Comment Corner

We have had many great comments to our postings over the past few weeks, and we would like to take a moment to answer and share some of the posts with you. This blog is only possible because of the input of so many of you, and because of comments from readers who are looking for alternative news information.

First, we have had many comments on the proposed election reforms by the City of Kissimmee and our readers are not happy.

Comment to "Me Too, Me Too": May 10, 2007 9:59 AM: Anonymous said - Only one commissioner, Irizarry, realized that it was stupid to make these changes now when we were looking at putting a charter review committee together. Of course in response to this was Jeanne Van Meter with - "We’ve been doing this for quite some time," Commissioner Jeanne Van Meter said. "This is what we want on the ballot, no matter what." In other words, forget the people. The commissioners are in charge and we, as citizens, are not smart enough to make smart decisions. I would almost say that is correct, by looking at those we have elected.

Response: To this point, we could not agree more. The commission is increasingly ignoring input from the citizens. Citizens who challenge the power of the commission are chastised and sent packing. The fact that there was no citizen input on any of these proposed changes tells us where the public ranks in the eyes of the elected. We firmly believe that you will need to do your homework on these issues and vote accordingly. The simple solution when they come up on the ballot is to vote no on all of them.

Comment to "We interrupt this commission meeting,": May 8, 2007 5:15 PM: Anonymous said - I am not sure if these commissioners are all together there. I am not sure they really know what they are doing.

Response: We are getting this input a lot. Our neighbors and friends, who live in this community, seem to spend most meeting times with their mouths wide open in shock. This commission will work better with your input. They may ignore it to start with, but when enough people say the same thing to them, it becomes harder to ignore. We believe that most of the commissioners want to to what is best, but need input from you. Do your job as a citizen and tell them what you think. (Unless it is a mysterious rambling story that has gone on for years and your initials are L. C. J. Then we ask you to either get to the point, or stop talking about it.)

Comment to "No news is... no news?": May 6, 2007 1:43 PM: danny sexton said - As a local business owner who uses the local free paper to advertise I can tell you its effectiveness is in decline greatly....When I mention this to the paper staff they just laugh.

Response: Over the past several years we have been disappointed at what our local media has tried to pass for news. If it comes out of the mouth of the county or the cities, the information gets printed as fact. No fact checking, no other points of view, and no real journalism at all. Re-printing the points from government press releases does not always illustrate the full story.

We continue to question how the local media will be relevant. All of these blogs and newsletters wouldn’t be needed if newspaper readers felt that they were getting the inside scoop on local politics.

As for all the questions concerning the whereabouts of some of our local activists, we will pass along any information that we hear. We are not sure of their whereabouts or their fading interest in our community. We will keep you posted.