Date: Sun, 3 Aug 2014 22:26:34 -0400
From: virginia penley
Subject: What’s the Point?
I don’t understand the point of Ms. Johnson’s posts.
It is clear that the GOP majority claims to have cut expenses paid for county commissioners, but they meet less often and have not taken seriously their respective roles on regional boards such as the Metropolitan Planning Organization, which is exactly why the taxpayers have gotten shortshrift and the county has been shortchanged.
So in effect they have cut the amount of work they perform as commissioners without a commensurate pay cut. And they control the votes of the board and the agenda as well. (It’s nice work if you can get it…)
So what if former Commissioner Kost made the motion that Ms. Johnson references or Commissioner Cross seconded; the fact remains that it needed at least one GOP vote to pass and it received all three. (And, BTW, Kost and Cross aren’t up for re-election.)
Does one really believe that if former Commissioner Kost had made a motion to fully fund the arts or raise the salaries of all county employees or increased funding to the school system that “Team Bockward” would have immediately passed it 5-0? (Cue the laugh track.)
Of course not.
They control the votes and they control the vision which apparently lacks a bookmobile, a human relations commission, a comprehensive and complete land use plan, support for transit, the arts, or any number of items that create the quality of life that makes Chatham County a special place to live. I grant you that they will do the minimum, but is that really a philosophy or a vision to endorse? (Welcome to Chatham County: we do just enough to get buy. If you want investments like crosswalks, forget it, that’s frivolous.)
Our country was not built on such a limited attitude and neither will our county. We have a chance to be great and do it right and we can endorse leaders who have that philosophy.
Karen Howard is unopposed and will be elected this fall. Walter Petty is unopposed and will be reelected, which leaves districts 3 and 4 to consider.
Upon reflection the question at hand is whether the county wants to continue moving in a “Bockward” direction or elect Diana Hales and Jim Crawford to replace Brian Bock and Pam Stewart and chart a new course that includes annual investments in the municipalities, the protection of property rights against fracking, forced pooling, unzoned mining operations and related work camps. In addition they are committed to protecting the water we drink and the air we breath as well as a more robust support for economic development and the public school system. And they want to listen to you and deliberate in public on the issues at hand.
Bock, Stewart and Petty,… 3
People of Chatham Co, …..0