Duff on Covina

...may the breadth of awareness grow, but not consume us whole.

My Photo
Name:
Location: Oregon, United States

Monday, February 27, 2006

1994 Mort Fox letter to the Recall Group

Fellow Covinians,
I would speak for myself,
but my Doctor doesn't yet want me
in crowds.
First, thanks to all of you who sent your get well wishes.
I'm not certain but that some may want them back by the time I'm
done.
We had an arrogant City Council, that seemed to be working
only for their own agendas, that told us that we needed a Tax (no
matter what you call it) to maintain the city.
WE THREW THEM
OUT I I supported
that Recalll
We elected a City Council that seems to be working
for us,
the people of Covina, as follows;
*They cut $1.7 Million from tbe budget (forget the phoney
accounting
that you hear from some quarters).
*They held Open Forums to hear the "Voice of the People".
Too
bad that only a few different voices were heard.
*They continued
(and continue) to hold Open Forums at Council
Meetings
so the People may speak and they may listen even
while they (the Council members) are being personally
vilified.
*After much equivocation,
they finally found the courage
(and it
took real courage) to vote a Tax to maintain the city.
This tax even has review and sunset provisions
built into
it.
Yes this tax is higher than the one voted on by the recalled
City Council.
Time, the state and the Economy have all cost us
more.
We hear the strident call for Recall once again.
Can any
reasonable
person believe that Covina can be kept whole without a
new tax?
"Let us review the Budget again", the Recall people
cry.
GO THROUGH THE BUDGET REVIEW PROCESS IN AN HONEST MANNER
ONE MORE TIME AND I GUARANTEE THAT THE NEXT TAX WILL BE HIGHER
YETIII
Is there a more SINISTER PLOT afoot?
What if this Sinister Plot is really to either dismantle
Covina or throw it into bankruptcy so that a State Regulator
can
authorize the scrapping of existing Wage and Benefits Contracts
with Covina Public Safety Personnel?
This would be something
differentll
If Covina is to be dismantled then the following will
happen:
*Parks and Library Closed
*City Staff
&
Services reduced
*police and Fire personnel drastically
reduced
*Fire Stations closed
*paramedic
service dramatically
cut back.
I recently had a medical emergency.
The Paramedics
came
quickly
(about one minute) and got me to I.C.M.C. efficiently
where my life was preserved until my condition could be remedied.
I will be qlad to pay a fee for the Paramedic services for,
because of the Paramedics.
I will be here to pay it.
If Covina is dismantled then it becomes a less desirable
place to live.
Good people will move out and I predict that
the City will start into its Death Spiral.
Property Values, and
even Escrow Fees will drop.
Crime, always lurking at the
borders, will move in and full scale decay will soon be evident
A
/
,
Page 2
with nothing to hold it back.
This doesn't seem co bother the
Sinister Group.
Sometimes you have to back away from the "Bottom Line" to
see the full picture.
The Sinister Group can't seem to grasp
this.
If the plot is to bankrupt Covina to break the Wage and
Benefits Contracts with covina Public Safety Personnel then this
represents
shortsightedness
in the extreme.
Obviously the
Sinister Group thinks that we can make do with a Volunteer
Fire
and Police Force.
Wake up Fellows and join us in the latter part
of the 20th Century!!
Not only are the forces of evil and
corruption
lurking at the gate, ready to overwhelm these
volunteers,
but so are slin unscrupulous
lawyers (is that a
redundant
statement?).
We will all be stuck with the legal tab
to support the Sinister Group's stupid experiment in
irresponsible
civic behavior.
The Public Safety Professionals
that we have can't just be hung on a hook until this nonsense is
over.
They will be gone and we will never get them back.
In any event the net result will be the same as described
above, except it will happen faster and go deeper.
The Sinister Group spouts elegant sounding drivel like "Same
Horse, different Riders".
Obviously
the author either missed or
flunked High School Civics.
This is the manner in which all
Governments
maintain stability.
When a new President is elected
they don't fire all of the Federal Workers, or all the State
Workers after a new Governor is sworn in.
The City Council is,
and always has been, free to take or reject advice from City
Staff •.
Yes, I too see problems with City Staffers that have been in
the same position so long that they have lost the proper present
perspective
of their job.
This problem can be addressed without
destroying
otherwise
loyal and faithful employees.
Fellow Covinians do you really want to trust your future to
such SHALLOWHINKING individuals.as
these??
I can almost
guarantee that if they succeed in this Recall the new City
Council will belong to the Shallowhinking Sinister Group and
Covina, as we know it, will soon cease to exist.
We all know who the people are that make up what I have been
calling the Sinister Group.
They are not sinister people.
Their
plot and the fact that they hide and disguise their true goals,
methods and means makes them sinister.
They don't have the
"Guts", to stand up and tell all.
Instead they send forth their
minions of strident, screeching, whining slavish followers
to cover and hide them.
It is time to heal Covina's Wounds by rejecting this POWER
GRAB DISGUISED AS A RECALL.
By so doing you will also Wound
those who would be Covina's Heels.
Thank You
/
/
Mort Fox
Citizen, Taxpayer, Covinian