Charlotte Tea Party Headquarters

This is what I sent City Council today.
It?s hard for me to begin to express how completely disappointed I was in the outcome of the meeting last night. I thought near the end of the meeting that you were actually starting to ?get it? when it comes to cutting down on your spending and staying within the budget in order to save the taxpayers some money. Warren Cooksey actually asked if we had any suggestions when it comes to operating the budget. Then it all came down when Pat McCrory pulled the rug right out from under us and the tax request was voted in. Instead, I walked out feeling like a very dirty trick had just been played on our whole group. You people had your mind made up on what was going to happen before you ever walked into the room. Some of you didn?t even have enough respect for the people who are paying taxes for your wages to stay in the room while members of our group was talking. Actually, you really don?t care about anything except getting re-elected.

Mr. Cooksey, here?s a good one to start with - WCNC NEWS, CHARLOTTE, N.C. ? Charlotte city leaders just found out new trash cans will cost taxpayers $3,500. Twelve of the trash cans will be placed along Central Avenue as part of an arts project. That means taxpayers will pay $42,000 for the fancy cans. What?s wrong with the perfectly good ones that we have. Do we need to spend the money on something like that? Beides, they look like they belong in a toy room. What?s up with that? It?s sort of like the ugly pieces of clay on South Boulevard that we paid through the nose for. YOU PEOPLE DON?T SEEM TO REALIZE THAT THIS TYPE OF SPENDING IS NOT NECESSARY DURING A RECESSION, OR EVER! I get the response ? but we have to have a certain amount of money set aside for art, organizations, etc. Where does common sense come in when it comes to taxpayer?s money? Government exists to make sure we have police protection, roads to drive on and other necessities. It is ridiculously out of hand at this point and you just seem to come up with reasons to spend money. What happens to our police protection when the stimulus money goes away? Are you going to get into our pockets again and use our public safety as leverage for again another increase? If you would just prioritize and only spend money on what is necessary we would be ok. I don?t even want to hear anyone there whining about cutting your work force or reducing hours. There are too many people in government as it is.

Mr. McCrory, I realize you?re going to do whatever you want ? you?re leaving anyway and don?t have to worry about getting elected. You can build all of the little trains you want, but most of us just aren?t going to use them-ever. We just get to pay $6.00 a person for others to ride. If we wanted our city to look live Atlanta, we would live there. Mr. McCrory, Mr. Cooksey, Mr. Dulan, and Mr. Peacock ? You are a good example of the reason I am leaving the Republican party. You don?t have enough guts to stand up for what is right or how to use common sense when spending our money. Mr. Barnes, Ms. Carter, Mr. Fox, Ms Kinsey , James Mitchell, and Mr. Turner ? Your Democrat ancestors would roll over in their graves if they knew what you and the rest of the party are doing to the Democratic party. They were once a party that stood up for what is right and wrong and knows the difference.

I know I?ll get emails saying that you appreciate my input, but in reality you don?t care what we think. But ?We the people? aren?t going away any time soon.

Ruth Coffey