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Seven Resolutions (+Plus One)
Seven Resolutions (+Plus One)
Seven Proposed Resolutions
1. A Call to Local Bankers to Develop the
Gloucester Interdependence Fund
The City Council of Gloucester, MA,
Noting that the City is endowed with a wealth of financial resources,
Noting that the City is comprehensively and competently served by a rich financial infrastructure,
Relying on the natural desire of Gloucester residents to be financially independent,
Realizing that competition between local financial institutions is conducted within the constraints of respect for the specialized niches developed
by each one of them over time,
Calls upon all financial institutions within the City of Gloucester to explore
possibilities of collaboration that might yield significant social and economic benefits,
Directs the Mayor of the City of Gloucester to assist local financial
institutions to facilitate the creation of the
Gloucester Interdependence Fund (GIF).
For a detailed analysis of the proposed operations of this fund, please see:
http://www.polis-tics.com/id23.htm” http://www.polis-tics.com/id23.htm.
For an initial reaction from Gloucester bankers, please see attachment at
2. A Call to City Departments, to Civic and
Religious Groups to Voluntarily Create as
Many Mutual Assurance Funds as Possible
The City Council of Gloucester, MA,
Recognizing that one of the ironies of life is contained in the statement that
“People who do not need money have it in abundance, while people who
need it very badly have it not at all,”
Recognizing that this contradictory situation leads to unspeakable hardships and even tragedy,
Recognizing that this Body and any public body does not have the tools to remedy such a complex condition,
except by recognizing that there is a limit as to how much money can be raised in taxes or fees
and how much can be cut back on community expenses,
while keeping the various functions of the city in working order,
Recognizing that, individually, residents are limited in their ability to improve their financial condition,
while jointly they might be better able to help themselves,
Recommends that the residents of Gloucester build their own safety
net by calling upon city departments, civic and religious groups to
voluntarily create as many Mutual Assurance Funds as possible.
For a brief description of mutual assurance funds, please see:
www.polis-tics.com/id17.htm
3. A Directive to the Mayor to Study the Feasibility of Developing Dogtown Village as a
Natural National Tourist Attraction
and the Creation of a Tourist Center/Convention Hall/Regional Theater Complex on
Blackburn Circle
The City Council of Gloucester, MA,
Realizing that attracting tourists to the waterfront might result in conflicts
between the operations of the fishing industry and the interests of tourists,
Noting that Gloucester is endowed with a precious historical treasure, namely
that at the center of Dogtown Common there are cellar holes and other recognizable
evidence of original Colonial habitation,
Noting that other communities have either to invent or to import specimens of comparable importance,
Relying on the thirst of the American public for knowledge about authentic historical experience,
Directs the Mayor of the City of placeCityGloucester to Study the Feasibility
of Developing Dogtown Village as a Natural National Tourist Attraction
and the Creation of a Tourist Center/Convention Hall/Regional
Theater Complex on Blackburn Circle.
A Few Important Notes
Noting that, if historians and archaeologists are satisfied that we are already doing
our best in relation to the preservation of our Dogtown Common heritage,
every additional step ought to be shunted aside and thrown into the category of waste
Emphasizing that paved roads and paved parking lots should, at the very least,
be characterized as inauthentic and therefore never even be conceived
Noting that, if and when a Tourist Center/Convention Hall/Regional Theater Complex on Blackburn Circle becomes a reality,
the “Dogtown experience” can be made virtual with the assistance of interactive computer displays
Noting that the existence of our unique Dogtown Village is absent
from our official tourist website as well as its inset about Gloucester History
Noting that the existence of our unique place Dogtown Village is absent
from official regional as well as state tourist websites
Noting that tourist brochures about our unique Dogtown Village
are not in display either at the Chamber of Commerce or at two Gloucester Visitor Welcoming Centers
and that one brochure is offered for $5.0
Noting that maps about Dogtown Common are produced by the Gloucester Conservation Commission
and are made available upon request by removing them from manila folders inside filing cabinets
and that only on the retro of one such map is there any information about the site
The City Council might want, at the very least, to call for a feasibility study to integrate
the historic existence of Dogtown village into our public consciousness
And subsequently fully integrate it into the roster of unique attractions worthy
to be called to the attention of our visitors in a systematic way in order to make their visit more rewarding.
