Post by Carlos Murray on Nov 9, 2006 14:29:30 GMT -5
FWIW. To anyone that heard the K106.3 meeting this morning, they never did wind up taking calls from the public like they were supposed to. As it is, the whole event was pretty silly in the 1st place.
This was the 1 last chance for most people to hear from the Candidates. And those that were conducting the event turned it into what I saw as quite ridiculous. (And far too short!)
I think that Mike Bradley got wind of how the event was going to be operated so he decided not to show up. But he did at least make himself available for part of the event over the telephone.
Even with that it was hard to hear him, and he himself said that he couldn't hear what was being asked. So he politely excused himself and went on to do whatever it was that he had to do at City Hall.
(That actually made him look really good IMHO. It gave the appearance that he was too busy doing actual City Business to participate in what turned out to be a silly FARCE!)
It was my understanding that the event was supposed to last about 2 hours. With opening statements, questions "by phone" from listeners, and closing statements.
But as it is, I don't think the entire thing lasted any more than about 20 minutes. And most of that time was spent talking about silly questions that the DJs and Sue Storr (sp?) were asking. (Like asking us our opinion on Brittney Spears and her hubby breaking up?) (<----- silliness at it's worst!)
When they asked Joe Murray to choose his favorite between 3 bands? (I can't remember what the other 2 were? But.) He picked Aerosmith, and made some comment about "Walk This Way". So I said,, "I wish I had my guitar with me. I could play Walk This Way, and let Joe sing it."
Well believe it or not, they produced a 12-string guitar that they had hidden behind a desk and handed it to me. When I started to play it, the guitar was so far out of tune it would have taken the entire length of the time slot they were planning for the segment just to tune it up. (A 12-string guitar is a lot harder to tune than a 6-string.)
I did get it tuned up well enough to play the intro to "Walk This Way" but I went no further than that. It was a very nice Guitar! (A "Washburn".) But I saw no point in wasting a whole lot of time trying to get it tuned when my purpose, (Just like the others!) was to talk about election issues.
-----
FWIW I see this City's approach to holding Candidate Meetings for Municipal Elections is ridiculous. (It has been weighed! And I have found it wanting!) (<--- "Old English".)
Municipal Govt has the most direct impact on people in any division of Society. You would think that people would turn out in droves to vote for 1st tier Govt, (Municipal.) much more than they do for a Federal Election. But it seems that the opposite is true.
People turn out in droves to Vote in Federal Elections. And only slightly less for Provincial Elections. But for Municipal Elections, they seem to think that it just isn't all that important. That can't be further from being the truth!
It is your Municipal Govt that decides what a City's Budget is. And that Number is then divided between home and other property owners. That's where Property Assessment and Mil Rates come into a calculation to determine people's Property Taxes.
I actually learned a lot of things about how the City Budget is calculated when I went through the Real Estate Course back in '97. And FAIMBW I got the 2nd highest mark in my class. The only other guy that got a higher mark was a guy who had been working for 10 years as a Mortgage Broker. He already knew every detail of the course. He was only going through the formality of taking the Course to get his license as a Real Estate Agent. So, (by that way of thinking) I kind of feel like I actually got the highest mark in the class. IMHO the other guy didn't count because of his own Employment History.
I actually had a funny thing happen during the 2nd section of the three part course. One day there were a bunch of us from the class taking a break and having a cigarette outside when one of the other "Male" Students asked me a question(?)
He said something along the lines of, "You seem to be really grasping this course quite easily. What kind of work have you been doing?" I said, "You won't believe me if I tell you!"
He kept on going, "Really! What have you been doing? Have you worked with investments? Insurance? Mortgage Brokering? What?" Again I said, "You won't believe me!"
By then there were about 10 others joining in. Wondering what I had been doing? So I told them.
I asked, "Have you ever seen people that stand out on the street and play Music for tips? It's called Busking! I've spent most of the last 20 years doing that." And just like I told them. They didn't believe me! They were all laughing and saying, "NO WAY! REALLY! Tell us! WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING?"
I had a couple of them come with me to my car and I opened the trunk. I showed them my guitar, my little battery powered amp, cables, effects pedals, and a guitar stand. I still think that they didn't quite believe me yet for at least a couple of more days.
There were a couple of times that conversations took place during the actual class about what people thought I might have (?) been doing in the past that made me capable of grasping the Course as easily as I was. And, for the most part, they still didn't believe that I had made my living playing music for tips on the streets. They seemed to be of the opinion that I did play music. But they just couldn't accept that I had "mainly" done it out in Public Places for tips.
