To the Editor:
An election comes and goes. The mayor gets voted out (yea), but all the council members get re-elected. Why?
Build a new fire department, pass on a federal grant to staff it for two years and now you are budgeting it out of the city budget. Those two years would have given the city time to rethink and adjust its budget as it continues to just talk about addressing infrastructure needs. Pass on land for Samuel Tucker Elementary School, and then turn around and buy land for the school. CSX bridge, pass on a state grant that would have paid for a new bridge and then begin a harassment campaign against the railroad company to paint and do quick fixes to the bridge.
Recent homicides, gang violence cyclical? Let me make like an ostrich and stick my head in the ground. Obviously everyone forgot about the gang-related homicide where the feds took it over recently. Never seemingly making news, gang tagging at Four mIle Run Park, a stabbing incident, and drugs in the trash cans, all within the last couple of years.
The one thing that was well overdue was the council and mayor's pay raise and adjusting benefits for their staff. The opposition to this was uncalled for. Yes on the surface it seems like a hefty pay raise, but was well overdue. The pay raise one should question are various city positions whose pay is similar to neighboring jurisdictions. Why the school superintendent needs pay almost equal to a Fairfax when we are a fraction the size is ridiculous. This is one perfect example of where pay hostility should be and not at the council attempting a pay raise.
Ruben "Bill" Duran
Alexandria