The aim: The aim of this proposed tourist policy, by adding one more leg to it,
is to spread among the arts and historic venues the burden that is today put by the tourist industry onto the shoulders of the fishing industry.
Artists and art galleries would benefit directly for such a policy;
the consciousness of our proud historic past might be enriched and might add appreciation for the blessings of living on Cape Ann.
4. A Directive to the Mayor to Study the Feasibility
of a Plan of Urban Restoration
The City Council of Gloucester, MA,
Noting that the combined action of two national programs of the 1950s has left deep scars on our landscape,
namely that with the construction of the superhighway through town, Route 128 Extension cut deeply into the granite of Portuguese Hill,
and with the alteration of Rogers Street, Urban Renewal separated the downtown from the waterfront,
Noting that the construction design of Route 128 Extension can be healed by
creating a multi-layer facility as parking
to serve the needs of the proposed Blackburn Complex as well as the traffic needs of the Town of Rockport,
Noting that the construction design of Rogers Street can be healed by
elevating Rogers Street
— or enclosing it in a Ziggurat type of construction, thus forming a tunnel —
so that free parking can be created underneath it in order to serve the needs of Main Street as well as the needs of the harbor,
Noting that the healing of these two scars would serve to restore our landscape
to the organic status that existed in the past,
Advising that a fleet of jitney buses link the two proposed parking lots with
destinations to downtown Gloucester, downtown Rockport, and Rocky Neck,
Conceiving also of the possibility of eliminating the scattered adjacent
parking lots that exist today between Rogers Street and the harbor
and consolidating them into one contiguous public park area,
Conceiving further the possibility of attaching to the elevated (or enclosed) Rogers Street,
at a dropped-down level, a Gloucester Promenade with stairways
leading to the park, to the waterfront, or to Main Street,
Envisaging the possibility of restoring the amenities of a pedestrian community
by keeping cars and trucks under full control,
Directs to the Mayor of the City of Gloucester to Study the Feasibility
of this Plan of Urban Restoration.
5. A Directive to the Mayor to Study the Feasibility
of the Creation of a Main Street
Corporation
The City Council of Gloucester, MA,
Recognizing, as the Wall Street Journal is emphatically editorializing these
days, that “The hottest trend this decade in shopping-center development has gone cold.”
This trend concerns the building of “open-air” shopping centers as distinguished from the covered mall,
Recognizing further that a new trend is appearing, the trend toward “instantaneous-old” shopping centers,
as the one next to Farmers Market in Los Angeles or the one in Hingham, Mass.,
Recognizing further that our true-blue old downtown
has all the makings of an authentic modern shopping center
by linking the upper floors in order to create space for an assisted living/hotel/restaurant(s) complex
on the harbor side and a supermarket/department store(s) complex on the North side of Main Street,
Recognizing finally that a Unified Downtown Corporation can be created
either through voluntary action or through eminent domain,
Urges all downtown interests that a Unified Downtown Corporation be
created through voluntary action, and
Instructs the Mayor of the City of Gloucester to assist all downtown interests in all possible ways
in the performance of a feasibility study concerning the creation of
a Unified Downtown Corporation (UDC).
