Welcome to the First Coast Tea Party
BREAKING NEWS: YOUR PROPERTY TAXES WILL GO UP
I have just returned from the City Council meeting where they voted to raise our property taxes again for the second time in two years.
This was not a surprise. We saw it coming and we heard some disturbing comments over the weeked which we decided to hold back. We held them back because we wanted to see if the council members would prove those statements wrong. They didn't.
Last weekend, it was brought to our attention that local lobbyists were caught laughing at an event about the tea party bringing people to the city council chambers. They said, "They can bring 1,000 people down there and it will not make a difference. The deal is done."
It appears those lobbyists were right.
Here's what the lobbyists and our city leaders do not understand.
Scott Rasmussen, an independent pollster, stated recently, "The Tea Party Movement is not a flash in the pan, as many have assumed. Nor is it a movement of racist rednecks and ignorant boobs, as its detractors have crudely suggested. To the contrary, it is an authentic grassroots movement of concerned American citizens demanding to be heard by an out-of-touch political establishment. Their concerns are real and their issues are legitimate."
When you showed up last night and voiced your concerns one after another in a professional and dignified way - you let the city leaders know the Tea Party Movement has come to town. While we have focused most of our efforts on the federal level, it is now apparent we must spend some time with our city leaders too. They evidently do not understand their job has changed because the economy has changed. We do not have money to burn and if we are cutting at home, they should be cutting too.
Candidly, I wanted to poke my eyes out a couple of times as I watched the questions asked and people scurrying to find the answers and then watching them explain that we can't do this because of this and because if you do this this will happen and then you have this and if do that then we have to do this. I understand why the city council members caved!! They could not get a straight answer from anyone. And they call us "ignorant boobs!"
There are many complex issues to this budget and many moving parts that even the city council members could not understand. We demand and expect that the budget process and the way our money is spent should be simplified and transparent. It should not require 4 rows of people on hand to explain to the city council what the numbers mean. Nor making calls during the meeting here and there to find out what the numbers mean.
The final vote was 11-7 and here are the votes for 2010-557 (Budget)
Yea: Corrigan, Fussell, Gaffney, Holt, Hyde, Jones, Joost, R. Brown, Shad, Webb, D. Brown
Nay: Bishop, Clark, Crescimbeni, Johnson, Lee, Redman, Yarbough
Please contact those who voted No and thank them.
Please contact those who voted Yes and ask them to put into writing Why they did? They should be willing to do that and if they don't it will tell you alot about them.
So what now? A plan is in the works for continued relationship building and accountability with our city council and other city leaders.
In the meantime, if you have experience in running an organization and have been a success at your endeavors, we encourage you to consider running for city leadership. We will not be focusing on those races until the November election is done. When November 3 hits, we will be looking at local political opportunities and encouraging leaders to stand up and help us fix the financial mess we are presently wallowing in.
If we do not find a way out of the tax and spend mentality, we might as well put a "Closed for Business" sign on the interstate -- because no business in their right mind would want to build a business here.
We wish the city leaders had heard from Rick Santelli who recently ranted again. We're with you, Rick!
Views: 40
Comment
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Comment by Valerie Sawyer on September 30, 2010 at 8:59am
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I spoke personally the other day with Audrey Moran. I told her the City does not need things like the Human Rights Commission and the Jacksonville Children's Commission. She told me she disagreed. So, you can mark her off your list.
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Comment by Patricia M. McBride on September 30, 2010 at 7:53am
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And if you heard Webb's speach when he was installed as council president, he said he would push for all these city projects for the downtown that we can't afford and at least one of the people running for mayor is saying the same thing. We truly need to get the builder's association people out of our city government as they are robbing our city blind while getting wealthy at tax payer expense.
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Valarie, although I agree with you whole heartedly and would love to see these big spenders out on their ear at the soonest possible time, having until November would assure us time to find people who could run successfully against them. We need more than 4 months (although I am sure it is possible to find a few). As far as Lee goes, she was great to vote no, but if you were in the city council chambers yesterday, you heard her say she wanted to fund the fire department for the layoffs (so they could be rehired) and refused to make the hard cuts in the budget. Voting no is great, but when you already know that vote will not effect the outcome of passing the budget and tax increase, it is kind of a wasted effort and might say the same about the other person who changed their vote. I personally though would love to see Webb gone as I think he is in anyone's pocket who is the high bidder and he is also builder's association (and those folks are bankrupting our city with all the wasted money on projects that never seem to come to fruition).
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Yes, Frank, my council person voted no as well. Denise Lee - I believe she is one who changed her vote from a "yes" two weeks ago to a "no" this time. Not sure why or what was behind it, but I intend on sending her a thank-you note.
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Comment by Frank A Dunwoody on September 30, 2010 at 6:33am
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I am sorta of lucky, my council rep is 1 of 6 that voted nay, I thanked him and advised him that he will more than likely be re-elected because he listened to his people. We need to thank the nay voters, because hopefully, they talk amongst themselves.
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One more thing.......on your ballot this year is the question of whether or not we should move City elections to the fall. If you vote YES on that, that means this current bunch on the Council will get an additional six months and will not be voted on until November 2011. I say we vote NO. This bunch should have to face the music come March.
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I have a friend who works in the yard waste division. He says their department has been absolutely gutted. It's frustrating to see vital services slashed when there is so much other "fluff" (equestrian center, events dept, human rights commission, jax journey, etc) that was left standing. I have to laugh when I read statements from the council persons saying that cut everything that they could. I don't think they realize the tsunami that is coming for them in March.
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“People want services, but they don’t want to increase the millage,” Jones said. “And that’s a contradiction.” This is a quote from Warren Jones, the new chairman of the Finance Committee. This is his philosophy. So what do you think we're going to see next year also? Keep in mind Mr. Jones was appointed to this position just the other day by Mr. Jack Webb. Jack Webb chose the MOST liberal "tax and spend" Democrat on the Council to appoint to the head of the Finance Committee. He also appointed Denise Lee - the second most liberal member of the Council - as chair of the Rules Committee. Jack Webb also voted for the tax hike. He must go.
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Comment by Lyndee on September 30, 2010 at 12:54am
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Does anyone have a clue how that small town in CA found out how much their Gov workers were "taking" for their salaries? Remember the ones that were taking over a million in salaries? I think we should find out and every city's citizens should do the same. Bet we'd all be shocked and just as enraged as those citizens in CA that threw them out of office! They found out why their taxes were so high....
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Kay, we already have one member (see below) who is thinking of running, and I know at least one RLC member who has already announced, but he is running for an at large rather than against the fellow in his district. I think after today, most of these guys are beatable no matter who they are. I could not believe the person that said we were not really the end all as many people wanted the increase (like who? the people on the human resources commission, Rutherford, the unions, city employees?). When the poll they took said 93% didn't want a tax increase, I wonder what they could be thinking or perhaps the problem is, they were not thinking.
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