I felt it necessary to get this through to them. So I gathered a bunch of articles I had saved about the trip I took across Canada back in '93 for the Cancer Society. As well as pictures of the "Funky" Van I had painted up for the trip.
They were finally believing that I was not lying to them. And on the day we wrote the final Exam, a bunch of us went out for lunch at a little Cafe that had an outdoor patio where I took out my guitar and played them a handful of songs.
I like to think that I gained a few fans that day. But that didn't turn out to be any help to me in succeeding at the business of Real Estate here in Sarnia. (If you don't believe me, just ask Leo Houston. He is one of the people that was in my class.)
-----
I like to think that I could have done well at the Real Estate game. (?) But it all came down to a matter of "Image". Not unlike it effects my own image running for Mayor. I haven't played music on the streets, (At least not in Sarnia.) in more than six years. But people make remarks about it as if they saw me out just last weekend.
(I know this for certain because the last time I "Played Out" in Sarnia was on the weekend of my 40th B-Day. (Mainly because my Brother had paid to have my Picture put in the paper with a Caption reading, "Look who's 40!"
I went out on the Saturday and played at the Liquor Store that was at Zeller's Plaza at the time. And one of the workers at the store cut the pic out of the Paper and taped it to the window behind me.
-----
Getting back to the Real Estate thing for a moment. When I first talked to John D'Andrea about it before I took the Course. He said that if I passed the Course he would give me a job working for his firm. (Thinking back (?) I actually think that John didn't believe I would be able to pass the Course.)
John's whole approach was to take advantage of the fact that I have never been a person that would be thought of as "unknown". Just about everybody knew me. And he saw that as being to my advantage. (Or so it would seem!)
When we 1st talked about me taking the Course, I told him that in order for me to succeed at Real Estate I would need to get something happening that would change my image in the Public Eye. People would not want to deal in Real Estate with someone who was best known for playing music on the streets. (I guess it kind of works the same way running for Mayor? LOL!)
At that time he agreed (in principle) to loan me $20K to buy in 1/3 ownership of the Blue Sail. The place was kind of floundering at the time. But I was confident that if I were to become involved, and to take over the job of arranging the Entertainment, the place could have become much more of a success than it did during it's last days when they made some pretty ridiculous business mistakes.
(Just a hint on what mistakes they made. When they closed for renovations to turn it into the Coconut Club, they were making statements about clearing out the "Downtown Riff Raff" and making it a place for "whole new clientele". Well the "Downtown Riff Raff" was simply insulted by the remarks. So they stopped going there. And that "whole new clientele" simply never showed up. That was when the place crumbled!)
My own idea was that People would be much more likely to want to deal with me as "Part Owner of a Nightclub" than as "The guy that plays Guitar at the Liquor Store".
Well I finished the Course with very good marks! And I had spent myself into a great amount of debt to get there. I had also stopped playing my Guitar on the Streets at that time. So I didn't even have that income coming in.
When I approached John D'Andrea with my Real Estate License in hand to ask him for the loan to buy into the Blue Sail. He wouldn't give me the loan. And he even said that I should go back and play my Guitar on the Streets to try to find customers there. (I personally knew that was going to be a useless effort!)
Like I said before, "I don't think that John D'Andrea ever thought I was going to be able to pass the Course." So I don't think he ever had any intention of loaning me the money in the 1st place.
I knew then that I was caught between a "Rock and a hard Place", so to speak. But I did try to do the best I could with the situation I seemed to be stuck with.
I was doing my best to get things going from the Real Estate end. But it certainly wasn't doing me any good playing my Guitar at the Liquor Store with a stack of Business Cards in my case. LOL!
Working at Real Estate was costing me about $400/month. (You have to pay for advertising, office space, Board Dues, etc.) And there was simply nothing coming my way that looked like it was going to help out my situation.
(Please! I'm not complaining. Just telling the facts as they were at the time.)
I "WAS" getting lots of calls! But they all seemed to be from people that had tried to qualify for a Mortgage with just about every agent in town but were refused. They seemed to think that I was going to be able to perform some kind of Magic and get them approved.
There were only two things in my whole time in the Real Estate game that I found insulting.
One was a younger guy that had just gotten Married and was buying his 1st home with his brand new bride. And he was playing on my team in the Pool League.
