City keeps sticking it to "the little guy"
Well, the powers that be in local government and city administration have once again stuck it to the little guy, folks. Patrons at the Oshkosh Zoo in Menominee Park will now have to pay double the cost they have paid the past couple of years. Those 18 and older will now pay $2 per visit; 4 through 17 will pay $1 and those 3 years of age and under will be admitted free of charge.
Now, the zoo MAY be worth $1 or $2 a visit; I don't know. But what is amazing and maddening to me is that the cost of the zoo in a public park can continue to climb, while the majority of city council members (sans Esslinger and Poeschl) absolutely refuse to suggest that the Grand Opera House start charging a little more for ticket prices. Would it really kill anyone attending a performance at The Grand to pay $1 more per ticket? Certainly not. Why do the members of this city council think that the blue-collar working class folk in this community can keep taking it in the shorts while the white collar folk and cultural junkies are not required to pitch in with an extra buck per ticket?
And now the city's director of community development, Jackson Kinney, is coming forward with a plan for Riverside Park. It wasn't enough that the city paid over $1 million to buy a piece of contaminated land to make it part of Riverside Park. They then accepted a "free" band shell from the Leach family foundation. A generous donation BUT it has come with a price tag, because not only will we have the band shell, but now Kinney is bringing forward some $4 million or $5 million worth of plans for improvements to the park. And don't forget, the land still has contamination on it that must be dealt with. I guarantee that this plan - though only in the discussion stages right now - will get approved and I bet the vote will be 5-2, with Esslinger and Poeschl being the two NAY votes.
Mr. Kinney needs to look at what other communities are doing. They have plans completely put together for desired projects, then figure out how to pay for it - and donors just naturally follow because they can see what the plans are and there is a pretty precise idea of how the project is going to look. What THIS city historically seems to do is slap some half-assed plans together, then hope and pray that donors are found. And the plans usually evolve from there. That is exactly what Kinney is doing here. He mentions multiple times in a recent memo about the project that he "hopes" to get money from here and he hopes to get money from there. In the meantime, while he's a-wishin' and a-hopin', these five city council members are going to spend us middle-class folk right into the damn poor house - and I'm a-hopin' I can make enough to pay for everything these people are thrusting upon us. To add insult to injury, these councilors then have the unmitigated gall to say "Call us and let us know how you feel about things we're doing," "Let us know if you disagree with the job we're doing," blah, blah, blah. Why bother dialing the phone to call these folks when they clearly don't give a damn about how the citizens in this community feel about most things? They have their minds made up and they are going to do what they want, no matter the cost.
It is time to start letting these elected officials know that we are fed up and we're not going to take it anymore - but let them know at the ballot box, where it will get the most attention. We need to start electing people into office who are going to listen to the public and do the public's bidding. Remember, friends, the city council members work for us. In what other job can you week after week, month after month, defy your boss' directives and wishes, and instead, do whatever the hell you want? None, and it should be absolutely no different here. If they don't want to listen to us, let's send them packing - post-haste!!
- Cheryl Hentz
Now, the zoo MAY be worth $1 or $2 a visit; I don't know. But what is amazing and maddening to me is that the cost of the zoo in a public park can continue to climb, while the majority of city council members (sans Esslinger and Poeschl) absolutely refuse to suggest that the Grand Opera House start charging a little more for ticket prices. Would it really kill anyone attending a performance at The Grand to pay $1 more per ticket? Certainly not. Why do the members of this city council think that the blue-collar working class folk in this community can keep taking it in the shorts while the white collar folk and cultural junkies are not required to pitch in with an extra buck per ticket?
And now the city's director of community development, Jackson Kinney, is coming forward with a plan for Riverside Park. It wasn't enough that the city paid over $1 million to buy a piece of contaminated land to make it part of Riverside Park. They then accepted a "free" band shell from the Leach family foundation. A generous donation BUT it has come with a price tag, because not only will we have the band shell, but now Kinney is bringing forward some $4 million or $5 million worth of plans for improvements to the park. And don't forget, the land still has contamination on it that must be dealt with. I guarantee that this plan - though only in the discussion stages right now - will get approved and I bet the vote will be 5-2, with Esslinger and Poeschl being the two NAY votes.
Mr. Kinney needs to look at what other communities are doing. They have plans completely put together for desired projects, then figure out how to pay for it - and donors just naturally follow because they can see what the plans are and there is a pretty precise idea of how the project is going to look. What THIS city historically seems to do is slap some half-assed plans together, then hope and pray that donors are found. And the plans usually evolve from there. That is exactly what Kinney is doing here. He mentions multiple times in a recent memo about the project that he "hopes" to get money from here and he hopes to get money from there. In the meantime, while he's a-wishin' and a-hopin', these five city council members are going to spend us middle-class folk right into the damn poor house - and I'm a-hopin' I can make enough to pay for everything these people are thrusting upon us. To add insult to injury, these councilors then have the unmitigated gall to say "Call us and let us know how you feel about things we're doing," "Let us know if you disagree with the job we're doing," blah, blah, blah. Why bother dialing the phone to call these folks when they clearly don't give a damn about how the citizens in this community feel about most things? They have their minds made up and they are going to do what they want, no matter the cost.
It is time to start letting these elected officials know that we are fed up and we're not going to take it anymore - but let them know at the ballot box, where it will get the most attention. We need to start electing people into office who are going to listen to the public and do the public's bidding. Remember, friends, the city council members work for us. In what other job can you week after week, month after month, defy your boss' directives and wishes, and instead, do whatever the hell you want? None, and it should be absolutely no different here. If they don't want to listen to us, let's send them packing - post-haste!!
- Cheryl Hentz
posted by Cheryl Hentz at 8:56 AM
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