The Dexter Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Letters to the Editor
PUBLISHED: July 3, 2008
To the Editor: In October 1999, the Scio Township Board established a $1 million "Township Public Safety and Improvement Fund." After nine years, the fund's current value slightly exceeds $1.2 million.
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Yet, except for Jean King and Kathy Knol, the Scio Township Board voted (June 25) to ask us to raise our taxes 100 percent to fund public safety. It is unconscionable to ask the citizens of Scio Township for more taxes, in this case anywhere from .9 to 1.2 mills (increasing taxes 100 - 125 percent), while sitting on a stockpile of funds that could be used to address the current public safety needs. They have already compromised our safety by cutting two deputies and gutting the fire budget.
Not one candidate calls for greater police and fire services than Leadership for Scio, but Leadership for Scio is the only team promising not to raise taxes, as the others are on record as supporting the tax increase.
Public safety for our citizens is paramount; we call for additional police services with a minimum of eight deputies with backfill overtime and an increase of fire personnel doubling the fulltime staff. Only Leadership for Scio promises to do it without creating a special assessment district this year.
Gordon Darr
candidate for treasurer
Leadership For Scio
To the Editor: There are people in Scio Township who would have you believe that $90,000 will fund the changes recommended by the Scio Township Public Safety Committee.
This group has even gone so far as to express their appreciation to the committee members for their work.
However, their appreciation might be better expressed if they took the time to actually read our report! It was mailed to all residents of the township in mid-June and can also be found online at: www.twp.scio.mi.us/newsletters/index_html
If they had taken the time to read our report they would know that the recommended changes to public safety staffing will cost an additional $1 million year. And while it is true there is a Public Safety Fund (a fact that was explained to the committee early on in our discussions), that money is to be used for one-time expenses such as a new fire engine or even a new fire station.
To use our savings account to fund recurring expenses is not only foolish, but contrary to sound business practices. If we were to use the fund to hire additional firefighters and increase the number of deputies on duty, we would all benefit from the increased public safety service levels without any increase in taxes - this year.
Next year, however, we would have a zero balance in our savings account and be faced with one of two choices: raise taxes or lay off the newly hired firemen and deputies.
Which would you chose?
I chose to set aside funds to be used for one-time purchases or emergency repairs. I chose to pay for what I need through proper fiscal planning and good budgetary management.
I chose to support the Team for Scio who have gone on record in support of the committee's recommendations (see their discussion of this and other critical issues at: www.theteamforscio.org).
David S. Read, past Chair and member of the Scio Township Public Safety Committee
To the Editor: I would like to respond to two articles in the June 26 edition of the Chelsea Standard/Dexter Leader.
First, I was not surprised to read the article written by Sean Dalton, "FSW request for rezoning gets the OK."
Certainly, the result of the Planning Commission's decision was no surprise to anyone involved in the effort to appeal to Magellan to alter the plan of total site demolition.
Groups interested in preserving Chelsea's history by rehabilitating and reusing some of the historic buildings rather than total demolition that went on public record were: Chelsea Area Historic Society, Chelsea Depot Association, and Preservation Chelsea as well as some retail owners and family members of one building owner in the downtown area.
Additionally, people who were not members of any group nor affiliated with FSW in any way also objected to the total demolition of this site.
As a concession to honor FSW and its significant Chelsea history, Mr. Papo agreed to commission a sculpture and have descriptions of the importance of FSW in Chelsea's former economic and cultural life.
First, I hope he keeps his promise, and secondly, I hope that this "public art" is visible to the public and not in a parking lot as originally proposed.
The Comprehensive Plan currently in process has no language with teeth to encourage developers to accommodate historic sites by rehabilitating and reusing them.
As it currently exists, saving our historic sites is a "wish." For the most part, Chelsea has been extraordinarily lucky to have had some good stewards of its buildings and heritage. Obviously, as just demonstrated, a wish is not enough.
The Chelsea Area Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Development Authority and Chelsea Center for the Arts heard presentations about a proposal to rehabilitate and reuse some of the FSW site.
Furthermore, multiple business owners said in private conversations that they sympathized with the proposed effort of rehabilitation and reuse, but they were reluctant to make statements publicly. In the short term, not ruffling any feathers is good for business.
But, Chelsea's historic sites and buildings are economic assets, and if treated as assets, they are ultimately better for business by making Chelsea attractive to people who are looking to shop, dine, play, live and consult in places with authentic character. This requires long-term thinking and action rather than wishing.
Secondly, I submitted a letter to the Planning Commission for its meeting on June 17 against the Walgreens proposal to enter the community at the proposed site.
Among my many reasons for opposition to this proposal is that the area is identified as a "gateway overlay" on the land use map. While I was heartened to read that 80 people turned out in response to the Walgreens proposal, I fear that the Planning Commission will not hold the line on the gateway overlay, and that Walgreens will come in, pave away, ignore the gateway overlay, put Chelsea Pharmacy at risk, and suck the money out of Chelsea to the Walgreens corporate headquarters.
Official bodies — CACC, DDA, and longtime business and building owners of Chelsea would do themselves a favor if they brought extraordinary pressure on this issue.
Those people who wish to have Walgreens here as competition could drive out to near I-94 where, if it belongs at all, the store should be located. As for me, I'd like to be able to walk in town to fill my prescriptions and buy toothpaste.
The northern space of the Chelsea Clocktower building would be a good location for the Chelsea Pharmacy to relocate. I think many who want to support locally owned businesses would welcome them back into a downtown location.
There is plenty of parking on the northern end of the Clocktower building for those who wish or need to drive. And, it would keep the money in Chelsea.
Jan Bernath
Chelsea
To the Editor: A cesspool is a cesspool whether you try to call it a swimming pool or not.
If your search for enough supporting statistics (Guest column by Dan Calabrese, June 19) you can claim that this recession is not "technically" a recession. But look around you. Everything at the grocery store is growing more expensive, from rice, to bread, to milk to bananas.
I pay higher health insurance premiums than ever, and now, as opposed to last year, I pay a deductible for literally everything - except maybe phone calls to the doctor's office.
People are losing their pensions, losing retirement savings, losing homes and losing jobs like crazy. And do I need to throw in gas prices?
Maybe nationally syndicated columnist Dan Calabrese is one of those not really affected by everyday living costs. But the readership of the Chelsea Standard is composed of real people who have to live in this world day to day, and endure this recession/depression.
Mr. Calabrese can call my cesspool a swimming pool if he wants to, but I choose not swim in it. He is, however, free to dive into his own.
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