From Email InBox: Right to be UGLY...

Paw,

These are words straight from my heart – “I'll take a Radio Tower in my neighbors yard, solar panels, a 40'RV or even chipping paint rather than give up my rights to live on my property without the City Telling me what color to paint my house, what kind of lawn to have, or what plants to plants, or what looks good or not.”

I am so tired of having a Mayor who sets the stage, including the actors. Tired of a council that doesn’t represent the citizens of GT, instead do whatever the City Manger, Tom Schwab, suggests. It is obvious to me he is looking for big business in GT. Our council voted to raise his pay, and give him a house, because he was going through a divorce.

They vote to do a make-shift survey for the purpose of attracting more developers to town. They asked how much money we made and if we were opposed to eminent domain on commercial property. Damn right I’m against eminent domain on any property. It is our right to live they way we want to live.

Sure they want to increase the tax income, but they have never said how much they need. Instead they said there is a surplus. A town of 13,000 people doesn’t need a major big box store. We need parks, schools and safe places for our families to “live”. We don’t want to shop in our neighborhood. We want to live in our neighborhood. If they need money, get rid of the Assistant Manager, who finds ways to spend lots of money to promote government.

Why do they hide what they are really trying to do – make a lot of money for themselves? It just doesn’t make sense to me that they would buy ex-mayors houses in non-development land for over a million dollars and only offer Ms Stringfield $850,000 for her land in the main project in GT.

If you don’t think that they are retaliating, you are mistaken. Just try to speak out.

The last two years of Grand Terrace Days wasn’t about the people. They invite out-0f town people to sell at their events instead of making it possible for the organizations in our town to make money. They want to Bea Cortez said she wanted the staff to seek out hidden home offices to make them pay taxes.

It just seems they are attacking the people of GT rather than supporting them. They want to build a four lane street on Michigan, rebuild the area to be commercial, but let their letters be stolen on Honey Hills and they want the city to pay to replace them. That is just wrong. It is obvious where they live.

I am outraged at the dog and pony show. The mayor now has three yessmmmms. If nobody runs against them in the next election, this town will be doomed to commercialism, bumper to bumper traffic, increased smog, fewer and fewer rights.

Outraged in GT