Vote Road Ahead contract signers
To the editor:
Wow. It seems that some people in the Cape have a problem with the “Contract with Cape Coral” that has been signed by a number of candidates for mayor and city council. I wish to ask those people: Is it the written, signed promise to reduce spending (and therefore taxes) that bothers you? Or perhaps the promise to work on the development of a comprehensive plan for what the city should be at build-out, with a roadmap on how to get there? Or maybe it’s the pledge to stop the “spin” put on issues of importance by city administration, which thinks nothing of pitting this city’s residents against one another in an effort to get what they want – for whatever reason they want it?
Come on now! Have you even read this “evil” contract, Mr. Ralph LePera (Letter to the Editor, Sept. 5)? Sounds to me like Mr. LePera is upset that he has been paying for the water and sewer service he has enjoyed for the past 21 years. Sounds like he would gleefully force hundreds of widows and unemployed families from their homes in the midst of a depression in order to “make things even,” despite the SW6/7 residents’ expressed desire to pay their fair share in support of the ill-conceived, ill-timed water plant in the north. This is just the sort of “spin” that the people of Cape Coral should be fighting against – not each other.
Mr. LePera’s invitation to visit the Cape Coral “minnymen” Web site (how classy of him to resort to name-calling) is an invitation that should be honored – Minutemen founder and mayoral candidate John Sullivan has been keeping a citizen’s eye on Council inconsistencies, out-of-control spending and false promises for many years now. But, I have an invitation of my own to make: How about a visit to Mr. Sullivan’s Mayoral campaign Web site, www.johnsullformayor.com?Perhaps you could actually read the “Contract with Cape Coral” while you’re there.
Those who have signed this contract are not evil; they are not members of a gang poised to plunge this city into disaster and despair. They are simply concerned citizens who have had enough of a city government spending money that its citizens cannot afford to pay. They wish to restore dignity to this city’s reputation – which has been besmirched by a council majority that cannot seem to make up its mind – except when it comes to voting on staff recommendations to spend more money. Ask any real estate agent – and they’ll tell you that selling property in Cape Coral right now is like trying to sell ice to Eskimos.
As a citizen, I am alarmed that a sitting city councilman’s requests for information are summarily ignored by city staff. I am alarmed that city staff declined to furnish the documentation necessary for an auditor to complete his work. I am alarmed that a council majority is willing to rush into an expensive “blank-check” contract that is soon to expire without soliciting new bids. What I want to know, Mr. LePera, is why aren’t you alarmed too?
It’s high time we get Council members who have vowed not to be bullied by city staff, who have promised to reduce spending, who wish to return Cape Coral to the respectable, desirable place to live that it once was. You can be the catalyst for change by voting in the primary on Sept. 15, and in the general election on Nov. 3 – for any candidate who was so bold as to actually sign their name to their promises – Jim Martin, Chris Chulakes-Leetz, John Cataldi, and John Sullivan.
W.R. Zink
Cape Coral