Mayor Suzette Cooke mentioned our “financial crisis of 2020” during her 2017 budget proposal but offered no cost-cutting measures, no proposals to elimination waste or new income except to raise resident fees and taxes.
There was no mention of revenue from the sale of recreational marijuana or the salaries we pay for assistant attorneys to defend the city’s right to prosecute and defend a bias against pot, even though voters were overwhelming in favor of the sale of recreational marijuana in our city.
Our city department heads were not given a directive to find ways to cut costs or save revenue to show us how they are working with us to make ends meet.
There were no proposals to stop spending money on “surveys” – SurveyMonkey is free folks – or consulting fees or put projects on hold that we do not have revenue for.
This year’s Pine Tree Park debacle brought attention to how our current council and city officials fail to communicate and manage our assets. It shouldn’t surprise us that the mayor’s proposal to fix this is to create a new communications department, spending $300,000 for two employees. How many police officers would that hire?
To change the culture of communication, start by making the universal language of math understandable. We can all do the math. This budget doesn’t address a pending financial cliff or financial sustainability.
Here are some suggestions regarding communication:
If you changed “Neighborhood Councils” into six or seven “districts” modeled after the city of Tacoma, city-wide participation and problem-solving efforts would skyrocket. Tacoma has successfully tackled a backlog of neglected parks projects using this district model.
Video council retreats, mini-retreats and workshops. Online videos are the best way to understand the workings of our elected officials and eliminate speculation.
Hire diversity.
Having a new communicate department doesn’t work if the message hasn’t changed. Spending money we do not have is wrong in every language, but our elected officials don’t seem to be listening.
– Sandi Lynden
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