The sky is falling

Is the sky falling?  Are we facing anarchy on the streets? No we are just talking about a tax freeze.  Most people have been confusing the term freeze with the word cuts.  Current council members have been throwing around the total of $90 million dollars as the amount that would need to be found over four years in order to accommodate this tax freeze.  But how are they coming up with this number?  The current rate of property taxes has been increasing on average of 2-3% per year, now during this time they have been slowly hiding another tax with the increase of water and sewer rates at 7-8% per year.  The city of London is a billion dollar corporation and as such it seems that the checks and balances are no longer functioning.  We have been told time and again that in order to provide a 0% tax FREEZE that essential services would be cut and people would suffer.  It’s hard to believe that we need to accept this fear mongering in order to allow the current council to continue with its current spending practices.  $160 thousand for metal trees, another $100 thousand for making a salt dome pretty and so on and so on.  Are we to accept that every tax dollar is being spent to it’s best value with spending like this?  I would hope not.  With everyone dealing with cost increases from hydro, gas, food, etc , we have to make due with less.  We still pay our rent, buy our groceries , we just do without the extras if we can not afford them at this time.  Yet our city council is saying that it is an impossibility to make do next year with the same amount of money they had this year.  This is what they have said for the last ten years no matter what the economy was like.  Massive lay offs, plant closings, economic down turns and still the city says no we cannot cut back at all without massive suffering to existing services.  Is this an acceptable way of thinking?  If it is, then you must be happy with the current conditions of London and the current council.  We have reached new highs in unemployment, crime and social service programs.  This is the legacy our current council has bequeathed us.  Yet we are expected to accept it and move on.
So not only can our city not cutback in spending, they also feel this incredible need to force more regulation down our throats.  By law after by law with no rhyme or reason.  We shall not have stacked parking, but we cannot park over night.  The solution they don’t know , we must come up with one.  We have students residing in houses with more than four non related occupants in order to absorb costs.  The city’s response?  We need a by law to stop that from happening.  The solution for the students now?  We must figure it out.  Too long has our current council been out of touch with the real problems Londoners are facing.  They sit back and enjoy their sense of accomplishments by figuring out new pilot projects and bylaws they can place their name to.  Or the best is when they feel this constant need to compare us to other cities and look for outside solutions to our local problems.  When did we lose track of who we are?  When did our council lose track of who they represent?  When do we stop this from continuing? 
This coming election we have a new situation that we have never faced before.  Only one city wide elected representative.  From now on our councillors will be sitting on the budget committee and making plans for the city as a whole.  These are the same councillors who enact inane bylaw after bylaws, the same councillors that want a pilot project in regards to everything, the same councillors that need outside research firms to come up with local solutions, the same councillors that say a tax freeze is an impossibility.  These are the same councillors that say they work full time for us.  When is the last time you felt like your city was working for you?  Too long we have been working for them.  Make a change on October 25th, make a difference.  Let’s get this city back on track. Vote Bob Howard Ward 6.