Be Afraid! Be Very Afraid!
Be Afraid! Be Very Afraid! This is the message of this year's political campaign. We have all heard enough from the federal candidates for President and Senate to be sick of their fear mongering. I leave you to your own opinions on those races. Frankly, it doesn't matter which end of the political spectrum we are nearest or which candidates we support. Our party affiliations, issue positions, and social classes don't matter at all. What matters is that we are afraid, very afraid of anything and everything outside our little corner of the world. What I dislike most about this political season is the home town fear mongering of our city council races.
Here in Lexington, we are told to be afraid of foreign ownership of the water company, but a that city buyout of the company is a socialist plot and the city will run the utility company into the ground. This is hogwash!
Don't get me wrong. I believe there are problems with foreign ownership that we cannot count on them to keep their word about Jacobson Park and the number of employees Kentucky American Water cut from their payroll has hurt service. We have billboards proclaiming how much money the city has spent trying to take over the water company...talk show plugs about how this is our tax dollars are being spent. Has anybody heard how much of our water service fee is being spent in the water company efforts to stop the buyout? Have you asked yourself if this has anything to do with those post-election hearings about raising our water rates?
Will the rates go up for us no matter which side wins? It is probably a safe bet that either side will raise our rates to pay for the battle. But candidates supporting the takeover are not socialist, nor is government control of a monopoly unusual in a democratic society.
There is truth in the opposition complaints about city management problems, and government waste. Lexington has problems. We as voters must consider that. But consider it logically, not from fear. Several localities around the country own their utilities it works well. There are also many foreign owned utilities operating in America. You must decide which you beleive is right for Lexington.
Here in Lexington, we are told to be afraid of foreign ownership of the water company, but a that city buyout of the company is a socialist plot and the city will run the utility company into the ground. This is hogwash!
Don't get me wrong. I believe there are problems with foreign ownership that we cannot count on them to keep their word about Jacobson Park and the number of employees Kentucky American Water cut from their payroll has hurt service. We have billboards proclaiming how much money the city has spent trying to take over the water company...talk show plugs about how this is our tax dollars are being spent. Has anybody heard how much of our water service fee is being spent in the water company efforts to stop the buyout? Have you asked yourself if this has anything to do with those post-election hearings about raising our water rates?
Will the rates go up for us no matter which side wins? It is probably a safe bet that either side will raise our rates to pay for the battle. But candidates supporting the takeover are not socialist, nor is government control of a monopoly unusual in a democratic society.
There is truth in the opposition complaints about city management problems, and government waste. Lexington has problems. We as voters must consider that. But consider it logically, not from fear. Several localities around the country own their utilities it works well. There are also many foreign owned utilities operating in America. You must decide which you beleive is right for Lexington.
posted by Gwen Mayo | 10:27 AM
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