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Pot-Hole-y Toledo; An Intervention
By Helen Wheales | April 7, 2009
Dodging potholes is a rite of Spring round these parts, where we often toggle between freeze and thaw as Winter fights for its last breath. And once the weather officially breaks, the city’s self-termed “Pot-hole Posse” takes to the streets to fill and smooth over, then the resurface crews follow on an every second or third year schedule.
This year, we may have to learn to navigate those obstacle courses and go without repaving, at least on side streets. According to news reports, street repair may be the next service cut due to the city’s growing budget shortfall. Mayor Carelton Finkbeiner has proposed that while main streets be repaired and paved, residential streets will have to wait…City Council will take this up tomorrow.
Toledo taxpayers seem to be an easy-to please bunch. We’re told that if we don’t pass this tax or that levy, our safety and livelihood are threatened. We comply, but promises are quickly broken, and our safety and livelihood are threatened anyway.
We are a gullible bunch, too. Over and over, we believe what we are told–that taxes are necessary and that they are temporary, yet we are never permitted to let them expire. Our leaders come to rely upon the money, and we let them.
We have paid for essential city services: Police and fire response and protection, education, water, refuse collection, pest control, lighting, snow and leaf removal and street maintenance. If we have already paid for these amenitites of urban living, we should get them. We have elected and paid people to make certain we get what we paid for, yet our money is misappropriated…spent on other things, too. When hard times hit and tax revenue falls, the money is not there, and neither is the service.
Too bad for us. Poor saps.
I’ll give the mayor this–at least this time he was looking for places to slash expenses instead of adding taxes. However, I won’t settle for cuts to services that we deserve and have already funded.
None of us should settle for this, yet we do. What are we to do?
Tell them all no. Write your council representative TODAY. Tell them that you paid for street maintenance and you demand that you get it. I am considering asking for a refund for services not rendered…I know that there is no money to refund, but I am considering asking anyway.
I would suggest that if your auto suffers a bent axle, or flat tire due to the city’s inability to fix and repair potholes, you should send them the bill for your repairs. I’m sure it won’t be paid–there is no money–but this may send a message.
If we continue to let our elected leaders make empty promises, and collect our hard-earned wages in exchange for services that they cannot afford to render, we are doing nothing but enabling the powers that be to continue this misgovernance and theft.
You decide: Do you want to be an enabler, or is it time for an intervention?
Topics: In The News, Toledo Alive!, Toledo Politics | 2 Comments »
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