Here it is, Monday night, Election Eve, with a long road yet to go to resolve our whole fiscal mess (and I'm not implying additional tax revenues), but with the first important and necessary step immediately before us - saving the funding for the library and removing it from the political shenanigans that disgust us - so we can rise above together, put our differences aside, and support a citizens-initiated, citizens-funded, and citizens-managed campaign to save our wonderful library and come together to support that effort. What could be more conservative, or liberal, than that?
Do we, the supporters of Proposal 1, feel manipulated into this action? Of course we do. Should it have come to this? Of course not. But now, none of that matters. In case you've been asleep the past six months, the city council eliminated funding for the library next year and forever more, after essentially halving it this year. Not just jobs, but careers and dreams were lost this year. Much more will be lost next year.
Let's face it: Is there anyone in Troy not ready for this thing to end? The attacks, deceptions, manipulations, as well as all the flyers, earnest calls for support, calls, ringing door bells, etc.
Well, guess what? If you want this to be over, really over, and not just begin the next round of argumentation, campaigning, posturing and to somehow find a way to stop Troy from looking like the embarrassing regional drunkard living on past glories who just won't stay down on the ground because he thinks he can still get up and kick your butt, then vote yes on Proposal 1 so we can all get on with saving Troy from itself.
Otherwise, it continues. The library won't, but the arguing, name-calling and that awful feeling that is gnawing at you as you think, "What happened to Troy?" will not go away.
Tuesday we begin the process of taking back our city. Stand up, man up and recognize the gift this library is for the entire community and, yes, pay the reasonable and measured amount necessary to keep it alive and vital. We don't need a book warehouse. We need a library staffed by librarians who have served this community and know you, know your children, and know how to serve information to them. Damn it, we deserve a library and all that it implies in the modern information age. And then that reasonable "cost" will be seen then for what it is, a small investment that pays significant dividends, quarter after quarter, year after year, for what was and will once again be the wonderful community of Troy, Michigan.
We haven't felt much like that lately, have we? That's why it's up to us to change the narrative, adjust the message, and remember why we came here in the first place.
Vote Yes on Proposal 1 and only Proposal 1 tomorrow. It's not the perfect solution. It's just the only solution. Pass it on.
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The city of tomorrow, today, is quickly becoming the city of yesterday, now. This site is dedicated to honest discourse, from the left, right and center (those who voted YES and those who voted NO) in hopes that we the residents of Troy can take back our city from the "professional" politicians and their administrators to make our community whole once again. Our fiscal crisis is real. Join us in seeking honest solutions.
15 comments:
Well said, Barry, well said!
Let's pray that this will all be over tomorrow night and that everything goes back to normal (except that our library will be INDEPENDENT).
Barry: Thank you for being a reasonable voice during this period of controversy. While I may not agree with you on everything I really appreciate your willingness to focus on the facts presented by both sides of this issue. - Dave Lambert
Thank you, Dave. I appreciate your recognizing my attempt to bring people to the table. As Abraham Lincoln said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." Obviously we are not faced with that kind of maelstrom, but we are a community or we are not. I choose to believe we are. Let's keep everyone talking.
On to the next phase. Maybe something can still be saved. Some people really believe this. I'm skeptical but willing to be convinced.
Helen,
I think something can be done, but it's going to be hard and it's going to require some ego-adjustment on the part of both sides. It's still raw but I have some ideas. For not, however, these can't be discussed too openly, which runs counter to my philosophy on this blog. But political realities being what they are, careful consideration and quiet deliberation might turn something up.
I'll be in touch.
Notice to Troy residents and readers of this blog: We aren't dead yet.
Do you have any info/idea why the Library is not listed separately under the Department tab on the City's website? I was looking for a phone number for another department and didn't see it listed. It's now under "Recreation/Culture" along with Museum, Nature Center and Parks and Recreation. It's still officially a dept until July 1, 2011, right?
Barry,
I wouldn't thank Dave Lambert for anything. He could have used his well read blog and twitter accounts, as well as his extensive political contacts and relationship with TC,U to advocate for passage of Proposal 1. Instead he did NOTHING whatsoever.
Dave and the morons at TCU simply do not want to pay any tax whatsoever. We once had a name for such people: anarchists.
Jeff,
I understand your view and in general agree with it. But he complimented me and I will thank anyone who does that. My mom wouldn't have it any other way.
My hope was that by trying to engage with the more thoughtful TCU people, still believing such people existed, we might come to common ground. It's looking pretty naive at the moment. And it's quite true that Dave certainly could have used his resources for a good outcome for the community and he chose not to. In fact, the more I ponder the tactics of the Troy Citizens United the angrier I get. That's why I've avoided comment since Tuesday. I'm still processing my anger and trying to come to a point where I think I can add value toward a solution. Right now, I don't know how that is possible. Maybe I'll feel better tomorrow.
