Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

A belated response...

Ms. Rose:

You?’re right, name-calling is not productive. However, it appears ?“Pleased?” has more connection to city hall insiders than he/she would like us to believe. Therein lies the problem, doesn?’t it? The city government is supposed to be ?“by the people and for the people?”. People being voters/residents - not builders and folks who merely make their living in Pickerington without actually living here. When our city government cuts
deals behind closed doors and routinely subverts the will of the voters/residents behind closed doors, there exists a major miscarriage of democracy.

I?’m very surprised that you missed the boat in my last statement. The taxpayers of Pickerington can afford to pull our schools out of this mess ourselves. We do not need the Community Authority (C.A.), BIA, M/I or Dominion to throw us a life raft. I believe you also missed the moratorium requirement before we bail our schools out. I will not vote ?“YES?” to issue a blank check to the school district with the hope that city council will do the right thing. They have never done the right thing and will not until
there is a change of guard.

Surely you can see the folly of any plan that has been crafted not knowing what exactly you?’re planning for. How could you plan your weekly grocery list without knowing how many mouths you?’re going to feed during the week? The same holds true for our school board and our school district. How can they plan for anything when the BIA has been given unlimited building permits? If there were a 1% growth limit in place the school board could begin to plan ahead. Right now, I don?’t think you are on the taxpayer?’s
side of this issue.

Please be advised: the BIA doesn?’t vote here - we do! There must be a moratorium, which you, the Chamber of Commerce (CoC), the BIA and homebuilders are adamantly opposed. What was passed Tuesday is certainly NOT a moratorium. It was a back room deal with no discussion or input from the public and just plain wrong! No American should be governed by such methods!

When I spoke of the township vs. city argument, I have to take you back to the emergency legislation issue and how that has affected the city resident?’s ability to have a say in their government. Right now, I don?’t see any developer offering new development (rezoning) in the Violet Township office, do you? The climate won?’t support it. Furthermore, as Mayor Hughes used to say, the city is part of the township. How many more signatures could petitioners get to stop a rezoning in all of Violet Township, when the city is under a 1% growth limit? I think you can see my point here. With a 1% growth limit in place, the entire community, city and unincorporated township, will support a referendum against any Violet Township rezoning. Indeed, the little township conference room would easily be jam packed should homebuilders try to build one house more per acre than current zoning will permit. Unlike the city, the township cannot ram through a rezoning against the will of the citizens they are supposed to represent via
emergency legislation.
Continued?…


By encouraged

response part two...

Continued?…

Right now, we have on city council a majority that
has done just that. They approved thousands of homes last fall as an
emergency. Where was the CoC then? Where was your voice when that
happened? That was a travesty, much like the latest school levy failure.
The CoC shares the blame here too. Didn?’t they hold a special meeting with
the city manager to agree the 3 issues before the voters last fall were
?”misplaced aggression?” against residential developers? Again, my point is the
CoC is not looking out for this community as a whole; they are looking out for their
biggest contributors?’ interests. If you cannot see that then you betray yourself.



You have been fed the ?“City v. Township building permit?” argument by those
on council and those you represent so many times and for so long that you
now believe it yourself, even though it doesn?’t hold water. Why? Let me
give you and example: If my basement was flooding and there were two major
leaks causing the flood, but one leak was harder to close than the other
leak, I wouldn?’t simply throw my hands in the air and say, ?“These two leaks
cannot be fixed at once, so I refuse to fix any leaks.?” Indeed, I would fix
the easiest leak first and if that easiest leak were causing the majority of
the flooding, then that would be all the better. The basement wouldn?’t be
filled with the flood as fast and when the first leak was fixed I would
certainly address the second leak with all my energies and resources. This
example could be easily applied to the ?“flooding?” of our school district
with children by the city and township.

I believe your influence and influence of the CoC is greater than what you
would like us to believe. You need to do a little soul searching and do
right by the community first. Then and only then will you earn the respect
of the citizens of this community. You will not gain respect by
representing the views of a few of your most generous contributors to the
detriment of the community.

There is a bigger picture and it includes things other than the short-term profits
of area businessmen and businesswomen. With the latest turn of events, we
can all see how everyone, including area businesses, has suffered at the
tunnel vision and shortsightedness of city council and a few generous and
manipulative CoC contributors. Do your constituents a favor; embrace the
moratorium. By doing so you embrace the community, the taxpayers and the
school district. By supporting the C.A. offered by city council, you show
your willingness to accept anything at any cost, just for the sake of
saying, ?“We?’re making progress?”, even though you have no idea if progress is
really being made.




By encouraged

A toady is...

The dictionary definition is ''someone who flatters in the hope of gaining favors'' i.e. sycophant

Here on the PATA sight the term is typically used whenever someone says anything that resembles a positive comment towards city council. Some people who can't turn others towards their way of thinking typically refer to name calling by stating someone is a city hall toady.

The term has also been used out of context in the local newspapers by some against the recall stating PATA 'and their toadies' are doing the recall for politicial reasons.

My reply - part 1

First, I apologize I did not make it clear, but I was the one originally posting as ''Pleased.'' Due to criticism in the past for posting here, I started anonymous. I have since decided against that, and don't care who knows my views. If someone knows I am posting here, they must find some value in reading this site.

On the issues you raise - first, the Chamber is not as tight with the City and Builders as you seem to think. In fact, due at least in part to my actions in trying to address growth issues, one major supporter of the Chamber decided not to renew extra financial support of the Chamber this year. A few members have decided not to rejoin, and two formally requested I resign as Chairman for allegedly not supporting businesses enough.

I want businesses to succeed, and want a healthy economy for Pickerington. As I've stated publicly before, businesses are what drive everything - they pay people salaries, which generates taxes to fund the government. Businesses also provide necessary (and desired) services and products. Personally, my only clients are businesses, so I would like to see more here, and I would like to see them do well.

However, I also am against uncontrolled, unplanned growth. Businesses will not want to relocate (or even remain) in an area where schools are poor (quality and/or financially), traffic is terrible, and other infrastructure is inadequate. I have 2 young kids in the schools here, and I pay considerable amounts in property taxes. I do not want my kids to suffer or the quality of their education to diminish, nor do I want my taxes to skyrocket.

There are many serious issues facing us right now. It is a real balancing act. I am no expert at these things, but am trying to learn as fast as I can. In addition, many people - several of whom have posted here recently - have spent considerable time gathering information. I hope those people and all others concerned will come to the CommUNITY 1st meeting on May 18 at the Jr. High.