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Friday, August 31, 2007

Economic Growth Linked To Grass Mowing

The Janeville Gazette Thursday editorial "Cooperate to maintain city parks" once again explains a one-sided perspective of economic growth and community priorities. Apparently provoked by comments regarding the tall grass and the unkempt look of primary city corridors and parkways, the Gazette feels the responsibility should fall on citizen volunteers and worse yet, the newspaper sees no correlation between the poor upkeep and appearance of existing city properties such as parks, pools and beaches and the recent drive by city management to build a new aquatics facility.
JG Editorial Excerpt:
Janesville reduced its mowing program last year to save money as the city grows.
That sentence in a nutshell, explains the backward mentality guiding the Gazette’s (and perhaps city staff) views better than any other statement.

That the city removed a fence enclosure from Lions Beach and eventually got rid of lifeguards and maintenance crews was a direct result of cutting back during growth. Now Rotary Gardens, an interconnected neighbor to Lions Beach is experiencing “people” control problems. Coincidence?

The city then cuts back mowing parks and secondary areas by 30% to 60% to “save” money, then follows through further by dropping curb and gutter weed control to “save” a few more bucks. This all happening while developers offer the hollow promise of an expanding tax base to the eager yet misguided ears at City Hall. What next? Perhaps the city can save more money by giving police cars fewer oil changes or allow for longer intervals between tire changes and brake jobs. See where this is going? This is the “cutter” philosophy of smaller government and less taxes. And you know what happens when these systems fail from under the weight of the cuts? First they look for volunteers and if that fails City leaders will say “lets privatize!” and sell-out city services to private contractors, certainly they explain "they can do it better and cheaper."

These are just a few of the more recent examples of the avalanche of service cuts and shifting priorities prompted by their form of growth. Now they want to spend $5 million or more on an aquatics center?

The fact is, their form of growth is all about quantity and not about quality. You only have to look around the city to see this, and it hurts. The city of Janesville has some prize natural assets that most other cities their size would be jealous of, and city management has been squandering them away. The very worst part is, all of this, the spiraling down of city services and maintenance, the neglect of parks and neighborhoods, the natural resource give-aways and TIF district abuse has been the cumulative effects resulting from having the same people in charge of the city for the past twenty years. TWENTY YEARS!! It is a direct reflection on them and it is NOT something to be proud of. Janesville deserves better.

Good News: Dawson Park dropped from list of Aquatics facility.

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