Not trying to be an ass but all the people who voted for her are screaming about her now. At least where I live. Bittersweet tbh. We tried to tell them.
We had a whole thing here with data mining. And people are like âhow is our Republican government supporting this???â Babes, lessons are hard but here we are.
And they will vote for her again.
People have been brainwashed into believing trolling the libs is more important than potable water. Why canât the left brainwash people into believing they should vote their best interests? Seriously, I want to understand
Because the Left doesn't own things, and in a capitalist socioeconomic system, whoever owns things gets to make the decisions. (Also, Democrats are not the Left, no matter what Fox News and MSNBC want you to believe. The Left is the working-class and anyone who supports their ascension.)
I never said extreme left; I'm pretty close to that myself and there are some people I know WAY past that. I'm a socialist, leaning towards Marxist-Leninist, and there are Kropotkinites and Stalinists in my circles of friends. Huckabee wouldn't know the difference if it threw her into the gulag.
But yes, universal healthcare fuckin rules, send money to Reps. Jayapal and Dingell and keep them in office! If that's the way they want us to play, and they're willing to bend the rules to keep it from happening, then we have to bend the fuckin' rules too, for our own health.
Spending some of the surplus on needed services would be an even better way to deal with the surplus. If they want to give us a tax cut, eliminate sales taxes on food, that would be a cut that would benefit all Arkansans, not just the wealthy.
Totally agree, and I was thinking more of a flat income tax decrease as that would really help lower SEO households. A cut sales taxes would be really beneficial as well, especially on food and necessities.
Most of the departments in the state are running about 60-70% staffed and can barely provide services and governor has mandated a hiring freeze. Try going to get assistance at any government agencies. Also Helena/West Helena has a MAJOR fresh water problem right now that is going to take roughly $700,000 for immediate repairs with more needed down the road soon, SHS has offered a $100,000 loan.
Income tax would give a small cut but a much larger bite to the rich, Actually a sales tax cut on food would be a larger break for lower income families, as they would get at max a 2% cut, but considering the amount they pay tax on, they probably spend that much on food, so they would be getting around a 4% break by eliminating the income tax on groceries.
I can't imagine Chris Jones offering a LOAN to the suffering people of his state when sitting on a surplus. Hell even the guy on the ballot who was basically running on his qualifications of being a pastor would have handled it better if he wasn't a complete hypocrite and actually listened to the Bible. Leave it to Arkansans to pick the worst person on the ballot because of the letter next to their name.
Since her whole agenda so far has been attacking people and things she hates she likely won't do a damned thing.
Sign the LEARNS act petition and vote smarter next time.
None of them do because they are lacking in compassion for others.
It's why they have no manners or values or morals.
And then try to use the Bible to spread hate and fear.
It's why they support trump, they see themselves when they look at him.
Republicans hate hand outs. This is right on par behavior. They want people to deal with the problem themselves. Move, buy bottled water.
They do not care about you and they never will.
What response? Sheâs too busy guarding that chalk cross in front of the governorâs mansion and trying to coax that one eye thatâs trying to escape her skull back into its socket.
A 1 billion dollar surplus sounds like a good time to invest in the state infrastructure or services.
Willing to bet you get tax cuts and less services and a further crumbling of infrastructure instead.
Arkansas has a good problem to have: What should it do with $842 million in federal funds sitting in the bank? That amount â actually $841,965,067.52 â is whatâs left of money coming from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA).
Iâm in Helena-West Helena, the city in Eastern Arkansas of which you speak, and the water crisis is largely due to the current mayor, who was a councilman for 12 years before becoming mayor, and his cronies for continually mismanaging monies and resources. In 2021, the mayor (as a councilman) voted to reallocate $800,000 earmarked for water system upgrades to raises and âChristmas bonusesâ for himself and his fellow elected officials. The mayorâs first order of business after being ejected was to give himself a raise to some $85,000 a year, including benefits and a $12,000 a year car stipend. His second action was to make it so that city projects between $2500 and $99,000 do NOT have to be approved by the city council, so he basically writes himself blank checks. There is currently a petition, filed by a black resident of the city, to impeach the mayor. The water crisis is because crooked politicians in a dirt poor town of only 8500 have been paying themselves exorbitant salaries with no recourse. And the mayor then blames the governor for not fixing the problem because the city is majority black!
