January 9, 2009

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Comments by musician

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Posted on June 30 at 9:18 p.m.

Just to play devil's advocate - all the complaining is too little, too late - where was everybody last summer when all this started? A year ago the city commission made a list of possible cuts to the budget, published it in the Gazette, and held three or four public forums on the budget, looking for input from the people of Emporia. I was present at several of those forums, and there were fewer than 25 people at each one. About all that the commissioners heard from the public was along the lines of, "Do what you have to do, but don't raise my taxes." The commissioners response was to make the cuts they said they would, including, among several others, cutting the money for the fireworks display. Where was everybody back then?

Don't get me wrong; I am just as unhappy with the cuts that were enacted, especially considering the ridiculous money spent since then on surveys and studies to find out what we already knew. However, let's not condemn the city commissioners for doing what they told us they would do. WE were the ones who elected these people on a "lower taxes" issues, and then WE were the ones who failed to tell them what cuts we wanted in order to lower those taxes.

If we want a voice in city government, then we should take an ACTIVE roll, not wait until unpopular decisions are made, then complain about the results.

(End of my 2-cents)

On Fourth of July fireworks

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