Change in thinking sorely needed
To the editor:
I attended the debate last night between the candidates for City Council. It was held at the Cape Coral Yacht Club and hosted by the Cape Coral Civic Association. I have to say I left more confused than when I arrived. Everyone knows how important this election actually is. There are huge decisions to be made in the very near future. Decisions that affect every resident of this city. This city is $1.1 BILLION in debt! Yes folks, that’s Billion with a B. That is an astronomical sum. Let me try to put that in layman’s terms..if every dollar was one second, a BILLION seconds would be just short of 31 years!
I came to hear real questions and real solutions to the problems facing this City. Unfortunately I felt I got neither, but instead, I heard a lot of answers meant to appease the audience. I heard one candidate say he was running on his past performances and he stated his record will speak for itself. After a little fact checking, it seems this candidate might want to review his voting record before he makes such statements.
The incumbent for District 2, John Carioscia, claimed he had saved $183 million through pension reform. The truth is that figure pertains only to new hires and it is spread over the next 25 years. The truth is he currently hasn’t yet saved us a penny. Back in 2011 when then candidate Carioscia was in a debate he was asked about the FSA and PST. He answered he did not support these new taxes; that the city must live within its means. That’s what he said and it is public record. But then here’s what he actually did: He voted FOR the FSA and the PST.
To me, the questions asked and the Yes and No paddle responses seemed more like a high school student council debate than a debate for a city with huge issues. With each district having a finite amount of time, the time could have been utilized in a more productive and relevant way than waving Yes and No signs to questions like “Cape Coral has twelve hundred miles of center line roads, YES or NO? Who cares? We are $1.1 BILLION in debt. The question should have been, “How are you going to pay down this gigantic debt we owe and be specific in your answer?”
This city is in a financial crisis and most all want to sweep it under the rug. This seems to be commonplace. For instance, according to an NBC News report, comments caught on an open mike that were broadcast alluding to burying the true cost of the UEP project was alarming. The comment by the city manager stating they were private comments is not true. Any first year law student knows that any city employee from the mayor to a park worker in performance of their duties have no expectation of privacy. No one seems to realize the depth of what went out over the public airwaves. A person involved with the City Manager’s office is caught on tape hiding information. The quote was, “Now he’s laughing,” saying, “We’re going to hide these specs and they’ll never find them. I got them buried in the weeds.”
Are you kidding me? This is what is going on behind closed doors and no one is appalled? Why has no one called for the resignation of the city manager and others involved? Again, we are $1.1 BILLION in debt and this city government is hiding the true cost from its citizens and no one is calling for an investigation, let alone the firing of the violators, including the spineless jellyfish that sit on the city council at this time.
When asked for a copy of the statement, the City Clerk said it does not exist. If it went out into the public domain over the public access airwaves it does exist. So where is it? This is NOT transparency or accountability. These are the people running our city.
One question was asked about the deficit to Candidate Marilyn Stout. Her answer was just as shocking as the “Do nothing but spend mentality” the rest of the council has. She answered that most of the deficit is from the UEP and the citizens are paying for that so it doesn’t really affect the General Fund. Has she separated herself so far from reality as to not realize debt is debt and it has to be paid? That a city of this size has no business spending money and incurring a deficit like a city the size of New York – a debt that cannot possibly be payed down, if ever. Meanwhile, we are paying $30 million a year interest on the note. That would have paved most of the streets in this city that needs it so desperately. No one currently in City Hall says how they will confront this deficit. No one thinks outside the box. No one thinks the residents are wise to what is going on.
By lowering the millage rate and showing a savings but then taking more of our money with the FSA and PST is no savings at all. At least with a fluctuating millage rate we are capped by law, at 10 percent. Not so with these other assessments. The sky is the limit. Are you not tired of the games played by these people every day?
Making up numbers out of thin air and stating them as Gospel Truth while suppressing the real truth is unacceptable. The residents of Cape Coral cannot even make an informed decision because the information we have to go on is false. That’s why this election is the most important one in recent memory. This council is about to make huge decisions on LCEC and Bimini Basin that will affect us for generations. Over the next two years we need to replace the existing council with fresh new faces with fresh ideas. Electing the same old people gets us the same old result. That’s why I support Kirk LaGrasta for district 2, Chris Cammarota for District 3 and Tim Barrier for District 7. We must start changing our way of thinking and spending and we must do it now.
Jim Fitzgerald
Cape Coral