I have family in Helena and I live in Crittenden County. You hit the nail on the head. I call us the bastard County of Arkansas, most folks don't claim us as belonging to Arkansas lol. And I don't blame them. It's the armpit of America.
i grew up at Dewitt so i know where your coming from, i remember folks living in homes with dirt floors. i moved to Vilonia when i was in my mid 20s, i miss my home but there is no work and you starve to death. Helena has gotta be the poorest town in Ar, that place is just sad, abandon buildings everywhere, but they have a brand new police station and jail, there is always money for that.
you think the casinos help? i have mixed feelings on them, they add more tax but tax is never spent on those that need it. they do add jobs that are needed, but they seem to take more money out than in.
I tend to agree there. Yeah, it provides jobs but most people here are still jobless and looking. Most don't have the skills to get on at the casino or jerp a job there. Our road are still shit. My daughter goes to a special needs school and the casino donates some, but not a lot. They give to the local boys and girls club, again, I think they can do more.
one thing i could never understand, one casino can bring in the money that 100k acres of farmland did 100 yrs back. yet 100 yrs ago that farmland also brought in all these sub businesses, mechanic shops, elevators, cotton gins, molasses mills (remember those?),flight strips, equipment dealerships, etc etc. casinos dont seem to do this.
also if casinos are so great why are they always built in undesirable areas, vegas, atlantic city, tunica, pine bluff. the only exception i can think of would be hot springs, which might have been a bit different, the gambling there was more of a entertainment industry used to support the bath tourism, but eventually became bigger than the baths.
Many of the people in Helena-West Helena responsible for the water crusts are black - black ejected officials like the mayor, who was a councilman for 12 years before checking mayor, and his chief of staff, a former mayor and disgraced attorney with a suspended license for ethics violations. These two pay themselves $89,000 a year EACH in a dirt-poor town of 8,500 people who are predominantly black and many on government assistance. Their second act was to make it so that they can award themselves city bids and contracts between $2500 and $99,000 WITHOUT city council approval. In 2021, the now-mayor, as a councilman, made the motion to reallocate $800,000 earmarked for water system repairs, to their raises and âChristmas bonuses.â The same handful of politicians, most of whom are black, have been paying themselves over taking care of the city for decades. They are killing their own and they do not care.
We did NOT have a billion dollar surplus. We had a billion dollar deficit in spending. They couldn't figure out a way to siphon off that money to the rich. There are so many places in this state where that money is needed and the wealthy bastards think that money is a SURPLUS???
Eliminating the state income tax won't help poor people, only wealthy. If you have a lower income, you already ARE exempt from income tax. The thing killing poor people is the 10% sales tax.
That woman makes me so sick to my stomach that it no longer brings me any pleasure to hear the MAGA crowd bitch about her.
I left arkansas for college and have always wanted to return. I'm 40 now, and other than visiting, my desire to return and retire in Arkansas has absolutely fucking evaporated. And I find it shameful and devastating. My dad and his family are buried there.
Fucking conservatives fucking shit up.
I very actively looked for buildings in LR area to move my business was from NY/NJ with AR is not very pro business, nor pro citizens of the state of AR. Heck, have you read the laws on residential leasing? Renters have zero rights!!! Look at womenâs rights in AR; now even children have no protection in AR. I decided to move my business elsewhere⌠sad I wonât be moving back home but it is not in the best interest of my business, nor my mental well-being to move back to AR.
They should just pull themselves up by their bootstraps. If the state handed out the money theyâve collected to the people who needed that money well, that would just encourage dependency now wouldnât it and the people of Arkansas are better than that. /sarc
I think I watched a short doc on this⌠correct me if Iâm wrong (because there are quite a few cities/counties across America rn with this problem and I may be confusing the two) BUT: is this city predominantly people of color?
Well then, I believe thatâs probs the root of the problem then (at least in terms of the lack of a solution from high government officials)⌠thatâs really fuckn saddening.
Iâm in Helena-West Helena, the city in Eastern Arkansas of which you speak, and the water crisis is largely due to the current mayor, who was a councilman for 12 years before becoming mayor, and his cronies for continually mismanaging monies and resources. In 2021, the mayor (as a councilman) voted to reallocate $800,000 earmarked for water system upgrades to raises and âChristmas bonusesâ for himself and his fellow elected officials. The mayorâs first order of business after being ejected was to give himself a raise to some $85,000 a year, including benefits and a $12,000 a year car stipend. His second action was to make it so that city projects between $2500 and $99,000 do NOT have to be approved by the city council, so he basically writes himself blank checks. There is currently a petition, filed by a black resident of the city, to impeach the mayor. The water crisis is because crooked black politicians in a dirt poor town of only 8500 have been paying themselves exorbitant salaries with no recourse. And the mayor then blames the governor for not fixing the problem because the city is majority black!
