Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

ODOT required it.

Sir;

I am sure you are aware but the CIty resident pay taxes to teh State and Federal Governments just like the Township residnet do and we all buy gas.

The Discount Drug mart is not the best design for that terminus I will grant you that. However it does have some positives in opening up other properties including the ''former'' Judge McAuliffe properties. This intersection was required by ODOT BEFORE they would approve the City's part of the Diley Road widening Project. Odot required a 45 MPH designed road and they were not going to terminate a five lane road that close to the Traffic Light at Kroger. Standard ODOT want traffic signal seperated and the speration here needed some tooling. Sorry to disapoint you.

Anyway the Judge won't ever see the proceeds of that sell.

COOP is the word

TP

You are correct in that township residents were ignored at Pickerington City Council meetings in the past. I think there is a current air of cooperation between the Township and the City electeds.

I think if we do approach this issue we must consider everything and a commission would have council, trustee and school people that know the budget and other issues to place everything it its proper perspective.

As you can see there are a number of posting with rumors and observation of what they perceive to be the truth.

If we can find a group in the community to serve it might be an issue to have joint meetings with members of the local governments to hash out each ones problems and try to reach a solution with in the community and place less reliance on the outside world for our financial survival.

Ther will be no merger!


I won?’t support a merger. But I'm not the one you should be concerned about. There are thousands of VT residents who feel the same and they don't go to this site. You'll need to convince them that merger is in their best interest.

I think all this newfound merger talk misses one very valuable point: TRUST. Just because there are four new faces on council and they have just begun to make changes to control growth does not hide the fact that many years of inept, poisoned, for-profit politics, under-the-table deals, and poor planning has created an atmosphere of distrust. I simply don't trust the citizens of Pickerington. They were lethargic for one full decade and now they expect the world to stop spinning while they regroup. I'm sorry, it doesn't work that way. There's an old saying: ?“If you make your bed, sleep in it.?” Who's to say city council won't get hijacked again? It is the citizens of Pickerington who are responsible for their mess. Yet the spin-doctors are shifting blame to the township because of our refusal to merge. I was there when the only citizens present at city council meetings, besides city council, were violet township residents and we were ignored! Where were you people then? Sleeping? You will not gain my trust until you prove that you have the fortitude and courage to weather YOUR storm that YOU created. Perhaps 5 to 7 YEARS from now.

I have to shake my head when I read 500 signatures were gathered to stop the Diley road widening. What were you 500 folks thinking? Have you ever heard the saying ?“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few?”? Out of your selfishness we have division. Out of your division we have proof that Pickerington is untrustworthy. And those who cannot be trusted with little, certainly cannot be trusted with much. You failed at the small thing of managing your city and now ask to be trusted with managing much more? You ask us to further dilute our voice in this community. You ask us to give up our freedoms for some promise of controlled growth. Does Columbus have controlled growth? Has Columbus?’ commercial tax base helped their financial position?

If the city wants to create their own school district let them. The overarching problem is the territory covered by PLSD is too large. Splitting up the district would help that and would end this foolish talk of merger. So don?’t threaten us with a city school district -- do it !!! Please, we?’re begging you !!!

Your argument finally digressed to scare tactics with stories of armed robbery and threats of higher crime, which is really sad and pathetic. Do you think you can scare us into a merger? I will pass a township police levy before I vote for a merger. Trying to scare us into a merger won?’t work. This is America; we can have guns. In fact, the rural gun-owner rate is usually higher than the city. Should a would-be teenage burglar (or whomever) make it by the dog, beyond the deadbolt and past the alarm, a fully loaded 12 ga. shotgun will be waiting.

Forget about a merger and get your house in order Pickerington!



By Forget About a Merger

Things we never knew

Dear forgot and never knew

I believe the one that has openly proposed a merger is a township resident. The city residents are not begging. This merger is being proposed for a much higher value than you are able to reach.

You appear to have TRUST in the township people over the City people. Yet rail about this when you were the only one attending city council meetings that you were ignored. Did you know that half of the people complaining about the Diley Road widening are township residents? In fact there are more people living on Diley Road that are in the Township than are in the City.

The second point you have missed completely is that a merger government creates a brand new Charter and EVERYONE would vote on it. Since there are more people living in the Township the New Charter would reflect the wishes and needs of the current Township residents not the current City residents.

You also missed the idea of a City School District. The City School would not change the boundaries of the current PLSD. It would give the district some autonomy and it could save the district money if it could separate it?’s self from the County Board of Education. The issue of a city school district and a merger are TWO SEPERATE ISSUES.

The issue of crime is a real one. It will affect the city residents just as much as it well affect the unincorporated township residents. This morning the Sheriff?’s department announced that they were lying off a third of their deputies.

First the City of Pickerington is not in financial straits. It has police protection and it has a high bond rating from Moody?’s. The city can build roads that they desire and they can borrow money when they want to. This web site and its former newsletter made hay of the fact that for a few years Pickerington spent more cash than they received. The other fact is the reason the city is in good financial shape is because of the growth. Selling building permits is very profitable to the city. The only issue they must worry about is the police protection keeping up with the growth.

I know when I lived out in the township there was an independent feeling that I could and would take care of myself. I also have a 12 gauge shot gun and I haven?’t used it since I moved to the city. I have also not had any break-ins since I moved into the city.


What is being proposed here by a township resident is cooperation and he is not trying to bail out the city. In fact Pickerington is one of the few local entities not asking for a tax increase. I get my streets plowed in the winter, the city picked up the broken limbs from the ice storm, I see Pickerington police drive down my sub-division street numerous times each day and we get our trash picked up for about $10 per month from Waste Management.

So to the Daniel Boones of our community please be very careful with that 12 gauge because you never know when your teenager has snuck out and they are returning home. I would hate to read about that in the paper.





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