Featured photo: Walk in Costa Mesa
Table of Contents
Candidates
And I thought that my visit to California this year would be non-political. All of a sudden I find myself in a discussion about how sea-based wind turbines would kill all whales and dolphins. I wasn't prepared for that and I'm glad I left this discussion with a black eye.
There are Republicans in my circle of acquaintances and they are already warming up for the November 2024 elections. Today's Republicans can best be described as a collective movement that would unite the CDU, CSU, AfD, NPD, Reich citizens, Monday marchers and other swashbucklers in Germany.
Yesterday, the 14 candidates were presented, who, in addition to Donald Trump against Joe Biden want to compete. A hodgepodge of people that no single party - with the possible exception of the CSU - could put together. And all the people I know here are already looking forward to the spectacle, like every single one of them in the coming months Donald Trump will be publicly executed. The first preliminary fights are already being advertised in the media, and one can imagine it as once in the Colosseum in Rome - but hopefully without real bloodshed.
And after a year and a half of media show fights Donald Trump be presented to the electorate as the new old savior of America and the whole world—what has become of the Grand Old Party!
garbage can
It has often been a topic here in the weblog, whereby crows and doves were once identified as at least accomplices. And even today we can read in the voice of Heilbronn that the birds are partly to blame for the fact that Heilbronn very often looks very unappetizing.
What strikes me particularly when I am strolling through clean streets, as I am at the moment — unfortunately not here in Heilbronn. I am firmly convinced that the problem of dirty streets and squares is not due to a lack of or even the nature of waste bins, but solely to the behavior of the people who use these streets and squares.
And even if there were only filthy pigs in a city, this could be quickly brought under control through controls and appropriate sanctions. As a good example I want Santa Ana perform, a city that does not have such good conditions as Heilbronn. A city that is actually struggling at every nook and corner. But the great advantage of Santa Ana is the quality of the mayor and the city administration. All parks and streets are continuously maintained, even in those parts of the city whose inhabitants were not born with a golden spoon in their mouth.
What I particularly like there is the street cleaning service, which constantly drives through the streets. The times are set and all residents must remove their vehicles in advance. If necessary, a police car drives behind the street cleaning service and then distributes one speeding ticket after the other.
And the homeless, who certainly find better climatic conditions there, cannot settle down or even form their own corners, which the population then avoids. As a visitor, I can't find out exactly how the city handles this and where these people end up, but I don't have to, because as a guest I enjoy the peace and order.
In Santa Ana, clean streets and squares lead to a better sense of security. And this guarantees few vacancies and ultimately a pleasant coexistence.
city newspaper
It would be worth surveying how many people in Heilbronn know the city newspaper and, above all, how many read it regularly. The Stadtzeitung is the official gazette of the city of Heilbronn and will continue to be printed with the latest council decision, but will now be delivered together with the Heilbronner Voice. So far, the distribution has been done together with the free Echo, the only reason why I still had this form of paper waste placed in my mailbox.
In the end, the echo on Wednesday was no longer attractive enough for those responsible for the Heilbronner Voice, and so the city administration and municipal council had to react. Unfortunately, however, it fell a bit short again, because even the minimal version of the paper edition that has just been approved (displayed in the citizen registration offices and as an enclosure with the Heilbronn voice) is to be softened again one day after the decision has been made, according to the wishes of some municipal councils.
The sad thing is that our “decision-makers” like to make decisions a lot and often, but unfortunately often without really getting to know them beforehand. And so now there is suddenly talk of upgrading the website of the city of Heilbronn in such a way that it could also take over the function of the official gazette — it took Heilbronn a good 30 years for this alone!
As a background for these glorious thoughts, the special importance of digitization is given and sold to us citizens in the Heilbronner voice in a press-effective way. The truth is, if the echo hadn't been discontinued, nothing would have changed until the end of the world. The proof of my assertion is being provided today by many municipal councils, who are now jumping over themselves with ideas as to where the city newspaper could still have everything laid out in the printed edition.
Even sadder is that the makers of the city newspaper are so inflexible that they cannot react to changes in the composition of the municipal council. Until last year, all parliamentary groups were able to express their views on Heilbronn issues, which also explains why it is so important for many local councils that the city newspaper is distributed as widely as possible. As already said, these local councils should do some research beforehand. Unfortunately, however, they only throw tax money around if they only believe that it is to their advantage.
Since last year, in addition to the established and other factions, there has been another established and other grouping without faction status. The problem for the makers of the city newspaper is that this no longer fits into the existing layout of the city newspaper, and so they fall back on the claim that only factions have the right to express themselves prominently in the city newspaper.
The mayor recently announced that according to municipal regulations, only factions have the right to express their opinions and that the other groups should be happy if he lets them have their say in the city newspaper from time to time.
Alternatively, the factions of the Heilbronn Unity Party could content themselves with a single column in the city newspaper and make the remaining available columns available to the groups. This would promote different opinions and thus diversity of opinion in the city newspaper, perhaps an incentive for many people in Heilbronn to take note of the city newspaper after all.
And anyone who has now become curious about the city newspaper can read it here online .
"A lady once offered me a mat, but as I had no room to spare within the house, nor time to spare within or without to shake it, I declined it, preferring to wipe my feet on the sod before my door. It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil."
Henry David Thoreau, Walden (2020 [1854]: 61)
Your blog will be read carefully in the town hall. Today at noon the road sweeper has already circled the Wartberg.