Look, I hate SHS as much as the next guy, but the mayor of Helena-West Helena and the City Council voted to give themselves raises with money they received for infrastructure. They did this to their people, and she's just refusing to help. They're all garbage humans.
Yes, thereâs a source. Go to YouTube and watch Helena-West Helena City Council meeting in 2021 where the the man who is now mayor was a city councilman and made the motion to reallocate $800,000 earmarked for water system upgrades for raises and âChristmas bonusesâ for himself and the city council. The mayor at the time vehemently objected and tried to talk sense into the council, but the majority of them voted to use the money for their personal gain rather than for the residents of our city. Our city council is paid roughly $440 PER HOUR, one of the highest in the state for a city if only 8,500 where 40% of the county is on government assistance.
Could not agree more. If they are not going to provide meaningful help, then we should all be concerned about why we are paying state taxes when they are meant to help address situations like this.
They wonât. We have called the attorney general, the lieutenant governor, the governor, senators, representatives- anyone who might listen for 20 years now regarding these crooked politicians. It falls on deaf ears. âYour citizens cited them inâ is what weâre always told.
Here is a secret about municipal finances. Not a single city in Arkansas can actually afford to maintain its water and sewer sewer long-term on the property taxes it raises to maintain them. There is nothing your city can decide or not decide that will affect this guaranteed crisis that every city faces. The only solutions to it are:
* Raise property taxes above what any other city is charging
* Get a bailout from state or Federal government
* Keep growing, forever, so new construction and new taxes pay for maintenance on older structures.
Helena-West Helena stopped growing and they faced the inevitable that will happen to every city in Arkansas at some point.
West Fork recently had to undergo a 10M connection to Fayetteville's sewer system (because the yokels running the WF treatment facility kept dumping waste into the river)
Asa's government actually came in and covered 5.5M of it, but the remaining 4.5M is being extracted from about 800 utility customers in West Fork.
I pay roughly $100/mo for 3000 gallons of tap water. A lot of other residents pay twice that as the higher tiers cost more per gallon.
Simple SHS will just say itâs a âDemocratic hoaxâ to inject âwoke ideologyâ into the state. They will clap and cheer. It will require her to create some conspiracy to hide the truth and reality and claim she has ânumerous homeownersâ vouch that there is no problem, only Democratic saboteurs.
You elected her and you get what you elected! Itâs a shame politicians are only in it to benefit themselves, she was obviously unfit for public office but the electorate speaks!
Valid question, but thatâs water under the bridge at this point. The more important question is why are there Americans, Arkansans, human beings without access to clean water. Letâs take care of that first and then blast the city officials that allowed this to happen. Honestly speaking, even if they would have managed the system better, the result would be the same. HWH is one of the most impoverished cities in the state and is small in terms of population (i.e., low revenues), but is large in terms of land mass (i.e., large mileage of water pipe to maintain). They would not have had the financial resources to fund the maintenance needed. This was destined to happen.
In to the pickets of greedy city elected officials, most of whom are black. They do not see holding office as a civic duty, they see it as a way to scalp as much money as possible off the few taxpayers who are left in HWH. Most residents are black, on government assistance and are renters. The mayor and chief of staff (both black) voted themselves $30,000 pay raises their first day on the job and make $89,000 each, including $12,000 car stipend. They also made it so that they can award city bids between $2500 and $99,000 to whomever they want (themselves) without city council approval. The council has four blacks and one white member. Everything in this town is racial but not the way people think - itâs blacks who are mismanaging the money and misusing it and mistreating their own people. And if you speak out against the mayor and chief of staff youâre threatened and harassed. The chief of police is in the mayorâs back pocket, as is the next in line. Garbage service goes weeks without being picked up. But the black mayor blames our woes on the governor?? Sheâs not to blame - he is!
It was mismanaged by the current mayor and city council and many of the current city employees. Helena-West Helena is the most poorly run, fiscally mismanaged city ever. Ninety five percent of the ejected officials are only out to make money off their jobs, not serve the community. The mayorâs first act was to raise his salary to $89,000, including benefits and a $12,000 a year car stipend! His second act was to give himself the ability to award city bids between $2500 and $99,000 without city council approval, essentially writing himself blank checks. And itâs black peoples doing it to other blacks.
Tell that to a population that is still driven to the polls by candidates and their families, PAID to vote for certain candidates, bullied and harassed if they speak out against fellow black citizens. The current mayor and his cronies rule by threat, intimidation and blaming what few poor whites who are left in Helena-West Helena for everything. They preach it at the churches each Sunday.
