I came across this article by a fellow I don’t know when I was on KSOO’s site looking for Lalley’s new show about bicycling and other things.
I would agree with much of what he is saying;
So if the mayor is worried about $1.2 million shortage, wouldn’t it be easiest to cancel a pricey luxury item project like new playgrounds?
We live in a nice city. Our parks are great but they don’t need to be perfect. At least not right now, if this deficit is such an issue.
This project was probably planned and green lighted before the budget shortfall. But even without the revenue shortage this is still wasteful spending. If something is broke fix it, don’t replace it. I’m not even sure anything is broken.
Reminds me of the city council approving a new snowcat for Great Bear when the new one works fine (though it may need some replacement parts in the near future).
As I have often said good government, fiscally responsible government comes from COMMON SENSE. If we are having revenue issues, we don’t go out and buy things we don’t need. This of course comes from the person who puts the budget together, the mayor and his priorities. We have a NEW events center that already needs repairs and is closed for the summer, we have a NEW swimming pool that has low attendance numbers, and soon we will have a $25 million dollar administration building that we don’t need. None of these projects made any fiscal sense, they were all simply on the Mayor’s wish list. That’s it. And that is a bad way to run a city, especially it’s wallet.