Saturday, December 20, 2008

Request That Democracy Be Exercised

This coming Monday at 7:00 PM the NLR City Council will be meeting upstairs at City Hall. Given the published agenda it promises to be one interesting evening to see democracy in action. For there are many ordinances requiring much factual information to be exposed and digested and we can only hope that the democratic process will openly process everyone of them! We have questions - will we receive clear and understandable answers from our city leaders? Two major subjects to be considered are:

1) The 2009 NLR City Budget is up for approval. They are talking approximately 48 to 53 million dollars. Question: Will it be allocated in a manner to achieve the best bang for our buck given our community's infrastructure and safety needs?

2) Tax Incremental Financing (TIFs) as it may impact our public school system's finances - this promises to be very lively since legal action may be involved between our City and our NLR School District. Question: Will the common NLR citizen be given a chance to become correctly informed on the pros and cons of this ordinance as it may affect them today as well as their children and grandchildren tomorrow?

Mayor Hays will convene a public hearing to address both of these ordinances. This is democracy in action! We can only hope that this process will produce clear and understandable knowledge for all citizens to digest! Given the multi-layered context of these matters it is unfortunate that a deadline of next Mondays council meeting, December 22 has been established for a vote. Question: Will there be enough time available next Monday evening to allow for understanding of the issues for an informed vote by the Council?

This City Council Meeting may be the most important one of 2008 that affects our quality of life for next year and beyond! You don't want to miss it! If you are planning on being at City Hall - get their early for a seat! If you can't be there then watch it live on Comcast Channel 4 or set your recorders to see it later. Democracy in action - come Monday let us hope it is an example of it's finest quality for all of us!

Someone once said: "A picture is worth a thousand words!" You know - it might just help us all to understand.

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