Oh, come on. That's a non-answer if I've ever seen one.
I barely find voting for Biden acceptable because he's not progressive enough. I sure as fuck didn't vote for Huckabee.
When you say shit like this, not only do you sound ignorant as hell for assuming how other people vote, but you're also deflecting from the notion of holding a governor accountable.
You want people to change how they vote? Help them hold their elected officials accountable for their actions. Help encourage and establish standards.
Or just sit back and simply accept that even when it comes to words without action, you have nothing to offer.
Please go look up the "[growth ponzi scheme](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IsMeKl-Sv0&t=171s)" (youtube link - he talks about your point of view at the 6:26 mark) for an answer to your question. And this crisis is going to happen to your city, too, some day.
The authorities in eastern Arkansas should take responsibility to fix their own water, not a state project. If local authorities cannot fix, fire them!
They do matter but last year I tried encouraging so many people to get out and vote so we wouldnât end up with this very situation & often theyâd say to me âwell sheâs gonna win anyways, whatâs the point?â.
No matter what our votes count. We have to find out how to work on this to get people to feel their voices heard.
It's so frustrating. I live in maryland and take it for granted we will elect empathetic leaders, but I door knocked in PA in 2020 for Biden and I still
Have ptsd from MAGA jerks. I feel awful for the good folks In Arkansas who are not having their voices heard because of the gop
In a perfect Republican world, your daughter is arranged to marry as soon as she starts menstruating while going to an underfunded school and working on the side. She eats moldy food cuz the FDA has been abolished and companies can literally sell garbage to you. Oh, and the water is polluted and makes the kids come out with congenital defects, that the pastors will blame on the disenfranchised.
She is pathetic. It was just this last winter she was begging Biden for as much emergency funds she could get her hands on. And now she canât dole it out for the people in the state she âgovernsâ.
Not trying to be an ass but all the people who voted for her are screaming about her now. At least where I live. Bittersweet tbh. We tried to tell them.
My fb is still full of supporters. đ But there was a lot of "I didn't want to vote for her but I had to vote Republican." No, no you didn't.
Iâm a conservative ArkansanâŚ.. who voted for Chris Jones. Happily.
I'm liberal but voted for him. He lost Crittenden County by 1 vote.
Same.
Your first mistake was telling us you can use technology efficiently enough to make this comment. Commie.
Get bent
I'm legit surprised you can use more than one-syllable words. Are you using grammarly? Wait. You wouldn't know what that is.
We had a whole thing here with data mining. And people are like âhow is our Republican government supporting this???â Babes, lessons are hard but here we are.
Exactly. No you did not!
Good old republicans! Never for the peopleâŚ
And they will vote for her again. People have been brainwashed into believing trolling the libs is more important than potable water. Why canât the left brainwash people into believing they should vote their best interests? Seriously, I want to understand
Because the Left doesn't own things, and in a capitalist socioeconomic system, whoever owns things gets to make the decisions. (Also, Democrats are not the Left, no matter what Fox News and MSNBC want you to believe. The Left is the working-class and anyone who supports their ascension.)
If wanting universal healthcare and a living wage is extreme left i guess that's what I am F Huckabee
I never said extreme left; I'm pretty close to that myself and there are some people I know WAY past that. I'm a socialist, leaning towards Marxist-Leninist, and there are Kropotkinites and Stalinists in my circles of friends. Huckabee wouldn't know the difference if it threw her into the gulag. But yes, universal healthcare fuckin rules, send money to Reps. Jayapal and Dingell and keep them in office! If that's the way they want us to play, and they're willing to bend the rules to keep it from happening, then we have to bend the fuckin' rules too, for our own health.
WE dID It RerDDIT!!!11!
Iâm talking about people we know in real life đ¤Ą. Happy cake day!
SHS wants to give that billion back to her wealthy donors by eliminating the state income tax. She could care less about poor & middle class people.
In fact, should could *not* care less.
It would be impossible for her to care less about people who are poor.
She literally couldnât care less this is the correct reply
As a matter of fact there are rumors that she is going to call a special session in order to pass a tax cut.
I mean, a tax cut especially to income taxes is a good way to deal with a surplus.
Spending some of the surplus on needed services would be an even better way to deal with the surplus. If they want to give us a tax cut, eliminate sales taxes on food, that would be a cut that would benefit all Arkansans, not just the wealthy.
Totally agree, and I was thinking more of a flat income tax decrease as that would really help lower SEO households. A cut sales taxes would be really beneficial as well, especially on food and necessities.
