Battle Hymn of the Republic
The People’s Republic of Charlottesville; it’s a joke, and always a disparaging one at that, that people toss at the city government because it gets involved in some of the strangest activities for a medium-sized city. For instance, our republic has come out with foreign policy recommendations in the past, cast its weight against wars and death penalties and nukes and a variety of other actions that earned it scorn and ridicule from the social conservatives among us.
The republic has also been good about putting our money where its mouth is. Concerned about the environment? Replace your fleet vehicles with hybrids, grow turf on your roofs and increase the number of trees in the city.
Concerned about social justice and economic inequality? Create housing initiatives to put more people in affordable homes and spend bucks on social programs to level the playing field.
As a social moderate, none of that bothers me. As a fiscal conservative, I’ve gotten my panties twisted on a couple of occasions, but I’ve had little problem with the goals of the republic. For instance, the $8.000 Italian junket for councilors and school boarders doesn’t bother me nearly as much as the cool million the council wants to spend on creating a pay-to-ride ambulance service rather than funding the existing free-ride CARS program.
Right now, though, I’m tending to agree with the former fire chief Julian Taliaferro. Things are tough in the city and everywhere and likely to get tougher in the short run, not just for those in the lower socio-economic brackets for the great washed taxpayers as well. The CARS replacement should be dumped and any program not needed for safety and welfare scrutinized. I’m not saying cut them all, I’m saying be very careful with any increase and hold the line. Remember, any tax increase raises our mortgages and mine has increased every year for six years.
“We have to look carefully at the budget and see [what to fund], because I know this will be a tough year,” Councilor J.T. said.
It’s hard to be fiscally conservative and socially responsible. Please, my fellow republicans, do your best. My mortgage payment depends upon it.
Posted by Bryan McKenzie at 01:18 PM. Filed under: We, The People •
