Pass the Joint Department…

I wish I had what they are smoking down at city hall.  Our Mayor, wants the police to forego their raises so our Mayor and City Council can balance the shortfalls in the city budget.  This is the same police union that worked for months, nay, well over a year without a contract and raise while the city basically ignored their union.  Now, after kicking the police union in the balls, the Mayor wants them to forget their raise?

Hell, who needs police and fire?  It’s a lot more fun to watch something burn to the ground and crime in Peoria is not a problem, right? I mean, it’s no problem to be held up anywhere in Peoria, is it?  Businesses aren’t immune to robberies no matter where they are and in fact some gas stations are robbed so often, they have a sign up under the gas prices that says; “Our next robbery is due in XX days!”  No, let’s threaten the police union and tell them freeze your wages, like the firefighters did, or face layoffs.  Yeah, we need to layoff police.

Let me see if I got this straight.  None of the City Council, including the Mayor have the nads to simply raise the property taxes or the sales tax to cover the shortfall.  That would be political suicide on any campaign brochure. “Hi, I raised your taxes and I need your vote!”  So, we went into debt over some bad TIFs like Mid-Town Plaza, Ren-Park, and a few others.  Mi-Town sits mostly empty and of course we the taxpayers are paying the bill for those bonds we gave that developer. In fact that may be the reason we are in such debt??    Now, another developer wants $40 million from us for a new hotel and our Council will give him that money even though right now no bank anywhere will loan him the rest he needs. Oh and let’s not forget about the $6 million we lent Firefly.  That battery company that so far has done nothing but lay off employees.  I wonder if that $6 million has come back.  If fact, if we still had that $6 million, it would go a long way towards our $10 million dollar deficit we have now.

So, to fix our problem with money, or lack there of, our Council is nickel diming everything they can like a water usage fee, garbage collection, which has worked for decades in Peoria but leave it up to this bunch, I am sure they will screw that up also and anything else they can think of.

Ok nickel dime this Council.  Don’t fuck with the police.  In case you haven’t noticed, crime IS a problem.  No more idiotic fees.  I can’t list on a legal pad all the fees and taxes I pay on my phone, cable, electric, gas, water, sewer (oh let’s not forget the sewers) gasoline in Peoria, HRA taxes, HIZ taxes, and pretty soon, the Museum Tax or as it is known, the Facility Tax. No more prayer sessions, lose all the Blackberry’s we pay city employees to have, drop the company cars and fancy SUV’s with the new logo’s.  Supervisors can ride out in the dump trucks.   No more salaries for the council or Mayor, at least until the city is back in the black.  Nix the museum, sell the property and take the money.  Let a private developer develop the land.  So what if it becomes a huge Cash Store.  In other words, lets trim from the top down and not from the people who actually do the work up.

Have the police start charging for stupidity.  Like running out of gas in the middle of University or more than one domestic fight call to your house.  I mean all cars have gas gauges and if you continually punch your spouse and suck up police resources, then you pay a fee.  Police should start writing traffic tickets and hand them out like candy at the fair.  (see my previous post)  That is revenue. Raise the sales tax. Some business did when they shouldn’t have and no one complained.  (Remember the 9% fiasco??) Raise the property tax also.  Everyone’s home values are in the shitter anyway right?   I want no more fees or taxes because once these things are implemented, they NEVER EVER go away. Ever! 

You guys on the council are elected by the people.  We need city services not hotels, museums, ballparks, and business incubators.  I’d rather live in a city crime free, with decent streets, and great fire protection then live in a ghost town with pot holes, gangbangers, and 25 McDonald’s.