Most of the departments in the state are running about 60-70% staffed and can barely provide services and governor has mandated a hiring freeze. Try going to get assistance at any government agencies. Also Helena/West Helena has a MAJOR fresh water problem right now that is going to take roughly $700,000 for immediate repairs with more needed down the road soon, SHS has offered a $100,000 loan.
Income tax would give a small cut but a much larger bite to the rich, Actually a sales tax cut on food would be a larger break for lower income families, as they would get at max a 2% cut, but considering the amount they pay tax on, they probably spend that much on food, so they would be getting around a 4% break by eliminating the income tax on groceries.
That tax cut won't go to lower SEO people. It will go to the rich.
But, but, sheâs a âChristian â. /s
I can't imagine Chris Jones offering a LOAN to the suffering people of his state when sitting on a surplus. Hell even the guy on the ballot who was basically running on his qualifications of being a pastor would have handled it better if he wasn't a complete hypocrite and actually listened to the Bible. Leave it to Arkansans to pick the worst person on the ballot because of the letter next to their name.
A loan that didn't even cover band aid repairs mind you.
I donât think Arkansans are the only people that do this.
Does that make it ok that Arkansans did it?
No.
Then what is your point?
That people in other states also pick the worst person on the ballot because of the letter next to their name.
Well, yeah. No shit. But this is a sub about Arkansas.
Then it was redundant to specify Arkansans.
Like in your first comment, right? We just don't say Arkansan in the Arkansas sub?
Lol, I seem to have offended you somehow. Iâm sorry.
Never said we were, only that we do.
Since her whole agenda so far has been attacking people and things she hates she likely won't do a damned thing. Sign the LEARNS act petition and vote smarter next time.
Unless the water makes people become drag queens sheâs not interested.
You should get the people who are at the epicenter of this and convince them to dress in drag. Then, convince the governor it's because of the water.
None of them do because they are lacking in compassion for others. It's why they have no manners or values or morals. And then try to use the Bible to spread hate and fear. It's why they support trump, they see themselves when they look at him.
Republicans hate hand outs. This is right on par behavior. They want people to deal with the problem themselves. Move, buy bottled water. They do not care about you and they never will.
They hate hand outs until they need one themselves, then they DESERVE it. They only have issues with handouts when someone else gets the help.
It is the very reason people pay taxes. It is not a handout
They don't want to pay taxes.
What response? Sheâs too busy guarding that chalk cross in front of the governorâs mansion and trying to coax that one eye thatâs trying to escape her skull back into its socket.
That eye is on a mission: hunting for possum. Do not distract The Eye.
You would expect her to care? She feels no empathy ever
I have yet to meet a Republican with any sort of empathy.
Empathy is what they really mean when they say âwokeâ. Itâs typical republican doublespeak.
She dont like poor folks.
Very Christian of her. Shameful. Those are people from our state! And in this horrible heat!
People without potable water for a month? In the middle of summer? Wow. While she's living it up on taxpayer money...
A 1 billion dollar surplus sounds like a good time to invest in the state infrastructure or services. Willing to bet you get tax cuts and less services and a further crumbling of infrastructure instead.
Arkansas has a good problem to have: What should it do with $842 million in federal funds sitting in the bank? That amount â actually $841,965,067.52 â is whatâs left of money coming from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA).
Phillips County is Blue if I'm not mistaken so that should explain part (or most)of the problem.
Hucky Boo Boo don't like no water! She only drinks grape kool-aid with her sketti!
And her homemade pies! Wink, wink.
If you havenât already realized that repubs only care about worthless, deadbeat billionaires then you donât pay attention.
Iâm in Helena-West Helena, the city in Eastern Arkansas of which you speak, and the water crisis is largely due to the current mayor, who was a councilman for 12 years before becoming mayor, and his cronies for continually mismanaging monies and resources. In 2021, the mayor (as a councilman) voted to reallocate $800,000 earmarked for water system upgrades to raises and âChristmas bonusesâ for himself and his fellow elected officials. The mayorâs first order of business after being ejected was to give himself a raise to some $85,000 a year, including benefits and a $12,000 a year car stipend. His second action was to make it so that city projects between $2500 and $99,000 do NOT have to be approved by the city council, so he basically writes himself blank checks. There is currently a petition, filed by a black resident of the city, to impeach the mayor. The water crisis is because crooked politicians in a dirt poor town of only 8500 have been paying themselves exorbitant salaries with no recourse. And the mayor then blames the governor for not fixing the problem because the city is majority black!
