Better communication needed
To the editor:
United we stand, divided we fall Agree?
Let’s look at the word united; the first three letters are u n i; meaning “we”, together.
Are we, the residents of Cape Coral, the mayor, city council and the city manager united and working together? Working for the people of Cape Coral, making this a better place to live for all of us? Analyzing what we the residents need and can afford?
Frankly, I believe that we are all united. We all want what we think is best for the community, and are working hard to achieve that goal.
If indeed, the glass is half full, rather than half empty, no radicals or radical ideas exist; so negativism or negative people, lack of proper communication separates us. We must have open and honest dialogue, where all of our opinions, ideas and suggestions are heard and appreciated; all the facts laid on the table, so all of us can make educated decisions.
We all must learn the fine art of agreeing to disagree. After all, we want the best for the residents, however, we all have different ideas. Having different ideas is good and positive. I’m glad we all don’t dress the same, act the same, speak the same, and have the same view points. If we can agree to disagree, egos and tempers will be nonexistent, thus leading to open dialogue and intelligent decision making.
By all of us working together, for the betterment of Cape Coral, we can accomplish anything, even figuring out the new budget.
Talking about the budget, is it cut to bare-bone minimum at about $116 million? At the last city council workshop I heard way too much about raising capital, rather than cutting expenses.
What’s with that? Our local newspaper recently conducted a web poll, asking the following question: Should the city of Cape Coral cut services or raise taxes? A whopping 46 percent of respondents said neither – cut more fat. Hello? Are any and all of our elected public servants listening? Is the city manager listening? What assignment did city council give to the city manager? They agreed to $106 million budget and asked him to stay within that frame work? Without any further tax increases or extra fees? Perhaps council should have made the suggestion an order. What do you think?
City manager, Terry Stewart, is usually very agreeable with city council. I have heard him say many times that he will do what council asks him to do, even if they ask him to sit in back of the room. So what’s the problem? Was council not precise or demanding enough when giving the assignment? Should city council spend hours upon hours trying to balance the budget? Isn’t that the city manager’s job, with approval of the council? What’s right with this picture?
Erick Kuehn
Cape Coral