The Red River Tea Party is not taking a stand on the Bossier City Tax renewal. A spokesman for the local Tea Party said that any signs people are putting up encouraging a ‘no’ vote only reflect their individual view.
Some signs have appeared in Greenacres Place in the last couple of days. The TEA in Tea Party is an acronym for taxed enough already.
As I have said, ad nauseum, this is a renewal of a tax that was put into place 20 years ago, it is not a new tax. The City Council had rolled the 6 mill tax back to 4.86 mills, but rather than proposing a new tax, they just voted to renew the tax that is in place.
I fully understand anyone who wants to demand accountability from elected officials. The problem with voting this tax renewal down is that the people you will be punishing will the citizens of Bossier City and some very fine individuals who have sworn to serve.
Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.
>The problem with voting this tax renewal down is that the people you will be punishing will the citizens of Bossier City and some very fine individuals who have sworn to serve.
ReplyDeleteThis is not at all true. See http://jeffsadow.blogspot.com/2010/04/no-renewal-sends-tough-love-message-to.html.
Only a spiteful and vengeful set of politicians would react this way (which, admittedly, is not beyond this immature bunch). Many other realistic solutions exist that would require no reductions in public safety forces, but the longest-term fixes would require admission of failure by these people and that will be difficulty for them to have the fortitude to do.
Regardless of whether it passes, sorry to see you drank the Kool-Aid on this one.
Proud to say I voted NO
ReplyDeleteYou may be proud that you voted no, but you will not be losing your job if the renewal does not pass.
ReplyDeleteJeff,
ReplyDeleteWhat you said is so true. Yes this immature group will do exactly what they said they will do, because I think they are incapable of coming up with plausible alternatives.
However, with that said, this is not the fault of the firefighters and police officers who will lose their jobs. I voted for the tax renewal, and you can bet I will be voting in 2013 as well, and not the way Lo Walker, if he runs again, and Bubba Williams would want me to vote.
G.R., well put.
ReplyDeleteYes, I am proud I voted no. In regards to losing my job, I have lost a job in the past and no one came to me with any help. I beat the pavement and found another one. I think several months back the Mayor was made the statement the police and fire department was over staffed. If this is true then cuts should be made, that is from him not me or any other person. If the city didn't have the money to pay the wages etc of these people they never should have been hired. I realize it is a small amount of money, I live on a budget also. This is my tax money and I don't want it to increase one red cent. Like I said, I have been unemployed....no one helped me, I helped myself
ReplyDelete"sorry to see you drank the Kool-Aid on this one."
ReplyDeletenot a bossierite, but i think anyone who believes the council will adopt any solution that makes them look bad is the real kool aid drinker.
plain and simple: no tax means a reduction in forces.
My husband is one of the officers that will be laid off if the tax renewal does not pass.
ReplyDeleteHe was laid off from his job a year and a half ago and was having a hard time finding a new job. After months of him being unable to find work our family made the decision for him to take a large pay cut to become a Bossier City police officer. He loves his job and this city. We went through the stress of him possibly being laid off last fall and now we are faced with this. We have already been though one lay off and we know exactly what we will be facing.
My husband was involved in a foot chase through a neighbor last night chasing a suspect with a gun. It turned out to be teenagers with fake guns that were made to look real but the multiple citizens that called the police station were scared and did not know the guns were not real.
The mayor did make the statement that the police department was over staffed last fall. The department had layoffs and since then since then several officers have retired or resigned. I hate to think what will happen when another call comes in like the one last night if the department loses 30 more officers. Not only would a loss that large increase response time for the citizens but it would also increase the response time for an officer calling for backup.
Some of the citizens are voting no because they are upset with the cities administration. When the mayor's secretary retired the city council allowed him to hire a new one. The mayor and the city council will not be punished if this renewal does not pass. The families of the officers and fire fighters will be the ones who suffer.
The the person who is proud he voted no. It is your right to vote the way you want to and no one can judge you for that. I just pray that when someone you love calls for help someone is available to come to that aid.
One argument the "yes" voters have often used is that we need to "save" the police and fire, not for our own protection, but for the sake of "saving" the jobs of police and fire.
ReplyDeleteCities and townships hire police and fire to serve the citizens, protect them and respond in an emergency. the desire to help other human beings keep their jobs is a noble one, but to save police for the sake of saving police is a misguided one. Police are there to serve. If, for whatever reason, crime decreases and fewer police are needed, then it is in the best interest of the population to reduce the number of police, for their job is to serve, not to collect a paycheck.
Having said that, I don't think we're in a place where our crime rate is so low that we don't need all our police. I believe the cuts are from bad choices by our elected officials.
Right now the tax issue is moot. It passed, and thank you goes to those who voted for it.
ReplyDeleteNow to teach a little reality to those who live in nice neighborhoods like Green Acres Place, Bellaire, Stockwell Place and so on, and who think that we need to cut police and fire because their lives are hunky dory. Do yourself a favor and take a drive down Traffic Street north of E. Texas and drive through that neighborhood, or a neighborhood of the same caliber, at night. Stop and talk to the elderly people who don't have the money to move into your nicely cut and edged lawns. See how they feel about not needing enough police.
I have. Know why? It's my job.