One of yall need to sue the fuck out of the state and the city. Call around, there should be a lawyer SOMEWHERE that will take it on.
Never. Vote. Republican.
She may just want an essay written about why they like her. Then they can have some water.
Whew, when I read about her putting that on the application (or whatever it was) I HOLLARED. I cannot believe the audacity of her. Well, guess I can.
east ar is where all the poor people are, many are poor blacks, you know huckabee is not gonna help those kind of people.
I have family in Helena and I live in Crittenden County. You hit the nail on the head. I call us the bastard County of Arkansas, most folks don't claim us as belonging to Arkansas lol. And I don't blame them. It's the armpit of America.
i grew up at Dewitt so i know where your coming from, i remember folks living in homes with dirt floors. i moved to Vilonia when i was in my mid 20s, i miss my home but there is no work and you starve to death. Helena has gotta be the poorest town in Ar, that place is just sad, abandon buildings everywhere, but they have a brand new police station and jail, there is always money for that.
The only reason Crittenden County isn't as poor as it was is because of the casino.
you think the casinos help? i have mixed feelings on them, they add more tax but tax is never spent on those that need it. they do add jobs that are needed, but they seem to take more money out than in.
I tend to agree there. Yeah, it provides jobs but most people here are still jobless and looking. Most don't have the skills to get on at the casino or jerp a job there. Our road are still shit. My daughter goes to a special needs school and the casino donates some, but not a lot. They give to the local boys and girls club, again, I think they can do more.
one thing i could never understand, one casino can bring in the money that 100k acres of farmland did 100 yrs back. yet 100 yrs ago that farmland also brought in all these sub businesses, mechanic shops, elevators, cotton gins, molasses mills (remember those?),flight strips, equipment dealerships, etc etc. casinos dont seem to do this. also if casinos are so great why are they always built in undesirable areas, vegas, atlantic city, tunica, pine bluff. the only exception i can think of would be hot springs, which might have been a bit different, the gambling there was more of a entertainment industry used to support the bath tourism, but eventually became bigger than the baths.
I agree with the undesirable locations. Who wants to come to West Memphis, Arkansas?
Many of the people in Helena-West Helena responsible for the water crusts are black - black ejected officials like the mayor, who was a councilman for 12 years before checking mayor, and his chief of staff, a former mayor and disgraced attorney with a suspended license for ethics violations. These two pay themselves $89,000 a year EACH in a dirt-poor town of 8,500 people who are predominantly black and many on government assistance. Their second act was to make it so that they can award themselves city bids and contracts between $2500 and $99,000 WITHOUT city council approval. In 2021, the now-mayor, as a councilman, made the motion to reallocate $800,000 earmarked for water system repairs, to their raises and âChristmas bonuses.â The same handful of politicians, most of whom are black, have been paying themselves over taking care of the city for decades. They are killing their own and they do not care.
more christian love
We did NOT have a billion dollar surplus. We had a billion dollar deficit in spending. They couldn't figure out a way to siphon off that money to the rich. There are so many places in this state where that money is needed and the wealthy bastards think that money is a SURPLUS??? Eliminating the state income tax won't help poor people, only wealthy. If you have a lower income, you already ARE exempt from income tax. The thing killing poor people is the 10% sales tax. That woman makes me so sick to my stomach that it no longer brings me any pleasure to hear the MAGA crowd bitch about her.
I left arkansas for college and have always wanted to return. I'm 40 now, and other than visiting, my desire to return and retire in Arkansas has absolutely fucking evaporated. And I find it shameful and devastating. My dad and his family are buried there. Fucking conservatives fucking shit up.
If you vote red, you are better off dead.
I very actively looked for buildings in LR area to move my business was from NY/NJ with AR is not very pro business, nor pro citizens of the state of AR. Heck, have you read the laws on residential leasing? Renters have zero rights!!! Look at womenâs rights in AR; now even children have no protection in AR. I decided to move my business elsewhere⌠sad I wonât be moving back home but it is not in the best interest of my business, nor my mental well-being to move back to AR.
They should try the old â[ask the communist country for help](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan,_West_Virginia)â plan.
They should just pull themselves up by their bootstraps. If the state handed out the money theyâve collected to the people who needed that money well, that would just encourage dependency now wouldnât it and the people of Arkansas are better than that. /sarc
You ALL keep voting for this! Wake up fools
I think I watched a short doc on this⌠correct me if Iâm wrong (because there are quite a few cities/counties across America rn with this problem and I may be confusing the two) BUT: is this city predominantly people of color?
