Letters

Weighing in on commissioner article

Ms. Egan:

Just finished reading your article in the Lagniappe and found it very interesting that the article suggests that a new revenue commissioner would solve the valuation problem in Mobile County.

Some items you need to know:

Guidelines for appraising property are directed to the Revenue Commissioner’s office by the State Department of Revenue and the International Association of Assessing Officials.

These guidelines must be followed.

The State Department of Revenue has to approve the appraisal index for Mobile County neighborhoods. The neighborhood must comply with the Department of Revenue’s percentage rates of 98 to 102% or otherwise Mobile County can be ordered into another appraisal for the same year.

Values could inflate even more. The appeal process is set up so citizens can show proof why the value is too high.

Ms. Egan, please don’t compare Mobile County with Baldwin County because you will find that Mobile County has complied with all state guidelines when this office was ordered into annual appraisal. Whereas Baldwin may not have complied. Mr. Bill Bass, Director of the Property Division in Montgomery will be glad to verify that this office has complied with the mandatory order.

His phone number is 334-242-1525.

Don’t you think it’s wise to keep a Revenue Commissioner in office that is honest, experienced and a advocate for all citizens?

I invite you to come and meet with me to discuss the laws that this office is required to follow.

Marilyn E. Wood

Revenue Commissioner

Upscale is in order

Ashley:

Great article (Hidden Agenda, 7/30/08) and you’re exactly right. Better-paying jobs have to enter Mobile before true upscale retail chains enter the market.

The Mobile job market is about JC Penny and Dillards being upscale. Miss Gayfers and Parisians? Whole Foods will come sooner than later, but forget about Nordstrom, Bloomies, Lord and Taylor or even Macy’s.

Boston just got a Barneys three years ago and a one-bedroom condo sells for $280,000 on the edge of a ghetto. I’ve been pushing corporate to place a regional Crate and Barrel in Biloxi or Mobile, but have had no luck.

A store would draw customers from New Orleans to Pensacola, but when they visit potential sites they see no other upscale development to join. Even the newest development on the Eastern Shore is not upscale enough. Will wealthier Mobilians ever be ready to move beyond upscale boutiques in neighborhoods to shop at large expensive department stores? I personally hope Mobile keeps its identity for a bit longer.

Keep up the great work!

Joe Pendarvis

Crate and Barrel

Boston

Angry servers respond

To the editor:

Let me start by stating that never before have I been compelled to respond to a letter in your publication or any other for that matter. I am an avid supporter of other people’s opinions, I believe we can learn from even the most clueless, even if it researching information to prove them wrong. I also don’t generally spend my free time arguing with someone over whether their husband should put the toilet seat down or not (something I read in the “opinions” section of another publication).

However, my ambivalence stops when I feel a good portion of your readers are being misinformed. I am referring to the letter to the editor regarding a woman being “mad as hell and not taking it anymore.” (Letters 7/30/08) I will say the letter that followed was not what I was expecting from the expletive title.

That is besides the point. In this letter the writer states that tipping is an “option.” I would like to argue this point only . For information purposes only, servers and bartenders make a base salary of $2.13 an hour. They can receive raises, but rarely do, not due to poor workmanship, but because their emp loyers keep overhead low by paying this menial salary. So while the rest of the nation received and will continue receiving a raise in the minimum wage over the next year, servers and bartenders receive the same base pay.

The cost of living has risen so dramatically that the federal government has finally raised the minimum wage. Some states say not enough, but servers and bartenders are still receiving the same pay. Why? Because they work for tips. Some people will argue that employers should pay these workers more. If that occurs the menu prices will certainly be affected. The money must come from somewhere. I am not saying you should pay for lousy service (and by lousy I don’t mean getting your own drink at a bar, as is usually the custom. Maybe Ms. Barnett should get out more?).

I myself have had bad service, but have found that few and far between. Tipping should signify the service. If service is ever bad enough to credit no tip then a manager should be called and the worker reported. I feel people are making excuses for being cheap.

The answer for those people who agree with Ms. Barnett, that tipping is an “option” is to stay home, cook, and serve yourself. I am so exasperated with people going out to eat or to a bar and complaining about the cost or the tip. No one is forcing you out of your home, you do have options. Unfortunately for you, to tip or not to tip is not one of them.

Signed

I’m kinda mad too!

To the editor:

Please, please print this! I want you to! This is in response to Kendra Barnett’s letter in your most recent issue.

Tell you what, Kendra Barnett of Mobile, why don’t you try waiting tables and supporting your two children on $2.13 an hour because people like you are tired of being “harassed” and believe tipping is optional.

And I hope that all of your customers remember that while your $2.13 is being eaten away by taxes, tipping is still optional. Also, remember that for every “optional tip” that you receive, a fraction of that goes to tipping out the bar and bussers…. so a tip-out on NO tip at all is actually money coming out of YOUR pocket.

