Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

This was cut and paste directly from the official city of Pickerington web site on August 27th, 2002:


?“Education

2000/2001: 7,624 students. Pickerington Local School District has grown by an average increase of 305 pupils per year. At the current rate of growth, the student population will reach 10,310 by the year 2010, but with an increasing growth rate it could expand to 14,000 students by that year.?”

End cut & paste.


I guess we all really know the truth now, no matter what PLSD says their enrollment projections will be in 2010. 14,000 students will more than likely be enrolled in PLSD by 2010, not 10,000 students. We?’re going to need the new high school (Pickerington South) sooner than we thought. Can you say $44M bond issue in 2006? We won?’t even have suffered the consequences from the previous $74M bond by then. We?’re headed for disaster!

I'm reading. What should I see?

Mr. Brinson and Brian W. (if you?’re still out there),

While not an addicted reader of this forum, you?’ll need to forgive me if you have already answered this and I just don?’t have the time to research the forums for the answers.

You have done an exceptional job at identifying the challenges faced by the PLSD, its students, parents and taxpayers. You have also done an exceptional job reminding us of what we think about every time we sit through 3 lights or more at 8:30 at night at our quaint, picturesque new traffic signal in OldE Pickerington when your going south and trying to turn left. Or when, in mid-afternoon, the traffic is stopped going south from that charming intersection well past the Ricketts?’ farm. You have tirelessly, eloquently and repeatedly spoke out against the uncontrolled growth in all of Violet Township and the City. You have beseeched the School Board to take a stand against the City, which by the way, they won?’t.

You have told over and over again what is wrong but not what is right. You have told us what is broke, but not how to fix it. It is relatively easy to identify a problem but it can be daunting to offer a solution.

What can we do to fix the problem?

- Recall election? Not enough time and money to matter.
- Speak out in Council meetings? They don?’t listen and take every effort to publicly humiliate you when you are prohibited from responding.
- Petitions to hack away at the growth cycle? They can stall those indefinitely.
- Write letters to the editors? They all begin to sound the same.
- Try to get OEPA to forestall growth by denying permits? Unlikely to happen.
- Start new petitions to repeal the City income tax and School District income tax to teach them a lesson?

So I leave it to you. What can we do to change things that will have and immediate and lasting effect? The schools will go into a financial crisis without this levy. So the schools WILL go there. I can?’t believe any levy of this magnitude will pass. The kids will suffer. The uncontrolled growth WILL continue. It will get so bad that if you are going to Polaris, it will take longer to get to the freeway than the rest of the trip will take. Between now and November 2003, the sitting administration will annex and approve plats at a pace no one thought possible. Between now and January 2004 when the new administration takes their seat, can we expect the damage to be so severe that it cannot be repaired?

So again I say thank you for pointing out the problems again and again. Now I look to you for the solutions.



By Hemmingway

Work together Please

WHAT CAN WE DO?

Hemmingway asked a number of questions that should be answered but the answers take time. The value of this web site and this discussion page is that local people can vent and state their frustrations within the community. At one time a few years back I thought I was the only one that thought differently than the school board, township trustees, and the city council. The news media only reported what they heard at the meetings of the above entities. This discussion page shows everyone that reads it that there are others that are very concerned about our government?’s directions and their policies.

THE ONLY WAY TO MAKE THINGS CHANGE IS TO ELECT PEOPLE THAT THINK THE SAME WAY YOU DO.

Are there people posting messages on this site willing to run for any of these offices? If so what have you done about it? Is it time to put up with this or shut up about it?

To get elected you must have support groups and people willing to help and move forward with your agenda. One of the most serious problems here in Pickerington is that many of the support groups have already been infiltrated with people that have led us all into this mess. JOIN, JOIN, JOIN! Are you qualified to run for office? In the city you must be a resident one year prior to filing for that office (around August 20 something of the previous year). Do you need a college education? NO! Do you need to have special skills to occupy one of these seats on council? NO! You only need to be thick skinned and a willingness to listen and make decisions. Are there readers of this web site willing to devote the time to do that? Are there people joining organizations right now to help you accomplish any future goals you might want to seek in the next year or so?

For those that do not have the time. Please join these organizations that will help get more community friendly candidates elected to serve in these offices. I point to politically organizations both Democrat and Republican. Social clubs like the Lions, the Violet Festival, the Pickerington Area Chamber of Commerce, and of course the infamous Pickerington Athletic Boosters are examples of some of the more active groups. There are some other groups that gather such as the Historical Society, The Senior Center, The Food Pantry and The Library. If you don?’t have the time there candidates that will need your year this year and next, then please call them and volunteer to help them. They will be happy to accept your help.

TO MAKE CHANGES WE ALL MUST WORK TOGETHER.


By Dr. Pepper

5 Ideas

Mr. Hemmingway, et al:

Your email is well received and deserves my immediate attention.

Here are 5 ideas that will assist this community. Some take more time than others so patients is a virtue...


1.) Although we did try this a few years ago, we need to re-try this one again immediately after the 2003 election. And I'm hopeful that we're going to see new faces and new management in the city of Pickerington on Jan. 1, 2004. If not, this idea would be fruitless... again. GROWTH SUMMIT MEETINGS to establish clear and predictable growth within PLSD boundaries. Limits on building permits and cooperation in getting REAL businesses within PLSD boundaries. Without limits on homebuilding and a clear roadmap that shows district officials where we're headed, any and all levies will not solve our problem until we've built out the entire township. Currently, the much-acclaimed Industrial park proposed by Pickerington is outside PLSD boundaries and does PLSD taxpayers no good. We've got to change this. We need an industrial park within PLSD boundaries.

2.) Support an INCREASE in the PLSD income tax. Yep, I wrote it and you read it right! Increase our current 1% income tax to 1.5% or 1.75%. Now don't think I've fallen off a cliff and injured my gray-matter. Income taxes cannot be touched by TIF's and we will have beat the city to the punch when they seek their own income tax increase, which is currently lower than most surrounding communities. It will happen. The city will need to raise taxes. It is true that city residents have little to show for their current income tax and much to show for their PLSD income tax ?– this could be a selling point for city residents. Plus, an income tax is much more likely to follow the same trend as general enrollment and... multifamily units will have the opportunity to pay their fare share. Property taxes tend to overburden homeowners, especially owners of homes with substantial value. People who work in Pickerington and live outside the community pay income taxes. I know this population is small but their taxes will go up as well.

3.) Elect Michael Knoll. Michael Knoll has a plan to keep farmland, farmland and keep farmers farming. His idea of bio-diesel manufacturing plant will not only benefit farmer, it will also benefit the entire county. It will add jobs and keep families doing what they have been doing for generations: producing agriculture. Plus, Mr. Knoll has stated he would like to see developers build the schools, much like they do in many other states. Here in Ohio, we have a system that burdens property owners to the extent that most Ohio schools are continually short of cash. Mainly because property owners not only have to ante up to operate the schools, they have to pay for bricks and mortar. This has to stop. We can't ask our school boards to continually go back to the voters for ever dime to fund education. This has turned out to be the main job of Ohio's school boards: getting levies passed.

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