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The cuts came following a special membership meeting Sept. 16, where members reached a consensus of cutbacks, New Deal Café Board Secretary Bill Wilkerson said. The café, a cooperative enterprise run by a board of directors and located in the Roosevelt Center, has struggled financially for years. It has unpaid loans, a depleted line of credit and outdated equipment. With donations and loans from Greenbelt residents and organizations, the café has managed to stay open for seven years. ‘‘Since it has opened, the New Deal Café has been a great place to meet new friends and share new ideas and information. It has a very stimulating atmosphere," Wilkerson said. Joel Moodie, the café’s general manager since June, said the restaurant accumulated $60,000 in debt from unpaid loans and not investing in capital projects for the restaurant.
Reinventing Blockbuster
DALLAS - In his corner office 32 floors above downtown, Blockbuster Inc. CEO James Keyes pulls out his phone and starts up last year's Oscar winner, "Crash," to demonstrate his vision of the movie-rental giant's future.Customers, he said, will someday soon go to kiosks in Blockbuster stores to burn movies onto disks or download them directly to phones or other devices.Technology is usually seen as Blockbuster's enemy. Why would anyone drive to a store when they can order online and have movies mailed to their homes or transmitted straight to their television sets by video-on-demand services?Keyes said store rentals will be an important part of the business for at least five more years. And if Blockbuster can remain the world's biggest movie-rental company during that time, it will be in a stronger position to lead when viewers routinely download films, he said."This is an industry in transition, and a company that hasn't been able to keep up with that change," said Keyes, who became CEO in July.
Letters to the Editor
Reval would establish fairness To the Editor, Question 2 on the Nov. 6 ballot in Kennebunkport will ask voters to approve revaluation. This question should be approved because it will establish fairness and equity among all property owners. Recent sales data show that the overall average of total assessed property value in Kennebunkport is about 40 percent of their average market value. The range of assessed value to market value varies from as low as 15 percent to as high as 65 percent. This means that if the assessed value of your property is below 40 percent of market value, you are paying less than your fair share of taxes. If the assessed value of your property is above 40 percent of market value, you are paying more than your fair share. Data also suggest that about 45 percent of property owners are paying considerably more than they should while about 25 percent are paying considerably less than they should.
Central Greene incurs more debt for project
By Cara Host, Staff writer chost@observer-reporter.com WAYNESBURG - Central Greene School Board floated its second set of bonds to pay for the Waynesburg Central High School renovation project Tuesday. The district assumed nearly $10 million in debt last year to pay for part of the project and the board will incur an additional $11.8 million of debt to cover the rest of the project costs. The new debt will increase the district's annual debt service payments by about $294,000, after state reimbursement, starting in fiscal year 2008-09. Central Greene is already making payments of about $275,000 on the previous bond issue. Interest rates are between 3.5 and 5 percent on the new debt. The debt is scheduled to be paid by 2035. Tom Kinney of HT Capital Markets of Pittsburgh, the district's bond counsel, noted that the district qualified for Standard and Poor's highest rating, which allowed the district to lock-in the lowest interest rates available.
(AFX UK Focus) 2007-11-16 05:42 GMT: Alcoa's senior unsecured ratings cut to 'Baa1' from 'A2' - Moody's
MUMBAI (Thomson Financial) - Moody's Investors Service downgraded Alcoa Inc's senior unsecured ratings to 'Baa1' from 'A2' and its short-term ratings to 'prime-2' from 'prime-1'. The ratings agency said the downgrade reflects the ongoing challenges the company faces in managing its cost position, mainly in a softening aluminium price environment, its relatively weak average coverage ratios over the recent years of improved aluminium prices and its persistent negative free cash flow generation. Moody's said the 'Baa1' rating also considers the more aggressive financial profile of the company with respect to shareholder returns and the likely continued significant capital expenditure requirements to support growth initiatives and reposition the company to remain cost competitive in a changing landscape, Moody's added.
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