Comments on: Locals Only: A (lukewarm) endorsement http://www.northcoastnews.com/2009/10/23/locals-only-a-lukewarm-endorsement/ Serving all the communities of the North Beach since 1987 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:48:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: BUD http://www.northcoastnews.com/2009/10/23/locals-only-a-lukewarm-endorsement/comment-page-1/#comment-2227 BUD Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.northcoastnews.com/?p=5285#comment-2227 I know its off the subject but the community club is absurd and having to be a part of it is extorsion. A real travisty they can get away with it. I know its off the subject but the community club is absurd and having to be a part of it is extorsion. A real travisty they can get away with it.

]]> By: Robert Stermer-Cox http://www.northcoastnews.com/2009/10/23/locals-only-a-lukewarm-endorsement/comment-page-1/#comment-2190 Robert Stermer-Cox Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.northcoastnews.com/?p=5285#comment-2190 One of the reasons our house is up for sale (besides the community club rip off) is the fact that as fixed income folks, we can no longer afford to live here. When we moved to OS, gas was around $1.25 and it didn't cost an arm and a leg to go anywhere. Over the years, Extortion Central has increased their "dues", gas has gone through the roof, our grocery bills have gone up, and our city government's solution to all the problems is to throw money at it - whether it make sense or not. To top that all off, neither Social Security nor military retirees (us) are going to get a cost of living increase (don't get me started on how we treat our vets in this country). Everyday we stay here we make less and less money. Is it any wonder why it irritates me when we spend money on things like the airport, yet another new water system, storm drains that don't drain anything, and roads that if previous city council's had maintained we wouldn't be spending $42 million to fix. Oh, let's not forget the moron who forgot to add $8 million in interest to fix the roads. I know other cities have problems, but this city and they way it does things is outrageous. As far as the EMS levy, lid lift, or whatever you want to call it goes, writing off $400,000 of collectable billings is absurd. Not charging outlying communities for EMS services is nuts. Even though we’ve had to have the EMS twice in the last year (and they were wonderful in their job performance!), they STILL haven’t bothered to collect for the second run - $1,400. Why is that? Can’t they figure out how to submit insurance forms properly? Until the city starts doing a better job of what they are supposed to be doing in the first place, I’m not voting to give anyone another dime. One of the reasons our house is up for sale (besides the community club rip off) is the fact that as fixed income folks, we can no longer afford to live here. When we moved to OS, gas was around $1.25 and it didn’t cost an arm and a leg to go anywhere. Over the years, Extortion Central has increased their “dues”, gas has gone through the roof, our grocery bills have gone up, and our city government’s solution to all the problems is to throw money at it – whether it make sense or not. To top that all off, neither Social Security nor military retirees (us) are going to get a cost of living increase (don’t get me started on how we treat our vets in this country). Everyday we stay here we make less and less money. Is it any wonder why it irritates me when we spend money on things like the airport, yet another new water system, storm drains that don’t drain anything, and roads that if previous city council’s had maintained we wouldn’t be spending $42 million to fix. Oh, let’s not forget the moron who forgot to add $8 million in interest to fix the roads. I know other cities have problems, but this city and they way it does things is outrageous.

As far as the EMS levy, lid lift, or whatever you want to call it goes, writing off $400,000 of collectable billings is absurd. Not charging outlying communities for EMS services is nuts. Even though we’ve had to have the EMS twice in the last year (and they were wonderful in their job performance!), they STILL haven’t bothered to collect for the second run – $1,400. Why is that? Can’t they figure out how to submit insurance forms properly? Until the city starts doing a better job of what they are supposed to be doing in the first place, I’m not voting to give anyone another dime.

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