Wednesday, November 02, 2005
More talk on sales tax
Robin's Commentary
NO! NO! NO! NO! SALES TAX TO FUND PUBLIC SAFETY!
What part of no do they do not understand?
I cannot believe that they are still debating on being the first county in Oregon of having a sales tax or, placing a gross receipts tax on business (that will attract more businesses), just to fund public safety.
Then I asked myself why are they being so concerned about public safety now, when they never have been before? What has changed?
Could it be that they are actually concerned about the welfare and safety of the citizens of Lane County? Naw! If they did, the DA's office would not publicly advertise in the paper which crimes that they will no longer prosecute, and the police would actually the start responding to burglar alarms again and more concerns would be focused towards crime instead of busting our large prostitution ring.
Therefore, that could not be it.
So based on their history, obviously that can't be something that would benefit the general public, so it has to be something that benefits themselves.
Here's my theory...
2008 TRACK AND FIELD OLYMPICS = HUGE DOLLARS
Yes of course, money. And Olympics bring in a lot of money.
I will bet you that part of the condition of the Olympics coming to Eugene, is that the city provide adequate security, however there is a problem...
For years, they have been telling us that they do not have the manpower to provide services and protection to the citizens of Lane County.
While crime is on the increase, instead of hearing of projects like Salem, using bait cars to catch thieves who still vehicles, you hear about the city of Eugene setting up stings to bust our large persecution problem.
Suddenly, with the opportunity to host the 2008 track and field Olympics, they find themselves in a logistical nightmare. Not enough manpower and equipment to handle security and the increased traffic flow, and no available funds to correct the problem.
So what does a local government to do... what they normally do,
Threaten the public.
"If we don't get this bond measure, we are going to cut services." While there is nothing left to cut without violating the city charter, in addition, we've heard that threat so many times that it does not carry any weight anymore.
So since threats do not work, a new plan has arisen. Introduce a new tax and force people to pay it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
What we need is to change the city and the county charter in order to fund the safety issues first and foremost, then we can worry about the other pet projects that seem to have priority. The primary function of any government is to protect the citizens. Everything else is negotible. This includes schools, health care, parks, roads, diversity training, general neutral toilets, etc. Not necessarily in that order. $160,000 dollars for a special election and $400,000 a year to implement a police review board is a good example of how these idiots don't know how to manage money. If they are so concerned about how the police handle themselves, they can go for a ride along for free. I have lived in Eugene for 55 years and have never had a problem with the police. Maybe I hang out with the wrong crowd.
I agree, I have lived in this area since 1965, and the police here have been wonderful. However I will admit things in Springfield were a little better when they used to have the reputation of "shoot first and ask questions later."
my father used to be an investigator for the state of Oregon and I used to know a handful of police officers for the county and city Eugene however, I will say that the overall attitude of the department has changed but that goes along with the fact that our city has changed as well.
I can remember when Springfield discovered that there is money in handing out traffic citations from motorcycles and they used to hide in the bushes on the freeway to catch people this stopped when they pulled over the same judge twice.
Since then, both Eugene and Springfield went from the professional law enforcement officer to revenue enhancer and the officers that I knew that became police officers to enforce the law and protect its citizenship soon got disappointed of the new attitude of their bosses.
Most officers are wonderful and I take pride in their work, you just have one or two of those bad apples that ruined the bunch.
you're also correct in the fact that city and local governments cannot manage money because they believe that we are an endless source of money and can demand more anytime with a stroke of a pin.
that attitude needs to change.
Post a Comment