His Cell Phone would ring, and it was another Real Estate agent calling him about some home he wanted this young kid to see. WOW! I'm sitting right beside him! And I have access to each and every listing that the other agent did. I did ask him why he wasn't dealing with me on it?
His reasoning seemed to make perfect sense to him. But I can easily point out some flaws in his logic. (I won't name the other agent he was dealing with. That would be unethical of me.)
The fact is that the other agent was well established in the business, and regularly deals with 20 or 30 clients at the same time. Although it may have seemed that the agent was paying a whole lot of attention to finding him and his new wife the "PERFECT" home! And "YES!" He did want to see them sign on the dotted line so he could get his commission. But if they never managed to find a home and buy it through him, it wouldn't have mattered very much to him. He would still have all of those other customers to deal with and get his commission from.
This young guy actually said to me that he thought that the other guy could get him a better deal, and that he could get them into a home with "NO MONEY DOWN!"
Well I had just finished the course and I knew how to write up exactly the same things as this other Agent would. And not having 20 or 30 people to work with, I would be able to concentrate much more on getting that "ONE" sale to go through!
Like I said, "I'm not complaining at all. Just pointing out some mistakes that I can acknowledge from my own past."
Another thing that happened once was with a Buyer I was dealing with. A personal friend that, (Like I said before) couldn't get approved for a Mortgage. He ran into an employee of another Broker. The employee of the other Broker asked my "Buyer/Client" why he was dealing with me? He told my client that I wasn't serious about Real Estate. Now that one made me furious!
According to Protocol within the Real Estate Board. I brought a complaint to my own Broker. Who was supposed to pass my complaint on to the other Broker. But nothing ever came of it. I never even received an apology. (Which I think I deserved!)
Like I've already said, "I'm not really complaining. Just stating some mistakes I have made and learned from."
I got into Real Estate for two years, and wound up having to file for Personal Bankruptcy. But I did manage to sell one house in that time. And I got $6,000 more for the house than any Agent in town said I would ever get.
-----
Hey! There's something that Mike Bradley and I have in common! We both spent two years in Real Estate. The difference is that "I" sold a house! LOL!
-----
Right now all I am doing is sliding. Where I will wind up doesn't really matter at this point. In the words of Robert Hunter,
Don't waste your breath to save your face,
When you have done your best.
When even more is asked of you,
Fate will decide the rest!
-----
Peace!
DG
This was the 1 last chance for most people to hear from the Candidates. And those that were conducting the event turned it into what I saw as quite ridiculous. (And far too short!)
I think that Mike Bradley got wind of how the event was going to be operated so he decided not to show up. But he did at least make himself available for part of the event over the telephone.
Even with that it was hard to hear him, and he himself said that he couldn't hear what was being asked. So he politely excused himself and went on to do whatever it was that he had to do at City Hall.
(That actually made him look really good IMHO. It gave the appearance that he was too busy doing actual City Business to participate in what turned out to be a silly FARCE!)
It was my understanding that the event was supposed to last about 2 hours. With opening statements, questions "by phone" from listeners, and closing statements.
But as it is, I don't think the entire thing lasted any more than about 20 minutes. And most of that time was spent talking about silly questions that the DJs and Sue Storr (sp?) were asking. (Like asking us our opinion on Brittney Spears and her hubby breaking up?) (<----- silliness at it's worst!)
When they asked Joe Murray to choose his favorite between 3 bands? (I can't remember what the other 2 were? But.) He picked Aerosmith, and made some comment about "Walk This Way". So I said,, "I wish I had my guitar with me. I could play Walk This Way, and let Joe sing it."
Well believe it or not, they produced a 12-string guitar that they had hidden behind a desk and handed it to me. When I started to play it, the guitar was so far out of tune it would have taken the entire length of the time slot they were planning for the segment just to tune it up. (A 12-string guitar is a lot harder to tune than a 6-string.)
I did get it tuned up well enough to play the intro to "Walk This Way" but I went no further than that. It was a very nice Guitar! (A "Washburn".) But I saw no point in wasting a whole lot of time trying to get it tuned when my purpose, (Just like the others!) was to talk about election issues.
-----
FWIW I see this City's approach to holding Candidate Meetings for Municipal Elections is ridiculous. (It has been weighed! And I have found it wanting!) (<--- "Old English".)
Municipal Govt has the most direct impact on people in any division of Society. You would think that people would turn out in droves to vote for 1st tier Govt, (Municipal.) much more than they do for a Federal Election. But it seems that the opposite is true.
