Posted by Sounder on May 16, 2017, 12:11 am, in reply to "Re: Today's Rant"
You can't force people to care or to have pride. That is something that is learned by watching your parents and the people close to you growing up.
I have to agree that the majority of the fault lies with the towns people. The general lack of pride in their property's appearance, their personal appearance, etc...and that spills over into the appearance of the town they live in.
With that being said, the bottom line is, whether or not we all have to settle for and accept this attitude, and allow it to slowly destroy our town.
Or do we step forward and actually hold our community leaders accountable and force them into leading our town into a more positive direction?
We elect these people. It is our job to make sure they are representing each and everyone of us, our wants and desires for our town.
I have 60 years invested into this community and I'm not willing to throw in the towel just yet.
The elections are over, and that ship has sailed. We had a choice between a seasoned familiar face to put back behind the desk, or elect a different candidate that the voting public was not ready to put their faith into.
My guess is, when the towns people voted the Mayor back in, by doing so, they are saying they are happy and satisfied with the way our city is being lead.
When I, like Opi2, drive though this town and take a long hard look around, and I go into businesses like he had mentioned, and I look at the property, the parking lots, the employees and lastly the patrons, the not so nice, judgmental side of me rears it's ugly head.
Then I agree with much of Opi2's post. But the brunt of this fault, in my opinion, does lie with the Mayor and the council.
I would rather see a clean, well kept, well manicured city with multiple empty updated commercial properties any day. Verses what we have now.
If our city was cleaned up, and well kept, and our empty or available commercial properties updated with decent parking lots, they would attract investors, and would not stay empty long.
The condition of our town does not give us much hope or promise of growth, if any, as invested property and business owners.
The Mayor and council have the final say as to what will and will not be tolerated in our city.
God knows, this city has ever been one to shy away from creating new ordinances. Why slow down and stop now?
Create new ordinances that will not allow commercial properties to sit empty and into disrepair over a reasonable amount of time.
This will force these property owners to reinvest into their properties, update the properties and keep them occupied.
Occupied commercial properties mean tax dollars for our city, instead of a tax write-off for the owners who allow them to sit empty to die a slow and unsightly death.
The Mayor and council need to revisit old ordinances that was once created to better the town, yet fell short in the long run.
They need to open their minds and ears to the people about desired business ventures.
To hell with old ordinances that will only allow alcohol or a gaming licenses if, you stand on one foot and jump through 15 hoops, and guess the correct weight of the fat lady at the circus.
The town is dying a slow death and in desperate need of revenue.
It's time for the Mayor to start making positive changes. That may actually require taking some chances. I would rather see him and the council make some changes, and take some chances and go down fighting, rather than occupying city hall doing an additional 4 more years of nothing while our city looks and feels like a sinking ship.
This city has seen more of it's fair share of committees and meetings, that dog has been beat to death. It's time to actually produce something, change something, and not just arrange another meeting place and time to talk about it.
on May 16, 2017, 12:11 am, in reply to "