Today we begin telling the truth, sharing it with all City of Troy residents, the way the city administration and City Council should have been doing all along. Today we begin the process to take back our community from the self-promoters whose campaign promises of fairness and openness we believed when they ran for office.
A real financial crisis exists in Troy. But you wouldn't know it from the pathetic efforts to avoid sharing the truth with the residents. Frustrated by the seemingly distorted and manipulated arguments from both sides, two regular residents, with no political agenda, simply decided to dig deeper. This is what we found.
1. The City of Troy five-year deficit is not $22.6 million - it's $82 million!
2. The City of Troy has been in an operating deficit for the past four years, taking money from capital projects to stave off the truth.
3. The City of Troy is claiming cuts to the Police Department while hiding millions in salary increases, negotiated during the deficit status environment listed in #2.
4. The residents of Troy said NO, almost 2:1 to the Keep Troy Safe campaign.
5. The Mayor will decide what that vote meant and you just keep quiet.
We will not be silent. We are done trying to engage the unengaged. We are done working within the system to help save face for those that are so ego-driven that they can't imagine why they would need to save face. We're going public, very public, to bring the force of the voters who state clearly on February 23rd that they expect the city to start treating them and everyone else fairly. We are concerned residents tired of the doublespeak and logical fallacies. We cannot accept that the library is not considered a core service, but merely a "quality of life" service. But of course, why else would we live in Troy if not for quality of life?
Join us. Follow this blog. Speak out. Do not let them steal your vote and tell you it means something other than what you damn well know it means. Stop them. Save our city.
Please refer to the post "The Plan" to see the report, City of Troy Budget Alternatives, and make up your own mind. And then, please post your opinions here. All opinions are welcome. All discourse is good and we will do our utmost to encourage it.
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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.
9 comments:
The citizens of Grosse Pointe know what to do with a Mayor and council members who do not have the tax payers of the city in mind and decide they can do whatever they want with no repercusion. However, the taxpayers of Grosse Pointe recalled both the Mayor and council members. We need to stop this group from doing anymore damage to our city budget's and recall them now.
I am very worried that our Mayor and council are amputating the city piece by piece. We have to stop this! I am up for anything. Does anyone have any ideas?
It was unfortunate that the citizens did not have the full picture when the millage was on the table. The information given addressed cash but not how closing the library, etc would influence their personal lives. Making the campaign about the people and their needs instead of "the city" would have more effective.
Citizens did not realize that access to other libraries would be extremely limited and cost up to $200 annually once they no longer financed their own library. They also didn't realize that many libraries DO NOT have non-resident cards. Granted you can read at these libraries but may not be able to enjoy the programs or Internet access.
Why was this type of information not publicized so patrons knew what their vote really meant?
Citizens also needed to know that storytimes, youth programming, computer classes, concerts, senior humanities groups and book talks would no longer be available. Why was this type of information never shared?
Troy residents are already beginning to realize what they will be missing. These residents include business people, Internet users, seniors, high school students, youth, preschoolers, as well as our multicultural residents, concert and cultural attendees. Once the library closes, remote databases will no longer available either.
Who was responsible for getting this pertinent information to the public? Who dropped the ball - the Council, the City Manager, Community Affairs, or the Library Director? This type of poor leadership and/or manager needs to be addressed and replaced before more damage can be done to the community.
Excellent points. Thank you for making them. It seems that no one seriously considered the library. In my own opinion, the library was used as a pawn to scare people, exploit a beloved resource, to get a millage increase.
My view is that Option 1 was never a "plan" but merely a lever, a stick, a threat to force people to bend to the will of the City Manage and some on City Council. But since it was the City Manager's plan, which he now attempts to lay off on the "governing body", he should be held accountable for it, including the failed millage campaign. All the scurrying around and changes on Option 1 demonstrate they didn't ever flesh it out. So they're making it up as they go along and the library is simply collateral damage to them. Gee, too bad, but the people said no. No accountability for a bad strategy. No accountability for not sharing the real size of the deficit. No honor.
i possible plan.THE 1st mayor of TROY,was an IBM Manager on leave from IBM,because he was the MAYOR.WORK/LEAVE ,so I called IBM public relations and asked about a compele inspection as IBM see TROY,and use TROY,Michigan as example of can be DONE,but the CITY of TROY does not have a spoke person,potential grants can NOT/never be asked for.and if the super-rich can not make a buck,,the programs 4 lost.
Actually Troy has received grants.
The library, museum and I believe roads have benefited. i;m sure there's more - please help me out here folks concerning grants received for the city.
We haven't dug too deep on sources of funding, though what we have been learning continues to surprise, and in some cases shock.
Regarding grants, I don't think the city gets a lot of grant funds, which I define as private grant money, not federal government money. Clearly the city gets federal money, which is why they can continue to move money from the city's capital road fund (more on this shortly).
As for private grants, the library has some limited success, getting a $5,000 grant for training job seekers with technical skills. It's a good program, a nice honor, but honestly, given the reach and services of the library, it's small potatoes.
And no one should be blind to the fact that Troy is highly unlikely to make a sound case for large grants to keep its library open if the citizens in a relatively affluent community vote no. That's why the real answer is in financial transparency, fairness in fund and budget cut distribution, and a clear understanding of what's really going on here.
But it's a fair question and worth more investigation (Note: we are just two regular guys; a little help from the community would be nice). I know the museum has done a much better job in seeking and garnering grants funds. I'll try to get some details from Loraine and post on that.
The proposal 1 was on the record before the last City Council Election. Why are we blaming this council when it all occurred during the last council's reign?
Option 1 was originally proposed by the City Manager in a memo dated September 9, 2009. Two new council members were seated in mid-November and it was after that time the current Council did in fact vote to support that approach prior to the February 23 millage election. So it's incorrect to say it all happened on the last Council's reign. Option 1 was initially proposed during the end of their term, but it clearly is owned by 4 members of this Council.
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