People turn out in droves to Vote in Federal Elections. And only slightly less for Provincial Elections. But for Municipal Elections, they seem to think that it just isn't all that important. That can't be further from being the truth!
It is your Municipal Govt that decides what a City's Budget is. And that Number is then divided between home and other property owners. That's where Property Assessment and Mil Rates come into a calculation to determine people's Property Taxes.
I actually learned a lot of things about how the City Budget is calculated when I went through the Real Estate Course back in '97. And FAIMBW I got the 2nd highest mark in my class. The only other guy that got a higher mark was a guy who had been working for 10 years as a Mortgage Broker. He already knew every detail of the course. He was only going through the formality of taking the Course to get his license as a Real Estate Agent. So, (by that way of thinking) I kind of feel like I actually got the highest mark in the class. IMHO the other guy didn't count because of his own Employment History.
I actually had a funny thing happen during the 2nd section of the three part course. One day there were a bunch of us from the class taking a break and having a cigarette outside when one of the other "Male" Students asked me a question(?)
He said something along the lines of, "You seem to be really grasping this course quite easily. What kind of work have you been doing?" I said, "You won't believe me if I tell you!"
He kept on going, "Really! What have you been doing? Have you worked with investments? Insurance? Mortgage Brokering? What?" Again I said, "You won't believe me!"
By then there were about 10 others joining in. Wondering what I had been doing? So I told them.
I asked, "Have you ever seen people that stand out on the street and play Music for tips? It's called Busking! I've spent most of the last 20 years doing that." And just like I told them. They didn't believe me! They were all laughing and saying, "NO WAY! REALLY! Tell us! WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING?"
I had a couple of them come with me to my car and I opened the trunk. I showed them my guitar, my little battery powered amp, cables, effects pedals, and a guitar stand. I still think that they didn't quite believe me yet for at least a couple of more days.
There were a couple of times that conversations took place during the actual class about what people thought I might have (?) been doing in the past that made me capable of grasping the Course as easily as I was. And, for the most part, they still didn't believe that I had made my living playing music for tips on the streets. They seemed to be of the opinion that I did play music. But they just couldn't accept that I had "mainly" done it out in Public Places for tips.
I felt it necessary to get this through to them. So I gathered a bunch of articles I had saved about the trip I took across Canada back in '93 for the Cancer Society. As well as pictures of the "Funky" Van I had painted up for the trip.
They were finally believing that I was not lying to them. And on the day we wrote the final Exam, a bunch of us went out for lunch at a little Cafe that had an outdoor patio where I took out my guitar and played them a handful of songs.
I like to think that I gained a few fans that day. But that didn't turn out to be any help to me in succeeding at the business of Real Estate here in Sarnia. (If you don't believe me, just ask Leo Houston. He is one of the people that was in my class.)
-----
I like to think that I could have done well at the Real Estate game. (?) But it all came down to a matter of "Image". Not unlike it effects my own image running for Mayor. I haven't played music on the streets, (At least not in Sarnia.) in more than six years. But people make remarks about it as if they saw me out just last weekend.
(I know this for certain because the last time I "Played Out" in Sarnia was on the weekend of my 40th B-Day. (Mainly because my Brother had paid to have my Picture put in the paper with a Caption reading, "Look who's 40!"
I went out on the Saturday and played at the Liquor Store that was at Zeller's Plaza at the time. And one of the workers at the store cut the pic out of the Paper and taped it to the window behind me.
-----
Getting back to the Real Estate thing for a moment. When I first talked to John D'Andrea about it before I took the Course. He said that if I passed the Course he would give me a job working for his firm. (Thinking back (?) I actually think that John didn't believe I would be able to pass the Course.)
John's whole approach was to take advantage of the fact that I have never been a person that would be thought of as "unknown". Just about everybody knew me. And he saw that as being to my advantage. (Or so it would seem!)
When we 1st talked about me taking the Course, I told him that in order for me to succeed at Real Estate I would need to get something happening that would change my image in the Public Eye. People would not want to deal in Real Estate with someone who was best known for playing music on the streets. (I guess it kind of works the same way running for Mayor? LOL!)
At that time he agreed (in principle) to loan me $20K to buy in 1/3 ownership of the Blue Sail. The place was kind of floundering at the time. But I was confident that if I were to become involved, and to take over the job of arranging the Entertainment, the place could have become much more of a success than it did during it's last days when they made some pretty ridiculous business mistakes.