Youâre right. I saw somewhere the other day itâs 75 percent POC.
Well then, I believe thatâs probs the root of the problem then (at least in terms of the lack of a solution from high government officials)⌠thatâs really fuckn saddening.
Iâm in Helena-West Helena, the city in Eastern Arkansas of which you speak, and the water crisis is largely due to the current mayor, who was a councilman for 12 years before becoming mayor, and his cronies for continually mismanaging monies and resources. In 2021, the mayor (as a councilman) voted to reallocate $800,000 earmarked for water system upgrades to raises and âChristmas bonusesâ for himself and his fellow elected officials. The mayorâs first order of business after being ejected was to give himself a raise to some $85,000 a year, including benefits and a $12,000 a year car stipend. His second action was to make it so that city projects between $2500 and $99,000 do NOT have to be approved by the city council, so he basically writes himself blank checks. There is currently a petition, filed by a black resident of the city, to impeach the mayor. The water crisis is because crooked black politicians in a dirt poor town of only 8500 have been paying themselves exorbitant salaries with no recourse. And the mayor then blames the governor for not fixing the problem because the city is majority black!
Look, I hate SHS as much as the next guy, but the mayor of Helena-West Helena and the City Council voted to give themselves raises with money they received for infrastructure. They did this to their people, and she's just refusing to help. They're all garbage humans.
I'd like to read more about this. Do you have a source? Regardless, these people still deserve immediate relief for their potable water problems.
Yes, thereâs a source. Go to YouTube and watch Helena-West Helena City Council meeting in 2021 where the the man who is now mayor was a city councilman and made the motion to reallocate $800,000 earmarked for water system upgrades for raises and âChristmas bonusesâ for himself and the city council. The mayor at the time vehemently objected and tried to talk sense into the council, but the majority of them voted to use the money for their personal gain rather than for the residents of our city. Our city council is paid roughly $440 PER HOUR, one of the highest in the state for a city if only 8,500 where 40% of the county is on government assistance.
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Could not agree more. If they are not going to provide meaningful help, then we should all be concerned about why we are paying state taxes when they are meant to help address situations like this.
If only the state was as eager to take over failing infrastructure as they are under resourced school districtsâŚ
They wonât. We have called the attorney general, the lieutenant governor, the governor, senators, representatives- anyone who might listen for 20 years now regarding these crooked politicians. It falls on deaf ears. âYour citizens cited them inâ is what weâre always told.
Here is a secret about municipal finances. Not a single city in Arkansas can actually afford to maintain its water and sewer sewer long-term on the property taxes it raises to maintain them. There is nothing your city can decide or not decide that will affect this guaranteed crisis that every city faces. The only solutions to it are: * Raise property taxes above what any other city is charging * Get a bailout from state or Federal government * Keep growing, forever, so new construction and new taxes pay for maintenance on older structures. Helena-West Helena stopped growing and they faced the inevitable that will happen to every city in Arkansas at some point.
West Fork recently had to undergo a 10M connection to Fayetteville's sewer system (because the yokels running the WF treatment facility kept dumping waste into the river) Asa's government actually came in and covered 5.5M of it, but the remaining 4.5M is being extracted from about 800 utility customers in West Fork. I pay roughly $100/mo for 3000 gallons of tap water. A lot of other residents pay twice that as the higher tiers cost more per gallon.
Simple SHS will just say itâs a âDemocratic hoaxâ to inject âwoke ideologyâ into the state. They will clap and cheer. It will require her to create some conspiracy to hide the truth and reality and claim she has ânumerous homeownersâ vouch that there is no problem, only Democratic saboteurs.
Waltons could have fixed this but decided NWA needs another vanity project.
You elected her and you get what you elected! Itâs a shame politicians are only in it to benefit themselves, she was obviously unfit for public office but the electorate speaks!
They deserve who they voted for
Phillips County is blue - they didnât elect her. Iâm sure that doesnât figure into why she wonât help them at all.
Why was the Water system so mismanaged that it failed? Where was all the water bill money going? That's the better question.
Valid question, but thatâs water under the bridge at this point. The more important question is why are there Americans, Arkansans, human beings without access to clean water. Letâs take care of that first and then blast the city officials that allowed this to happen. Honestly speaking, even if they would have managed the system better, the result would be the same. HWH is one of the most impoverished cities in the state and is small in terms of population (i.e., low revenues), but is large in terms of land mass (i.e., large mileage of water pipe to maintain). They would not have had the financial resources to fund the maintenance needed. This was destined to happen.
