Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

On Election Day, it is important for everyone to get out and vote.

I also think that it worth repeating that ''PATA SUPPORTS SCHOOL/FIRE LEVIES''.

Quoting directly from the January - March 2002 PATA newsletter, ''...PATA realizes that not approving the Violet Township Fire Department and Pickerington Local School District levies on this May?’s ballot will only lead to diminished services from both of these outstanding groups. Neither of these entities has any control over the number of people they serve; they are dependant upon the leadership provided by Violet Township Trustees and Pickerington City Council in how the land in our community is developed.''

The newsletter went on and said, ''Given this, PATA urges all area residents to get out and vote on May 7th. Vote in favor of both the school levy and the Fire Department levy, and remember why you are having to vote to pay more taxes when it comes time to cast your ballot for City Council, Mayor, and Trustee in November of 2003.''

While I have not always agreed with PATA positions, I applaud PATA for the leadership they have shown on these very, very important community issues. Thank you PATA! Vote today and vote YES on Pickerington Local School District Issue 4 and YES on Violet Township Fire Department Issue 13!!

Turnabout is fair play

OK Mark the voters possibly in part due to PATA?’s urging did the right thing according to you. Can those same people count on you to do the right thing and question the imminent levies for probably two new elementary schools and probably operating levies for the new junior high and senior high schools?

We know they are coming and you know they are coming so where do you stand?

Will you stand against the problem that is causing us to have to vote on levy after levy for the schools?

Can we count on you to speak out in your persuasive style to rid the community of the despicable city leadership that over crowds the schools?

Instead of you asking us to continually treat the symptoms can we count on you to help us treat the disease?

We know where you stand on school issues but what is your stand on the overall community issue of unrestricted growth that is poisoning the schools? Don?’t cop out and say you are just a township resident who has no say in city business.

We are all in this together. Are you with us?

We are all in this together

Thank you for your support of our schools and Issue 4.

Yes, due to the massive residential growth, we need to build new and/or expand existing elementary schools and maybe raise a few more operating dollars. We are educating hundreds of our elementary students in trailers. And, as a school district, we must JUST SAY NO TO TRAILERS ?… in the long run, they cost our district far more than if we would build new / expand existing buildings when they were needed like they wisely do in Westerville.

In addition to more help for our schools, you can count on my support to help curb the massive residential growth and encourage our community leaders to seek quality commercial growth. As part of the boundary committee process, I am very frightened by the numbers of new homes in the City of Pickerington. The new homes in the City of Pickerington just west of the current high school will produce about 3300 +/- more students versus about new 1300+/- students from the much larger area of unincorporated Violet Township and the City of Columbus. That is very, very frightening. And, those numbers are from homes that are already permitted ?… not from future development.

Stop and think about it ?… 4600 more students are coming ?… and there is nothing you and I can do about it now. Nothing. We can only curb future residential development and we need to so before our district is filled with homes.

I frankly feel the City of Pickerington has done a very poor job managing residential growth and Violet Township has done a poor job of attracting quality commercial development (like Deerfield Township has done in southern Ohio). The two initiatives to limit density to R-2 and limit the use of emergency legislation when placed on the ballot in the City of Pickerington will be a start to taking control of our community again.

I also applaud the leadership of PATA for separating the poor residential growth policies from the outstanding services of our fire department and schools, and rightfully commenting that neither has control over the number of residents within our community.

However, as PATA went on to say, we can take control of our community in November, 2003. Let?’s do it before it is too late. Let?’s work together to promote excellent candidates ?– professionals with business and leadership background ?– to LIMIT RESIDENTIAL GROWTH and ATTRACT QUALITY COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT. And, in the meantime, let?’s continue to support our outstanding school district. Yes, we are all in this together.