(Just a hint on what mistakes they made. When they closed for renovations to turn it into the Coconut Club, they were making statements about clearing out the "Downtown Riff Raff" and making it a place for "whole new clientele". Well the "Downtown Riff Raff" was simply insulted by the remarks. So they stopped going there. And that "whole new clientele" simply never showed up. That was when the place crumbled!)
My own idea was that People would be much more likely to want to deal with me as "Part Owner of a Nightclub" than as "The guy that plays Guitar at the Liquor Store".
Well I finished the Course with very good marks! And I had spent myself into a great amount of debt to get there. I had also stopped playing my Guitar on the Streets at that time. So I didn't even have that income coming in.
When I approached John D'Andrea with my Real Estate License in hand to ask him for the loan to buy into the Blue Sail. He wouldn't give me the loan. And he even said that I should go back and play my Guitar on the Streets to try to find customers there. (I personally knew that was going to be a useless effort!)
Like I said before, "I don't think that John D'Andrea ever thought I was going to be able to pass the Course." So I don't think he ever had any intention of loaning me the money in the 1st place.
I knew then that I was caught between a "Rock and a hard Place", so to speak. But I did try to do the best I could with the situation I seemed to be stuck with.
I was doing my best to get things going from the Real Estate end. But it certainly wasn't doing me any good playing my Guitar at the Liquor Store with a stack of Business Cards in my case. LOL!
Working at Real Estate was costing me about $400/month. (You have to pay for advertising, office space, Board Dues, etc.) And there was simply nothing coming my way that looked like it was going to help out my situation.
(Please! I'm not complaining. Just telling the facts as they were at the time.)
I "WAS" getting lots of calls! But they all seemed to be from people that had tried to qualify for a Mortgage with just about every agent in town but were refused. They seemed to think that I was going to be able to perform some kind of Magic and get them approved.
There were only two things in my whole time in the Real Estate game that I found insulting.
One was a younger guy that had just gotten Married and was buying his 1st home with his brand new bride. And he was playing on my team in the Pool League.
His Cell Phone would ring, and it was another Real Estate agent calling him about some home he wanted this young kid to see. WOW! I'm sitting right beside him! And I have access to each and every listing that the other agent did. I did ask him why he wasn't dealing with me on it?
His reasoning seemed to make perfect sense to him. But I can easily point out some flaws in his logic. (I won't name the other agent he was dealing with. That would be unethical of me.)
The fact is that the other agent was well established in the business, and regularly deals with 20 or 30 clients at the same time. Although it may have seemed that the agent was paying a whole lot of attention to finding him and his new wife the "PERFECT" home! And "YES!" He did want to see them sign on the dotted line so he could get his commission. But if they never managed to find a home and buy it through him, it wouldn't have mattered very much to him. He would still have all of those other customers to deal with and get his commission from.
This young guy actually said to me that he thought that the other guy could get him a better deal, and that he could get them into a home with "NO MONEY DOWN!"
Well I had just finished the course and I knew how to write up exactly the same things as this other Agent would. And not having 20 or 30 people to work with, I would be able to concentrate much more on getting that "ONE" sale to go through!
Like I said, "I'm not complaining at all. Just pointing out some mistakes that I can acknowledge from my own past."
Another thing that happened once was with a Buyer I was dealing with. A personal friend that, (Like I said before) couldn't get approved for a Mortgage. He ran into an employee of another Broker. The employee of the other Broker asked my "Buyer/Client" why he was dealing with me? He told my client that I wasn't serious about Real Estate. Now that one made me furious!
According to Protocol within the Real Estate Board. I brought a complaint to my own Broker. Who was supposed to pass my complaint on to the other Broker. But nothing ever came of it. I never even received an apology. (Which I think I deserved!)
Like I've already said, "I'm not really complaining. Just stating some mistakes I have made and learned from."
I got into Real Estate for two years, and wound up having to file for Personal Bankruptcy. But I did manage to sell one house in that time. And I got $6,000 more for the house than any Agent in town said I would ever get.
-----
Hey! There's something that Mike Bradley and I have in common! We both spent two years in Real Estate. The difference is that "I" sold a house! LOL!
-----
Right now all I am doing is sliding. Where I will wind up doesn't really matter at this point. In the words of Robert Hunter,
Don't waste your breath to save your face,
When you have done your best.
When even more is asked of you,
Fate will decide the rest!
-----
Peace!
DG