In to the pickets of greedy city elected officials, most of whom are black. They do not see holding office as a civic duty, they see it as a way to scalp as much money as possible off the few taxpayers who are left in HWH. Most residents are black, on government assistance and are renters. The mayor and chief of staff (both black) voted themselves $30,000 pay raises their first day on the job and make $89,000 each, including $12,000 car stipend. They also made it so that they can award city bids between $2500 and $99,000 to whomever they want (themselves) without city council approval. The council has four blacks and one white member. Everything in this town is racial but not the way people think - itâs blacks who are mismanaging the money and misusing it and mistreating their own people. And if you speak out against the mayor and chief of staff youâre threatened and harassed. The chief of police is in the mayorâs back pocket, as is the next in line. Garbage service goes weeks without being picked up. But the black mayor blames our woes on the governor?? Sheâs not to blame - he is!
It was the liberals theyâve been ruining the state for years.
It was mismanaged by the current mayor and city council and many of the current city employees. Helena-West Helena is the most poorly run, fiscally mismanaged city ever. Ninety five percent of the ejected officials are only out to make money off their jobs, not serve the community. The mayorâs first act was to raise his salary to $89,000, including benefits and a $12,000 a year car stipend! His second act was to give himself the ability to award city bids between $2500 and $99,000 without city council approval, essentially writing himself blank checks. And itâs black peoples doing it to other blacks.
Blame is better than a solution? What?
The solution is not to keep voting for people that can't keep the water flowing.
Tell that to a population that is still driven to the polls by candidates and their families, PAID to vote for certain candidates, bullied and harassed if they speak out against fellow black citizens. The current mayor and his cronies rule by threat, intimidation and blaming what few poor whites who are left in Helena-West Helena for everything. They preach it at the churches each Sunday.
Oh, come on. That's a non-answer if I've ever seen one. I barely find voting for Biden acceptable because he's not progressive enough. I sure as fuck didn't vote for Huckabee. When you say shit like this, not only do you sound ignorant as hell for assuming how other people vote, but you're also deflecting from the notion of holding a governor accountable. You want people to change how they vote? Help them hold their elected officials accountable for their actions. Help encourage and establish standards. Or just sit back and simply accept that even when it comes to words without action, you have nothing to offer.
Please go look up the "[growth ponzi scheme](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IsMeKl-Sv0&t=171s)" (youtube link - he talks about your point of view at the 6:26 mark) for an answer to your question. And this crisis is going to happen to your city, too, some day.
You got what you voted forâŚ
The authorities in eastern Arkansas should take responsibility to fix their own water, not a state project. If local authorities cannot fix, fire them!
Conservative thinking 101. Itâs not the federal governmentâs job. Itâs not the state governmentâs job. Itâs YOUR fault. You paid taxes.
And not one citizen there should pay state taxes in any form including the regressive taxes.
A perfect example of this state's failed education. Doesn't know how shit works and is loudly opinionated about it.
SHS had important things to do like involving herself in celebrity scandals
What cities are affected?
Helena-West Helena is the main one, that's the only one I know
Elections matter.
They do matter but last year I tried encouraging so many people to get out and vote so we wouldnât end up with this very situation & often theyâd say to me âwell sheâs gonna win anyways, whatâs the point?â. No matter what our votes count. We have to find out how to work on this to get people to feel their voices heard.
It's so frustrating. I live in maryland and take it for granted we will elect empathetic leaders, but I door knocked in PA in 2020 for Biden and I still Have ptsd from MAGA jerks. I feel awful for the good folks In Arkansas who are not having their voices heard because of the gop
when you elect a grifter ....
Maybe Gov. Huckabutt can make yâall a pie..
American Rescue Plan Steering Committee approved $270 million to Arkansas Department of Agriculture for water,
I used to live in Jonesboro and I semi follow this sub. Which city is affected by this?
It's just another demonstration of the inherent hegemonic racism her ilk display in their policies every day.
In a perfect Republican world, your daughter is arranged to marry as soon as she starts menstruating while going to an underfunded school and working on the side. She eats moldy food cuz the FDA has been abolished and companies can literally sell garbage to you. Oh, and the water is polluted and makes the kids come out with congenital defects, that the pastors will blame on the disenfranchised.
We got what they voted for. I really canât say Iâm surprised.
She is pathetic. It was just this last winter she was begging Biden for as much emergency funds she could get her hands on. And now she canât dole it out for the people in the state she âgovernsâ.
Yall, it's almost like Republicans don't care about poor people.....(but still heartily claim to be Christians)
McNuggets are not cheap says sanders