Saturday
March 30
8AM
Cincinnati Club
Bring your questions, we’ll provide the coffee
Oscar Leeser, Mayoral Candidate
March 26, 2013
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Posted by M.T. Cicero
Rushing into debt
March 26, 2013Item 14 on the March 26, 2013 city council agenda does it to us again.
In November of 2011 the city entered into an agreement that would allow them to buy $5 million worth of equipment for the fire department. Now this week they want to borrow another $5 million for more equipment.
I don’t object to the fire department getting new trucks and ambulances if they need them.
What I object to is financing something over seven years when we need more money in less than 18 months.
This is another way that the city has found to increase our taxes without telling us.
If we need the equipment let’s buy it, but put the actual amount spent in the budget so that we know what our situation is.
With the numbers that council has been playing with recently, $10 million for fire trucks and ambulances and $20 million to replace the radio system that will be buried in the rubble of city hall are not the big numbers.
What bothers me is the number of deals like this that we don’t know about.
We deserve better
Brutus
1 Comment | City government, Purchasing | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
Oscar (such a good boy) Leeser for Mayor
March 25, 2013We have made arrangements for MAYORAL CANDIDATE, OSCAR (He’s such a good boy) LEESER to make a short presentation and answer YOUR questions on the upcoming Saturday March 30,2013 between 8:00 AM to 9:AM at the Cincinnati Club, 207 Cincinnati Ave. Park on the street. (At that hour there should be no parking problem).
Coffee and rolls will provided. The Kitchen will be open for those who wish purchase breakfast.
Cicero will moderate the presentation.
Let’s see where Oscar stands on the City Mother, THE 5TH downtown revitalization project, City spending of OUR MONEY, etc. We need a change as Brutus has so well pointed out in his daily Posts.
So be there with your questions.
Doors open at 7:45AM
MT Cicero
(Donations are optional)
This Saturday 8AM at the Cinci
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Posted by M.T. Cicero
Rubbing shoulders
March 25, 2013Thinking about going to see city hall?
Why?
Most citizen contact with city officials will be in buildings other than city hall.
- Police and fire have long been in buildings other than city hall even though they are the largest part of our budget and thus bear closer scrutiny
- The parks and recreation department has recently displaced citizens in a recreation center
- Permits and licensing are not to be had at city hall
- Food handlers need to go to a different building
- Museums, cultural affairs and pension issues are going to be handled somewhere else
With the exception of the mayor and city representatives most of the functions at the new city hall are internal in nature. Departments will include:
- Internal audit
- Employee wellness center
- Human resources
- Purchasing
- Financial services
- City attorneys
- Municipal clerk
The new city council chambers that they have not told us about will be in the new city hall. We will have to wait to find out how much they are spending for it, but I feel certain it will be expensive.
So if you think you might bump into an elected official while you are doing your business with the city, think again.
It looks like they have deliberately banished you to the hinterlands so that they do not have to brush shoulders with the unwashed masses.
I’ll bet they even have a private entrance to council chambers.
We deserve better
Brutus
3 Comments | City government, Personal Experiences With Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
You can’t touch me
March 24, 2013Term limits, or limiting the number of terms that an elected official can serve in an office, is a subject that many feel strongly about.
While I have heard good arguments on both sides of the issue, today I want to share some thoughts about what term limits have done to our local city council.
City representatives used to stand for election every two years. Some people thought that those terms were too short — representatives had to spend time and money getting elected too often.
Now they are elected for four years and cannot serve more than ten (one could be elected to fill the last two years of a vacant slot, then get elected two more times).
Does this make them more vulnerable to powerful outside influences? Do they feel the need to build some long-lasting monument to their public service?
Some will argue that even serving their first four years without having to face the public is too long. Recently it has been the second four year term that has emboldened some of our representatives.
Most of the recent activism from council has come from representatives who cannot run again. They don’t need to listen to the voters any more in order to be re-elected. They cannot be re-elected. In their last term they seem to invoke their self-professed moral responsibility to do what is right, not what the voters want.
Cicero likes to kid Brutus about how he allegedly imposed term limits on Julius Caesar after he declared himself “emperor for life”. Thankfully that does not happen much anymore.
I do think that if we had shorter terms (as we used to) and allowed the representatives the hope of keeping their quality of life positions during good behavior that we would have a more responsible city council.
In the mean time we have the mess we have.
Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
Cato
3 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Cato
elpasospeak 
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