Common Ground
A homeowner in Waukesha for 20 years, Steve is president of the Waukesha Dog Parks Organization and enjoys motorcycling, fishing and staying on top of politics.
Sustain The Mayor's Veto
Lately, I've been more concerned about my personal budget than the city's. I have looked over some of the items that are of particular interest to me, namely, the library and transit system.
While public transportation is less of one that it was, the library remains a sacred cow that nobody seems to bring to examination. Indeed when I wrote about the library budget in another publication, a number of replies questioning my sanity were received and published. I still maintain that the public library system is bloated and exceeds the needs of the general population given the vast amount of resources that practically every household has available to them, the Internet. The city should not be in the business of entertainment. Free entertainment at the expense of the taxpayers.
Public transportation is a necessity. However, just as nobody helps with fuel, maintenance and depreciation of my personal transportation, I don't especially care to pay for some stranger's either. It doesn't matter if it is their own car or riding the bus. If the argument is made that it gets people to jobs that they otherwise couldn't get to, does it not become the free enterprise way to somehow have the business pay toward that?
No matter, the budgets are made and Mayor Scrima has vetoed them, which I approve of doing. Tuesday night is a public hearing about the budget. It is expected that special interest groups will be there. Nothing wrong with that. I did so when I wanted money for dog parks. But for each person attending the hearing, there are many more not able to attend. However, many have spoken their desires via the recent elections. The message of reduced spending and less government should be reverberating within the council chambers.
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