nothing but paint

as i write this, i am involved in a project that has me painting a 190 foot long wall with about 15 panels of my cartoons, for a community volunteer group, the Belleville Area Council for the Arts; each panel is 7'x12' in size and is fully colored to be bright and seen. even if i am not getting a dime for this work, about $7500.00 worth of time and art, i get to paint what i want and as fast as i want, as i have no helpers to slow me down.

no it was my understanding, Sumpter Township, whose fairgrounds i am painting on, has been wanting this done for years, but no one came forward with their time to do so. so, when Kay Atkins, the new president of the BACA, asked me and another artist to do the job, i had no issues and jumped to the task. i drew the thumb nail pictures and got my supplies and started ASAP...a week later, i am more than 3/4 done with the first wall (190ft) and getting ready to start the second (90ft wall). as an artist, the chance to do what you love to do, at this scale, is a godsend of sorts. since it is done in enamel paint on a public walls, it will be around for a while; poof!, instant advertising for them and me.

now of course, because i have been getting some media coverage, other local "artists" have been coming sniffing around, trying to get their face in the spot light as well. funny, all these years, the walls sat unpainted, now, because i am getting well recieved for my work, others want to come take a piece of that pie as well. i even had, one artist come up and ask me to hand him a brush and for me to draw out the area i need painted and he'd get to it. i politely told him no; i showed him the areas i was doing and will be doing and suggested he and others, to contact the council president and find out the other spaces there that could be done and go from there.

i have always said, you either lead, create or follow....no one will and shall follow on my coat tails and expect full credit on the process as well. if you are an artist or create ideas, make use of them your self and by all means, rise or fail on your own, not my accord.

as in politics, i see this in our own city council; those who chose to have their photo taken in every project, their name in the face of others and yet, never take the real lead; they rise or try to rise on the backs of others. i ask you, are these leaders?

social taboo

i will go ahead and breach the wall with this modern take on the finger in the dike story; as the baby boomers are pretty much all near retirement years, me as well(born in 1961), the last sacred cow, the hidden agenda no one wants to face, is looming very large in the mirror, that of a huge bus about to run us over.
several local papers have gingerly attached articles remotely touching this hot issue, but since this is a highly unionized state, most are afraid to "push" this very issue, the one concerning retirement pensions, the legacy factor that is going to cripple most state and local governments, by the very nature of cause vs effect.
in a landmark bankruptcy case, the city of Vallejo, in the state of California, two years ago, filed for protection, from the very cause that forced them into the chapter 7 in the first place, the pension funds, that city employees had, was in the excess of $195 million dollars, behind in the funding. the magazine "Barrons" march 15, 2010 issue, columnist Liam Dillow, replied how underfunded pensions, faced by increasing retirements of state and city employees, was paying out almost 95% of the retiring worker's payroll, for the rest of his or her's life, forcing further cutbacks and laying off employees, to pay for these legacy expenses, hidden away in plain sight, for all these years. because of union contracts, many of these states and cities, allowed employees to trump up their final years salary, to take advantage of the loop holes, allowing them to retire at nearly the max rate of pay, vs a normal retirement package people in the private sector receive, if any. here in michigan, the city of Ann Arbor, is already facing this crisis; a newspaper article, showed the average city worker, with their platinum benefit package, averaged over $48k a year, a average rate of $26hr vs private sector at $18hr in pay, less the benefits, which in Ann Arbor, is rated at $31k just in benefits alone. Ann Arbor is facing shortages in funding for their retirement pool, which does not bode well for the rest of Michigan, which has less tax monies and funding avail.
the article in Barron's, was about bond issues, or more so, the once golden clad municiple bonds are starting to lose their luster and ratings are dropping. cities and states, once able to get funding for projects, based on their credit, are now finding their credit, like that of the private sector, is taking a drop, due to the underfunded pensions of at least 8 states and countless cities and counties across the country.
many towns and states, the countless government officials accepted such pension and benefit packages as part of government services; it was just part of the cost of running the government, which many had the power to reap those said benefits as well, so cutting those or accepting a lessor or more right sized package, was out of the question. even those who would not recieve any of those said benefits, aka, elected officials, out of fear or reprisal of the government workers vote, did not dare touch or bring up any bills or actions against said benefits. in the case of Vallejo, Ca, the pensions was the final nail in the coffin. like many other cities that was relying of manufacturing tax revenue, when the new depression hit, falling home values and drops in tax monies, killed the city's finances. but, because of the way the contract for the benefits and retirements was worded and signed, the debt that forced the hand to wipe the city slate clean from debt, still remained; it was untouchable and still had to be paid, and even now, 2 years later, still hung up in courts, trying to reword the contract and save the city from further ruin, the bill keeps coming up and being paid in full.
so much needs to be addressed; so much needs to be done. not only is the middle class effectively gone, creating and keeping a retired middle class, that will no longer be reachable for the younger generation, around is going to cost a whole lot more, and for many, too much to keep the government effectively operating at all.