a good cause.  The bricks are a great idea for smaller increments as well. Individual, $100 or $250, corporate, $1000 or more.  There's LOTS of examples of brick donations to use, as you probably already know.

[Dreepa]

MVPEL,

This is a great idea... this is exactly the sort of thing that I want to do when I get to NH.

If you need any help crunching numbers or anything on this let me know...
( Merrimack is on my short list of cities).

Chris

[LiveFreeOrDie]

If it's a truly privatized project I doubt you'll need 825,000. If the voters are responsible for directly funding the project they will be more apt to get competitive bids and eliminate extravagant expenditures.

I agree, and think this would also be a great way to demonstrate the inefficiency of government spending.  They (gummint) almost always take the lowest bid (and some states, like MA, take low bid matter what), regardless of craft and efficiency, but then end up paying 50% to 100% more because of underhanded, orchestrated overruns and snafu's.  Many contractors use this method; it's become just another way to do "business" with government.

[Lloyd Danforth]

My thoughts are that this is still a public building.  I don't know about NH, but, if this building were being worked on here in Hartford, the work would have to be performed by Union workers, and, a percentage of the contractors would have to be minority.

[mvpel]

I think I'm going to have a big enough project to worry about with the money, so I'm not concerning myself too much with the construction details.

[cathleeninnh]

Yes, money is the real issue. Regular people like us can be pretty generous, but that wont raise enough money. You need one of the shakers and movers of the community to get one on one with others in that crowd as well as business leaders. Thats where the real money can be raised.

Cathleen

[Dave Ridley]

Here's an idea...how about purchasing ad space on the city's fire buildings?   I've been looking for places to put NHfree.com signs ; maybe we could rent the sides of the building for that purpose.   I'd want the money to go to an independent fund rather than the city of course....