So imagine the cost of your project, i.e., sidewalks in Warren. Now add
the interest we all will be paying on the cost of your project; the
price goes up. So when you get funding for solar, park and rides and cow
tunnels, we, the taxpayers, are paying way more than the initial cost. I
would possibly be for all these grants if there was real money to draw
from.
Now, if we would stop going abroad and killing people like you and me,
you know those conflicts/wars we are involved in. Stop financing a war
on drugs that does not work, yet we keep wasting money on that project.
If we would stop subsidizing ADM, nuclear energy, coal, bailouts
military, Israel, Egypt, Columbia (military subsides). So if we stopped
wasting all this money and focused on getting out of debt and have a
real balanced budget. Most of us tend to forget we are the largest
debtor nation in the world. We cannot go bankrupt as a country/state;
who will buy us?
It's funny that as citizens we like to spend money that does not exist.
We are like children that have no idea where the money comes from. We
all pay taxes and we want to see the money come back to our community in
some form. I understand that, but, unfortunately, to run a country,
state and town, it takes a lot of money to cover the basics.
So when I see a project such as the sidewalk project in Warren where the
select board is applying for a grant to study this project, and
potentially applying for another grant to put these sidewalks in because
some in this town and select board are afraid to walk and ride their
bikes on the street. A sidewalk is a false sense of security; it may
make you safer, but nothing replaces common sense. Teach yourself and
your children to pay attention to their surroundings. Also in this plan
there are three radar signs at a price of $5,000 to $6,000 apiece, that
will supposedly slow people down.
When asked about maintenance or if people don't like the signs, the idea
of just going back to the old signs was suggested and what happens to
the expensive signs? Throw them away? So what it comes down to is for
all of us to slow down on spending and speed. We do not like the police
giving us tickets, but we do not want to do the right thing and slow
down. Instead we want to buy things with grant money in hopes it might
solve the problem instead of dealing with the real issue of slowing
down. Why can we not take the responsibility and not be forced to follow
the law by police or get sidewalks we really do not need. Why do we
usually have to be forced to do the right thing? Let's pay attention to
our spending, speed, our select boards, state and federal governments.
Let's really think about your children s futures and not leave them with
debt and problems from frivolous wars and projects.
Tim Seniff lives in Warren.
