I still think that Carl, Fred, Tom, and Jim (along with others) have answered the questions and that many ideas have been given to City Council. They are not paying attention to us.
----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Tina Yearack <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, February 27, 2009 8:10:16 AM Subject: RE: Debate on the value and/or priority of installing Wayfinder Signs in Springfield In the REAL WORLD, (and it terrifies me to think of how far our city, state, and federal governments have ventured AWAY from REAL WORLD strategies) when ordinary, every people, businessmen (most of them, anyway) run into a crisis like this, (and, in my opinion, this is a 5-alarm fire) you put ALL the cash on the table (designated, not designated, etc.), and you look at what you have. And you come up with a CHANGE to your already-created budget THAT MAKES SENSE, and maximizes the cash you have. Is this really that hard? If it's really that hard and complicated, then something is VERY WRONG. When I was teaching high school, we received monies from the state that HAD to be spent on certain types of equipment. Never mind that we needed something that didn't fall into their guidelines. So, after 6 years, I ended up with equipment that I didn't need, and I was spending my own money to buy the stuff that the state wouldn't provide because it didn't "fit" in with their mandates. How crazy is that???? To spend money just for the sake of spending money, and to "prove" somehow that the Council keeps its word, and will lose its credibility if it doesn't follow through with something that the voters approved YEARS ago (OK, it was only two or three, but seems like a lifetime after what's happened with our economy) is just plain irresponsible. Whatever happened to good old-fashioned common sense? Actually, I don't think anyone's common sense has gone out the window. I just think that it's been overtaken by good old-fashioned greed. The motives by which our Council and its supporters have operated absolutely take my breath away. There is no motive for doing what's best for our city. It doesn't take a rocket scientist, or camping out at city hall every day, to see that. "Cause I'm letting go of everything I am; and I'm holding on to everything You are..." from "All in (letting go)" by TobyMac Tina Yearack Staff Accountant Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor Stufflebam CPA Group 1650 S. Enterprise Springfield, MO 65804 (417) 882-2273 (office) (417) 882-0644 (fax) (417) 880-1501 (cell) ***********Stufflebam CPA Group, PC Confidentiality Footer ****** Privileged/Confidential Information may be contained in this message. If you are not the addressee indicated in this message (or responsible for delivery of the message to such person), you may not copy or deliver this message to anyone. In such case, you should destroy this message, and notify us immediately. If you or your employer does not consent to Internet email messages of this kind, please advise us immediately. Opinions, conclusions and other information expressed in this message are not given or endorsed by my firm or employer unless otherwise indicated by an authorized representative independent of this message. Any tax advice contained in the body of this e-mail was not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, by the recipient for the purpose of avoiding penalties that may be imposed under the Internal Revenue Code or applicable state or local tax law provisions. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]on Behalf Of Matthew Block Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 1:05 PM To: missourilibertycoalition Subject: Re: Debate on the value and/or priority of installing Wayfinder Signs in Springfield My point is that saying "Don't do this!" is not nearly as convincing as saying "Do this instead". If you want to convince council that their priorities are wrong, you have to provide alternatives. Otherwise they'll just look at you like a whiner (whether or not your protest is justified). The naming of more important CIP projects IS NOT USELESS. The CIP money exists and has been collected and should be applied to something; otherwise we've been taxed for nothing. If you intend to convince council (or anyone) to not spend the money on signs, you need to be able to point at something else to spend it on. I completely understand and am also frustrated by the irresponsible pension decisions, but CIP money cannot be mingled with anything else. So the pension troubles have nothing to do with this issue. On Feb 26, 12:52 pm, "James Hornaday Jr." <[email protected]> wrote: > Matthew: > > I think you have little understanding of the frustration OTHER citizens feel when they see the City run the police/fireman's pension into the ground, and then watch the same council people authorize starting a $683,000 capital improvement project that does NOTHING for addressing the city's core needs. I don't think anyone has violent objections to installing these signs. It's just that the administration and council have warped priorities, and spending money now when they don't have it is something they just have to do. Do you have any idea as to how many Council approved projects are intended to be funded by sale of bonds? That's the same as you and I putting a big purchase on a credit card. > > Hey, there are 70 street, sanitary sewer, and stormwater projects in the Council approved 2009-2014 CIP listing. If you are so all fired eager to name a better priority project out of those projects compared to the Wayfinder Signs, do it! I don't want to imagine what specific project you think might be more important. > > The naming of or debate over what might be a 'better' CIP project is kind of useless. We just had a demonstration of the city's thinking Monday night that shows us Council's priorities - - and we think their priorities stink! The city hasn't learned the meaning of the word "NO!" yet. They think they can continue spending spending spending. The council members that voted FOR the Wayfinding Signs will ultimately regret their votes. > > Jim Hornaday > > Re: What might be a better priority CIP than Wayfinder Signs? > > Thursday, February 26, 2009 12:13 PM > > From: > > "Matthew Block" <[email protected]> > > To: > > "missourilibertycoalition" <[email protected]> > > Why did this end up on a new thread?? I wanted to see the original > argument strengthened because the original post was rather weak. A > reply to the original discussion would have made much more sense. I'm > not trying to take sides here, but I would like to show why the > council members haven't been influenced by these arguments. > > Even this reply is hardly convincing. Could any of these projects > listed be completed for the same price as these wayfinding signs? Are > any of these projects going to bring more business to town? > > How important wayfinding signs are in general is something worth > debating, but tough economic times make them more important rather > than less. This argument that the timing is wrong is completely > misguided. If you don't want to try to pull people in when times are > tight, why would you bother when things are already going well. If > we're going to do this, now would be the best time. Like I said > though, whether or not we want to do this is worth debating. > > On Feb 24, 2:07 pm, "James Hornaday Jr." <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > From: > > > "Matthew Block" <[email protected]> > > > To: > > > "missourilibertycoalition" <[email protected]> > > > What on the list of capital improvements should be moved ahead of the > > Wayfinding signs in priority? > > You talked about prioritizing, but didn't name any projects that > > should be a higher priority. > > Unless there is something this money could be used for that is a > > higher priority, why wouldn't we move ahead with the signs? > > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > > Good question Mathew. > > > For starters on selecting another 'better' priority for spending taxpayers' capital money, how about: > > 1) any road project that would make it easier for people to drive > around town? We can pick from 28 council approved CIP projects. > > > > > 2) any storm sewer project that would keep a neighborhood or street > > from flooding the next time we have a 3 inch rain? # council approved > > CIP projects = 23. Pick one. > > > 3) any sanitary sewer system improvement that would keep the nasty > > stuff flowing down hill and being treated properly before release, so > > that it meets DNR and the EPA regulations? # council approved CIP > > projects = 23. Pick one. > > > 4) any side walk improvement program that would allow school kids to > > stay OUT of streets as they are walking to and from school. # council > > approved projects = 4. Pick one. > > > 5) any capital improvement project that might help the Springfield > > Police Department run more efficiently ? Ooops! There isn't a single > > one. Police activities don't seem to rate too high on Council's and > > Administration's priority list. > > > Excuse me, but Wayfinder Signs in the city don't rate too high in my > > personal opinion book, compared to the priority Springfield obviously puts on installing > > these signs. If you have any idea the projects the City wants to spend > our tax money on, it's very easy to conclude their spending priorities > are NOT our priorities. > > > > > Jim Hornaday --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ This is a Free Speech forum. The owner of this list assumes no responsibility for the intellectual or emotional maturity of its members. If you do not like what is being said here, filter it to trash, ignore it or leave. If you leave, learn how to do this for yourself. If you do not, you will be here forever. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