We understand that you have two kids and are the all-mighty-mom, but “forgetting” to tip is the lamest excuse we’ve ever heard as both servers and parents! (Let’s hope you boss “forgets” to pay you for any hour you work.) If you go to a full-service restaurant in this day and age, you know that you are expected to tip. If you really feel like your service was so terrible, by all means, don’t leave the server anything, but bring it to the manager’s attention so you don’t get chased out in the parking lot, resulting in the writing of snippy letters that put a blemish on every good server’s name. And please, don’t take it out on the bartenders and bussers who have no control over what your server does….. at least leave a little something for them.

While we’re at it, there are a few issues we’d like to address as servers who are Mad as hell and not taking it anymore>

1) A compliment is not a tip. Your praises are not going to keep a roof over our heads! Great service should be reflected by a great tip!

2) Religious pamphlets are not tips either. We understand that you are trying to save our souls, but we’d rather you save our power from being shut off!

3) You are not our only table! We are not there to wait on you and only you. Your $5 alone is not going to pay for the gas it took for us to get to work and home!

4) The average times for service in a full-service restaurant is 30 minutes for lunch and an hour for dinner. If you sit at any table for longer than the suggested time, you are expected to make up for the tips your butt cost us taking up our tables.

5) Remember that the mess that you make (and that your kids make) is our responsibility to clean up. If you leave a table in the same condition that Katrina left the coast, $5 is not gonna make up for that kind of grief. Throw in an extra dollar or two.

6) Your server does not cook your food. We cannot control how long it takes or how it tastes, smells, looks, etc. If you do not like your food, take it up with a manager and remember that your service is separate and we still spent time taking care of you.

6a) If your meal is free or discounted, please remember to tip on the original price of the bill. The time that we took to take care of you and your needs we will never get back to have a table that pays and tips the full price. We still have to tip the bar and bussers out based on our total sales (discounts and comps included in total sales)!

7) If you had a bad experience the last time you visited our restaurant and return again expecting the same thing, you will not enjoy it! We did not wait on you last time and we cannot control what our co-workers have done! Do not take your sour attitude out on us. If you are determined that one bad service experience = always bad service, don’t come back!

8) Inflation is a bitch! If you really want to save your money, don’t eat out. If you can’t afford to tip, you can’t afford to eat out! It’s as simple as that.

Last but not least) Servers are people! We have expenses and bills and families and responsibilities just like everybody else! Keep that in mind the next time you want to sit on your high horse at our tables! Why don’t you try putting yourself in our shoes before you judge.

Four Disgruntled Servers!

Mobile, Al

Give Coasties a nice place to go

To the editor:

I found your cover story in the 30 July issue of Lagniappe regarding the US Coast Guard boat the Stingray very informative. As a career US Army officer, I always appreciate articles to educate the citizens about the forces that protect this country, especially now that we are at war in response to the Sept 11.2001 attack on the towers in New York. Not only are the career military involved, but there are over 100,000 National Guard and Reserve troops serving on Federal Active Duty, and today provide more than 50 percent of the ground forces in Iraq. Many of these forces are from units in the Mobile Community.

I bring these facts forward because there is something more than patrolling the waters along the Mobile waterfront that the local USCG can provide to our forces and their families. The current conflict has dramatically increased the burden of sacrifice imposed on those left behind and they can use all the support help from their fellow citizens that we can provide.

The specific support I am referring to is the USCG Recreational Facility on the East end of Dauphin Island. The facility consists of 19 acres of high land, with 1,000 feet of beautiful beach front on the Gulf of Mexico. The land has been valued by some members of the Property Owner’s Association in excess of $20 million. It had very modest facilities, consisting of 14 WW II barrack type cottages that young military families could rent for reasonable prices, an administration building, a bathhouse with toilet and shower facilities and coin operated washer and dryer, and several RV sites. It also had a small Post Exchange.

Katrina caused minor water damage to a couple of the cottages, and the destruction of the bathhouse, which was located on a concrete slab on the beach, the slab being undercut by the storm surge. Several days after Hurricane Katrina hit Dauphin Island, (29 Aug, 2005) the local Coast Guard padlocked the gate and the facility has been closed since that date. What is inexcusable for a so called military operation is to have the name of the US Coast Guard affixed to the sign directing visitors to a site that, beginning with the main gate, is cluttered with thrash/debris, and the ground overgrown with weeds and strewn with more garbage.

Perhaps one or more of our elected officials, e.g., Senator Jeff Sessions, could convince the Coast Guard Commandant, Adm. Thad W. Allen to reconsider the contribution this unique site has made to the morale, welfare and recreational support of our troops and their families and it can live up to its motto: semper paratus {always prepared}.Let not another Friday before Mother’s Day, the date President Reagan proclaimed as Military Spouse Appreciation Day, pass with the gate still padlocked, the 1,000 feet of white sandy beaches vacant, and the facility falling into disgraceful total disrepair.

Nicholas H. Jongebloed, LTC (Ret) USA

Irvington

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