And Anonymous, I'm afraid I wasn't aware of the change on the city web page. But it looks like another way to marginalize the library into a "quality of life" frill instead of the essential service it is. Maybe a fleet less of shiny black Chargers in the PD and we could have something, eh? But I guess sports cars are essential.
Don't forget who created this mess. It wasn't Dave and it wasn't the TCU, it was the city council and the administration. They were the ones that **decided** to make the budget cuts and millage proposals. They are the ones that can **take action** to fix the mess that they've made. It's not an impossible problem to solve -- they don't have to prevent the sun from rising, they just need to reconsider their decision. I voted NO and it tore me apart...and I will stand next to a Prop 1 supporter and argue in favor of keeping the Lib open.
OnTheFence,
I haven't forgotten who started this, though I still come down on no matter how wrong they are, no matter how much we can prove it, it doesn't matter if they decide to ride it to the bitter end. And all indications, all assertions on their part, are that that will do that very thing. They have been unequivocal, though I think the margin of "victory" (more on why I put that in quote later) is politically relevant.
This question on the library has never been one of who's more right/wrong, but simply one of whether the library will survive this game of chicken between two poles. I no longer believe it will. I appealed to everyone to look beyond their position and see what was threatened, probably irrevocably.
So this "we support library too" argument rings very hollow to me at the moment. You want it, you support, but you don't want to pay for it - the library and staff are starving to death right now on the current budget; just because we haven't keeled over doesn't mean we aren't about to. The current budget is unsustainable past this year. Any honest assessment would have made that obvious. Saying you support it, but...may seem like a nice sentiment, but it's not realistic and it's probably not even adult. I'm not trying to insult you, but unless they swallow their pride, which I fear is more of a challenge than stopping the sun from rising, the point is moot.
I'll try to include additional thoughts on this in tomorrow's post. I think I'm ready to try to make a public statement on this. At least I think so. I'll try anyway. But thanks for your comments. It's given me some ideas to express and as hard as it is, I think we need to keep talking if there is any hope for our community to heal.
I would like to know what those who voted "no" will do, in the next few years, as property values continue to decline. You say there is money in the budget that can be taken from another city dept. to use for the library. Well, okay. For the current year. What about next year? And the year after that? Would you have part-time staff, already doing the jobs of two or three people, continue to take a pay cut, year after year, to accomplish this?
Maria,
The money is there in the police department, which is relatively untouched by all these cuts. Troy has a fine PD, but it's growing to 65% of the general fund in the next year due to the reduction in everything else. Cuts must be made there unless Troy is satisfied to be a city with one department. That said, as you allude, this isn't a sustainable solution. We don't want to do the PD what they are doing the library. My point is, and both mine and Clint's point going all the way back to May, is this: we have a crisis of trust in city government. They have not articulated at any point in this process an actually intelligent argument. They have bought into the simplistic political conventional wisdom that voters are stupid and need to treated as such. So until they come clean with the actual size of the deficit and do something about the top 5% of the management staff enriching itself at the price of front line service people, no one is going to buy that there is a real need to raise revenue. And there is a real need to raise revenue. Everyone else has done it and no one else has closed their library. Only in Troy is that considered an acceptable response and it will cost Troy for decades to come, in perception of the kind of community it is and that ultimately costs everyone in property values. A great brand that many visionary business and political leaders have worked to hard to build over the past 40 years is being destroyed by this management and governing team in a few short years. Meanwhile people who haven't been in the library in a decade or more are telling us what we do (as if they have a clue) and how we should to (proving they have no clue).
It's time to quit blaming and start solving the problem. Let go of the past. We need to work in the present to heal the city and maintain the library.
Helen,
What are you talking about "blaming?" I've been working on solving the problem since April. The fact is, we solved it by looking into the past, because that's where the groundwork for this debacle was laid. The result? City council still refuses to acknowledge the real size of the deficit while claiming they looked at "all the numbers", though this is demonstrably untrue. TCU still ignores the actual problem and wants the library saved, but no one over there has any idea where the money is going to come from. And they both are driving this train off the tracks. But it's a political issue right now so it's nice to say, hey, let's just move on, but it's awfully naive, don't you think? We can't get the rest of the community engaged if they think these guys are going to solve it and since it's clear they won't, we have to educate people. Blame? Damn right. Gloves off.
4 the "record" Biltmore "built" most of everything in TROY,Michigan under Many differ Company NaMES. So Biltmore set the Building standards as low as they could Buff the then sitting councils through the years, make-ing the Home values fall as the Home owners saw their homes falling apart built on,filled on swamp land.
yes. I do have the land survey/s of the 1950's and early.
I asked the TROY Historical Museum where did the Indians had villages,,they even said TROY was a swamp..No Indian villages in TROY Township ever.this areas was call BEAVER LAND.
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