A lack of fiscal responsibility

I have been watching with interest the discourse regarding the revitalization of the McEuen area and the recall effort. I, for one (and I would hope anyone else who may think for himself/herself) am extremely insulted by the Mayor's and certain council members' total disregard for wishes other than their own and their condescending attitude toward those who do not agree with them. I feel like Alice in Wonderland being waved off by the queen.

When Mr. Hagadone graciously offered to turn the McEuen area into a botanical garden and build a library in honor of his mother, completely financing the project with his own funds, he was met with a resounding "No" from the community. What would make Mayor Sandi Bloem, City Council President Mike Kennedy, Councilman Woody McEvers, and Councilwoman Deanna Goodlander think that after the community turned down having the improvements made by Mr. Hagadone at no cost to the taxpayers, we would now be happy to spend anywhere between $14.2 million and $39.2 million, depending on the day. (The $14.2 million is for the first phase only and I do not think anyone believes the costs will stop there, and will likely continue until more than the expected costs are exceeded, if it's like any home improvement project we have undertaken.) For some reason, these elected officials think the taxpayers of the City of Coeur d'Alene have money trees growing in their backyards.

I was brought up with the belief that if you have a desire for something, you saved your money until you could afford it - that borrowing money was never a good idea. Obviously, our illustrious leaders believe strongly that they can spend the money on whatever they choose and just pass the cost on to the taxpayers of the City of Coeur d'Alene. Perhaps, they and their supporters would like to assume the costs of these improvements themselves, rather than causing such a huge amount of resentment by making us pay millions of dollars for their "dream." Particularly in this economic climate, borrowing money for what appear to be unnecessary improvements to an already existing area currently used by a huge portion of the population of Coeur d'Alene seems to be ill advised.

On another note, I have not spoken with one single person who is impressed with the "improvements" to Fourth Street, what with the narrowed intersections making it next to impossible to turn onto Fourth Street if there is a car on Fourth; the impractical bus stops which are not only extremely cold for people to utilize in the winter, but also dangerous when the snow load begins to melt and the snow slides off; the works of art that were meant to be bicycle racks, but very few people have used, etc. In fact, quite the opposite - I have heard considerable negative comments. The costs of those improvements were not going to cost the taxpayers or businesses, but were allegedly going to be paid by funds, including those of LCDC. Then, when the project was completed, the businesses along Fourth Street were, quite to their dismay, presented with "their portion" of the costs of the overrun.

Then, there is the decision to build a beautiful section of road to the college and bring people by the lovely, sweet smelling sewage treatment plant. Do we seriously want to entrust the decisions regarding other beautification projects to those persons who were in office when those decisions were made?

I would just like to ask that you consider the following:

1. Can you, as a taxpayer, afford more taxes at this time?

2. If our elected officials continue forward with committing us to the financial burden of the McEuen Project (which they will likely do whether they are recalled or not since they will have sufficient time to do so before a recall election is conducted), and then need money for necessities, i.e. schools, police protection and fire protection, will they then decide to try to pass a levy for those costs? If so, which would you rather fund? It continues to baffle me that something as important as schooling, police and fire protection, etc., require a levy to be voted on, but an indulgence such as the McEuen Project can be decided by a select few.

3. Do you feel as though you are receiving the representation from your elected officials that you expected when they were voted in?

All I am asking is that you think about what I have presented before making a final decision on whether you are in favor of the recall, or not. I believe any taxpayer in Coeur d'Alene should expect their elected officials to at least be somewhat fiscally responsible. After all, that's what the normal family has to do.

Susan Price is a Coeur d'Alene resident.