The lay-off numbers for the county are in and the City of Kissimmee is still in the process of making its reductions. Our heart-felt hopes go out to those who now, or will, find themselves in on the job market like this. Maybe the Economic Development Department can explain how to find all of those "secret" jobs that they have been working so hard to bring in to our community so your time on the unemployment line will be short.
Now that the positions have been cut, government has stepped up it's campaign to blame the residents for voting for a tax cut. It is the people's fault, of course, that government went through the same uncontrolled growth spurt that housing development in our area has gone through over the past several years. A couple of years ago government was rolling in the ever increasing tax revenues it was collecting and lacked the foresight to control the expansion of its own employment base. This mismanagement allowed government to get much larger than it could afford to be. Now government is being forced to reduce its staffing back to affordable levels. Government officials argue that this is the fault of the residents and they are doing every thing they can to protect government. We supposed that falling property values, delinquent tax bills that can not even be auctioned off, and the rising gas prices are also the fault of our residents? We think not.
While all of this is going on, new furniture is being moved into the county building, convention centers are being discussed, and more housing developments, that are what got us into this mess, are being approved. In the city of course we have All American City pageants to attend, pigs to outlaw, and fountains to be built. St. Cloud's big issue is whether (or not) to put a drug-rehab facility next to a school that young children attend. All impressive governmental issues, but none that seem to bring relief to the citizens at large. Most of the issues will impact the residents negatively, which implies that government is suffering from a true disconnect from not only the people, but the jobs they have been elected to do.
Maybe it is time that local elected officials are required to take an educational course to brush up on the responsibilities of government instead of the weekend seminar they now take on "How to be an elected official." Knowing and understanding the job of government would help go along way in preventing the mess the local governments, and the residents, now find themselves in. As A Real American Hero G.I. Joe would say, "Knowing is Half The Battle" and at some point, elected officials have to learn their respective jobs and how to prioritized the needs of the community instead of prioritizing what they want done personally.
A simple example of this would be to look at the All America City pageant the City of Kissimmee is trying out for today. The city worked hard to raise over $12,000 dollars to fund the junket instead of using tax dollars. Great, but what else could that money have been used for? Did the City just dip into the limited amount of money that companies have on hand that is intended to be given back to the community? Did the city just take money away from programs like "Meals-On-Wheels" so they could attend this competition? Maybe the contributors who donated their money to the pageant never intended to give this money to other programs, but maybe the commission should have put more thought into the priorities of those they are elected to represent. We guess that depends or your definition of what "All American" means. Again, knowledge is power.
A second quick example is the drug-rehab facility that was approved by the planning board in St. Cloud last night that they are trying put in a residential area near a school. The non-profit that will run the facility is the Transition House who chief executive officer is Councilman Tom Griffin. The project is moving right along even though many have express their concerns about the danger it may pose to the school children nearby. No outcry for the project, plenty against, and government thinks it is a good idea. It will be good for Mr. Griffin, but we are not sure it will be good for the community when you look at the results of the facility in the City of Kissimmee. Again, "Knowing is Half the Battle."
Maybe elected officials just need to understand that the priorities the are supposed to fight for are the priorities of the residents? We still think they need to take the class.
Now that the positions have been cut, government has stepped up it's campaign to blame the residents for voting for a tax cut. It is the people's fault, of course, that government went through the same uncontrolled growth spurt that housing development in our area has gone through over the past several years. A couple of years ago government was rolling in the ever increasing tax revenues it was collecting and lacked the foresight to control the expansion of its own employment base. This mismanagement allowed government to get much larger than it could afford to be. Now government is being forced to reduce its staffing back to affordable levels. Government officials argue that this is the fault of the residents and they are doing every thing they can to protect government. We supposed that falling property values, delinquent tax bills that can not even be auctioned off, and the rising gas prices are also the fault of our residents? We think not.
While all of this is going on, new furniture is being moved into the county building, convention centers are being discussed, and more housing developments, that are what got us into this mess, are being approved. In the city of course we have All American City pageants to attend, pigs to outlaw, and fountains to be built. St. Cloud's big issue is whether (or not) to put a drug-rehab facility next to a school that young children attend. All impressive governmental issues, but none that seem to bring relief to the citizens at large. Most of the issues will impact the residents negatively, which implies that government is suffering from a true disconnect from not only the people, but the jobs they have been elected to do.
Maybe it is time that local elected officials are required to take an educational course to brush up on the responsibilities of government instead of the weekend seminar they now take on "How to be an elected official." Knowing and understanding the job of government would help go along way in preventing the mess the local governments, and the residents, now find themselves in. As A Real American Hero G.I. Joe would say, "Knowing is Half The Battle" and at some point, elected officials have to learn their respective jobs and how to prioritized the needs of the community instead of prioritizing what they want done personally.
A simple example of this would be to look at the All America City pageant the City of Kissimmee is trying out for today. The city worked hard to raise over $12,000 dollars to fund the junket instead of using tax dollars. Great, but what else could that money have been used for? Did the City just dip into the limited amount of money that companies have on hand that is intended to be given back to the community? Did the city just take money away from programs like "Meals-On-Wheels" so they could attend this competition? Maybe the contributors who donated their money to the pageant never intended to give this money to other programs, but maybe the commission should have put more thought into the priorities of those they are elected to represent. We guess that depends or your definition of what "All American" means. Again, knowledge is power.
A second quick example is the drug-rehab facility that was approved by the planning board in St. Cloud last night that they are trying put in a residential area near a school. The non-profit that will run the facility is the Transition House who chief executive officer is Councilman Tom Griffin. The project is moving right along even though many have express their concerns about the danger it may pose to the school children nearby. No outcry for the project, plenty against, and government thinks it is a good idea. It will be good for Mr. Griffin, but we are not sure it will be good for the community when you look at the results of the facility in the City of Kissimmee. Again, "Knowing is Half the Battle."
Maybe elected officials just need to understand that the priorities the are supposed to fight for are the priorities of the residents? We still think they need to take the class.
3 comments:
Wayne Who for Mayor!
This is an excerpt from a post from several days ago.
Why not one metro government? If duplication of services (the main "reason" for consolidating fire service) is such a big concern than why not just merge the three governments? After all do we need three City/County Halls, three City/County Managers, three City/County Attorneys, fifteen City/County Commissioners?The list goes on and on. Seems that a whole lot of tax payer money
would be saved.
Now, given the track record of the current Meatloaf King in a previous life this is exactly where we are headed. What should scare the hell out of everyone is the question "Who is going to be in control?" Which group of commissioners is willing to let go of the power trip they are on? Unfortunately the ones that would step back for the good of the citizens of Osceola County are the people that we need to reverse the trend of self-serving agendas that have taken over in both cities and our county government. The people that would be left to run things have proven that they couldn't find the truth even if they used a map.
Knowledge is power-agreed.
Knowledge of the workings of the local officials should make you mad as hell.
Wayne Who for Mayor!!
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