Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

I know the local papers won?’t publish this?…

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Although I welcomed the differing opinion regarding Ted Hackworth's political fitness and attitude to fill the vacant seat for city council because it is good to have debate, (12-12-02 ThisWeek editorial, ''Hackworth ''too negative'' to be council member) the letter writer made a seriously flawed statement in only her second sentence. She states, ''I built a new house in the Villages of Sycamore Creek....''

To most readers this statement is not very bothersome. However, it is grossly misleading and flat out insulting to anyone who is associated with carpentry. Does the letter writer mean to imply that she is a carpenter and she poured the footers and foundation? Perhaps she means to imply that she may have nailed the joists and put up the walls right before she put on her roof?

I seriously doubt that she's done any of these things.

Therein lies the problem in central Ohio. When we (Central Ohioans) buy a new car we don't say we built the car, yet when we go to an office a couple of times and pick out trim and flooring and go to another office and sign a few papers, we?’re the first to trumpet, ''I (we) built a house!'' In fact, most of us couldn't build a structurally sound doghouse.

When central Ohioans have surgery, do they say they performed an operation on themselves? Not hardly. To do so would be an insult to the profession and the surgeon who is actually trained to perform the surgery.

When any new home PURCHASER spouts off about building their home, they not only insult the tradesmen who really built the house, they also show their complete ignorance for the skill and ability it takes to build a house.

Wielding a pen and a wild imagination doesn't make you the carpenter.

My response to Times-Sun & TWIP

I am sure this will appear in an edited version, although I have requested a guest column to have more space than a letter to the editor. Here is my response to Hope Matheny's letter in it's entirety.

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As an active 8 year resident of the greater Pickerington community it seems necessary to state why I am no longer willing to stand by and watch decisions take place that will hurt our schools, our children and the community in which we live.

There may be some that say I should be quiet because I?’m not a resident of the City of Pickerington but I will tell you that when issues affect my family, our schools, our children and the quality of life in the area - it is my business. Randy Hughes has pointed out repeatedly that the City of Pickerington is one third of the school district ?– when the City?’s actions affect our schools you can bet there are two thirds of the school district, that reside in the township that are concerned as well ?– every parent should be.

This cause is too important to lower it into the realm of name-calling, so I won?’t. But I do want to set the record straight for the community; my actions are for all the families and children that live in this area now and in the future and for everyone that supports Planned, RESPONSIBLE Growth. New residential growth coupled with the necessary schools, roads, services & commercial development could come into the existing community seamlessly. What is currently being experienced is anything but smooth ?– we need a School District Building Plan where all critical factors are considered ?– schools, roads, services & commercial development ?– in a manner where building permits are tied to planned classroom expansion.

I don?’t believe there is a ?“type of people?” that doesn?’t belong in our community. I strongly believe that our children ?– all of our children, deserve to be educated inside a classroom & not a trailer. I do believe that the interests of the citizens that live in a community needs to be considered before unknown future residents. I do believe that the seniors that have lived in our community all their lives need to have their financial well being protected from endlessly increasing property taxes. And I do believe that our community should grow but that growth needs managed to assure and maintain the quality of life that we all live here for.

My response - Part 2

Developers look out for themselves and are neither concerned about the current residents or the new residents they bring to a community. A donation of land valued at $1.4 million from a Community Builder is terrific & and is a good first step, but lets not lose sight of the fact that this only covers the cost of educating 18 of the children in the development. The balance of this expense comes from us all, City and Township residents alike. To put this expense in perspective, the Sycamore Creek development with 717 homes will produce 575 children, using established projections from the PLSD ?– the cost to educate the 575 children for grades K-12 is $51.2 million. This leaves a gap of $50.8 million dollars over the educational life of the children brought to the community by the developer. When you take gaps of this nature over multiple developments you can see why our schools are approaching a financial emergency.

The truth about threats to our community needs communicated, this includes the truth about today?’s issues and the truth of past promises. The referendum petition in Sycamore Creek is for section 11 ?– 176 apartments ?– no homes are included. The same developer that built the original homes in this subdivision not only promised to donate land for a school, but also sold this neighborhood to its customers with the assurance that no apartments would be built on the balance of the land. Now this developer is trying to build the very apartments it said wouldn?’t and has reneged on its promise on the land for a school unless we allow the apartments to be built.

The fact is, developers are business entities whose only interest is profit and to think otherwise would be misguided. Don?’t let a balance sheet driven agenda fool you into thinking they care more about our children and community than the people that live here do. I would wonder if the principle owners of these companies send their children to school in trailers as they force ours to? Look in any Sunday paper and you?’ll see that the first thing a builder uses to sell homes is the school system and ironically the impact on the schools is the last thing they consider when that house is built. We should require them to leave the community a better place than when they came. This is not the case in the PLSD and is why I feel so strongly about standing up for our kids and trying to give our schools needed breathing room. My efforts have been labeled recently as and attempt to ?“get in and close the door behind me?” I want to clearly state that I wish to slow growth so our infrastructure can catch up not stop growth. You only have to drive around to see there is no door closed ?– adequate housing is plentiful for anyone who wishes to reside here, to infer anything else is less than honest.

My response - Part 3

There are funds in the City?’s 2003 budget to hire additional building inspectors ?– why is this necessary if they intend to slow down growth or actually enact the building moratorium that has been discussed at the past City Council meetings? And now, our developer friends at Homewood are in trouble in Hilliard for damaging the Darby Creek watershed against a court order. There is no court order to protect the Pickerington Ponds, just a final plat approving 380 homes, including homes on the 21 acres of the watershed.

The City Council assures us is this is never going to happen. If this was never going to happen then why was it ever approved?? Recommendations exist from the Ohio EPA as well as Metro Parks ?– none of which are in the Final Plat. Homewood is showing us what type of partner they are to the people in Hilliard ?– why should we quietly let them come here and hope for the best??

Other communities manage growth differently, citizens in Central Ohio communities have shown that reasonable growth, support for schools, and adequate housing can be maintained without sacrificing their quality of life. Do we have to follow some else?’s model?… not necessarily, but what we can learn from them is that the citizens can take back control of their community and make a difference. The pro developer city council hopes we will give up and so they can go back to business as usual but we need to make it clear that the time has come for them to respond to the needs of the community. I plan to keep fighting for my children, our schools and the area in which we all live and I ask that you do the same by participating in this issue.

We can make a difference!


Thank you,