Editorial by Matt Marquardt –
I’ll make this quick this morning. City Hall is about to blow $76,500 to move a few walls in its first floor. The mayor, council and city administrator claim this will make operations more streamlined and efficient. At the rate they intend to cut city departments and workers, there won’t be anything left to streamline.
I have some advice for these people, who seem blind to the antics of the criminals and generally nasty element around here:
Wake up and step out of the cultural crescent, put your beer can down, look around, turn on a police scanner, and get a clue: This city’s law enforcement needs a bigger presence, a stronger presence. It needs help cleaning up the streets. The summer is just heating up, and the folks I am talking to sense that the delinquency, dereliction, malfeasance and villainy are just getting underway. We now have possible serial arson on our hands, paired with home invasions, bank robberies, vandalism, drug dealing… I could go on.
Please, spend this $76,500 on protecting the citizens. It might help get us through the next 3 months with fewer incidents, prevent an apartment complex burning down, prevent a murder, who knows. Sit down with Chief Lashbrook and see what he really needs, and do it without criticizing and micro-managing. Let the man speak frankly without measuring his words to placate you. He is the best expert we have, not you, so shut your traps and enable our law enforcement to do its job.
16 thoughts on “Advice for City Hall: Spend that $76,500 on law enforcement”
Way to go Matt!!! Now if only they listen!!
Faye, go to a CCW class, get yourself a nice shooter and become proficient with it.
Just another bad example of how Bookmeyer and Trout are destroying our city. It’s time for people to attend the council meetings, and speak our minds at the public forum that Bookmeyer is not so fond of. This is getting ridiculous. Don’t the council members and Bookmeyer realize they are elected officials? How can they even walk down the street anymore? They all should be ashamed of themselves.
Speak at a council meeting????? Then people would have to use their real names.
NO they are told to sit down and NOT speak!!!! See it happen if they don’t want to hear it they make you sit down!!!!
Are you kidding me?? $76,000.00+ to move some walls?! How can the city approve spending this kind of money when the people of MC are cutting corners to just survive? It is high time for the city to try to do things the economical way. Why not put that money toward the betterment of the people of the city, such as the police department and still get the job of moving walls done also? Why not hire NIACC’s shop class to do it? It would give them some training, while supervised plus get the job done for the city at a far lessor price.
Do you know how many drinks $76,500 will buy?? Let’s see the REAL DEAL here….. $4,000 – $5,500 for the wall…. Rest spent on advertising to explain they built a new wall to streamline, and a open house party with a OPEN BAR!!!!! By my estimation that will come to about……. $76,499.89, oh well let’s just round it up.
Let’s use the money to hire a couple more police officers. From the looks of the crime going on in our city we need more police. Maybe they are plannning on having volunteers fight crime. Sign up and patrol your street. I have asked councel members for a curfew for years. They told me it would not work because of too few cops on duty. You better hope the home invasions don’t take hold here because your on your own in this town. Can’t afford to move, what do you do? Anybody have a solution?
Good article Matt.
Citizens telling city government how to spend public money? Next thing you know they will actually WANT to vote! Crazy!
Two thumbs up!!! Matt
Bravo, Mr. Marquardt.
As long as they leave the marijuana users alone, I’m all for your proposal.
Max and you both.
Marijuana is good, somebody has to deliver those pizzas!
You mean someone has to eat those pizzas. I never was one to get the munchies, though admittedly food taste can be enhanced, along with aromas. Marijuana heightens your senses. I was too much involved with the intensity of the high to get hungry. Of course having conquered my hunger drive could be part of that. I’m not saying I don’t get hungry, I just don’t get those hunger pangs that cause most people to get irritable and anxiety ridden. If you deliberately fast like I have, those hunger pangs go away.
Damn Peter-why does it always have to be about drugs with you. Great article Matt. We have serious problems with shootings, thefts, gangs, fires and drugs that need to be addressed so let’s not confuse the whole issue with pot.