Some additional notes:
To a downtown that managerially functions as a unified entity
as it is in the economic reality,
many opportunities will open up
There could be common purchases of electric power
There could be shared expenses for maintenance
There could be a common merchandising plan
6. An Invitation to Private Entrepreneurs to
Develop a Surimi Plant in Gloucester
The City Council of Gloucester, MA,
Remembering that since the closure of the Lippman Marine plant there has
hardky been any sizeable harvesting of herring and mackerel in our New England waters,
Noting that for the recovery of depleted species of bottom fish
it is essential that herring and mackerel, the current predators of bottom fish,
be more fully harvested (see letters to Kessler and Hill, together with attachments),
Realizing that pelagics are still in abundant supply,
Realizing that a new technology for the processing of herring and mackerel
into Surimi (a thousand-year old Japanese process) was developed in
Gloucester at the University of Massachusetts Marine Station in Bay View
by Drs. Herbert Hultin and Stephen D. Kelleher,
Realizing that a system management analysis of the feasibility of the
Surimi plant has been developed by a team of doctoral candidates led by
(now Drs.) Peter Otto, Sanghyun Lee, and Jeroen Struben under the guidance
of Professor Jim Hines of MIT’s System Dynamics Program,
Realizing that a business plan
can easily be extracted from this
system management study,
Relying on the hunger of the American public for healthy seafood,
Noting that if the Gloucester Interdependence Fund becomes a reality,
with or without assistance from New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC),
Gloucester residents will have the opportunity
to own and control the use of local renewable resources,
Directs the Mayor of the City of Gloucester to Invite Private Entrepreneurs
to Develop a Surimi Plant in Gloucester.
7. A Directive to Our Congressional Delegation
to Amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act
The City Council of Gloucester, MA,
Noting that the administration of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act is creating
unconscionable hardship on our fishermen,
Noting that the administration of this legislation is
unduly depressing the value of our harbor front,
Noting that the administration of this legislation is failing to take into account
results of deep science that reveal the existence of
a predator/prey model in every living habitat,
Noting that the administration of this legislation is failing to take into account
the balance of payment effects that result from
prohibiting the harvesting of local fish and compelling the importation
of staggering quantities of seafood per year,
Regretting that the administration of this legislation is threatening the destruction
of our three-hundred year old way of community life,
Directs the Mayor of the City of Gloucester to Advise Our Congressional Delegation
to Amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act
at least to Incorporate
the Predator/Prey Model of Biomass Behavior.
Some additional notes:
There are undoubtedly necessary preservation measures
that need to be shared by all participants in the industry, and they should be enforced;
Yet, there are rules whose enforcement is doing damage to the pelagics as
well as to the depleted bottom fish
(remember, overfishing is not done be the fishermen, but by the natural predators of bottom fish)
and these should be eliminated from the legislation;
Rules and regulatins ought to be a help
not an impediment
to the wise management of the resources.
+1. The Gloucester Concord Resolution
(A resolution to be presented at a more opportune moment.)
The City Council of Gloucester, MA,
Fully aware of the enormous financial needs of our community,
Painfully aware that the financial resources of taxpayers are overstretched,
Recognizing that the municipal bond market serves
only temporary and illusory
benefits for bondholders,
Recognizing that substantive and permanent benefits for bondholders are served
by reduced municipal expenses and solvent taxpayers,
Resolves that the City of Gloucester
will borrow public money
to fund duly authorized public works projects.
The Treasurer is authorized to borrow public money
by accessing national credit,
rather than the private bond market.
Thus loans are obtained at cost,
rather than exorbitant interest charges.
The Federal Reserve System will
use national credit
to create money as an asset.
The loan will preferably be repaid from proceeds
of increased taxes on land and natural resources
(while correspondingly reducing taxes on buildings, improvements, and other assets).
For theoretical background, please see:
Gorga, C. “Concordian Economics: Tools to Return Relevance to Economics”,
Forum for Social Economics, May 2008.
Gorga, C. The Economic Process: An Instantaneous Non-Newtonian Picture
(Lanham, Md. and Oxford: University Press of America, 2002).
Gorga, C. “The Productivity Standard: A True Golden Standard”
(with Norman G. Kurland), in Dawn M. Kurland (ed.),
Every Worker an Owner:A Revolutionary Free Enterprise Challenge to Marxism,
Washington, D.C.: Center for Economic and Social Justice, 1987, pp. 83-86.
For much pertinent — and some impertinent — additional information, please see:
www.concordresolution.org
www.monetary.org
www.webofdebt.com/articles/minnesota-bank-proposal.php
www.prosperityuk.com/prosperity/prosperity.html
See also:
money site:youtube.com
Money As Debt (1 of 5)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU7E3jMVtjI