Provo City Council Meeting 12/6

Here are my thoughts on last nights Provo City Council meeting:

(1) A private non-profit group called the Utah Valley Earth Forum was allowed nearly 10 minutes to promote their environmental extremism agenda under the guise of given a Stewardship Award to Mayor Curtis.  The speaker touted the opt-out recycling program and the Switch-It program.  The group likes Curtis so much they even promote him on their front page.  Pretty disgusting stuff especially when considering citizens are only allowed 3 minutes.

(2) Pork-barrel parks scored big last night at the expense of citizen's pocketbooks.  Council approved 7-0 expansion of 3850N Timpview Park taking an understandable $170K from Park Impact Fees and an unacceptable expense of $170K from the general fund.  Also approved about half of a $90K appropriation for a pocket park 300W Center St.  Finally they took $0.5M from the savings in the Lakeview Park and instead of returning it to the citizens in from of Iprovo tax relief threw the money at the a Slate Canyon Trailhead project.

(3) Mayor got his rebranding pork approved 7-0 to the tune of a quarter million.  Mayor and some council have stated they had to spend the money in part because they felt a multicolored bar on the flag promoted the LGBT agenda.  Funny, to me a rainbow has always meant God's promise to Noah.  The logo update was sold as a "good investment" and the mayor commented on how all steamed he was just having visited all these major cities promoting Provo but couldn't announce his new $250K pet logo.  What a waste!  Take the citizen's money and flush it down the johns at city hall.  Additional note:  notice (left) the lack of communication in an attempt to abscond the dollar amount on the mayor's blog:  I posted a comment on 10/6 asking for this information and never got it.  I can post private subsequent private emails between me and the mayor in which I repeatedly asked for these dollar amounts and never got it either.

(4) Council Hall-Everett got one of the issues she has been advocating since back when the property tax hike was being discussed last summer:  $250K for wayfinding signage.  The amount is exorbitant and with a parking map available online a totally unnecessary expense for a city which just had to raise taxes in order to avoid bankruptcy from the Iprovo debt which fell back in its lap.  (Funny how those 20yr bonds come back to haunt you.  Good thing the city practices the teachings of the LDS church to "get out of debt and stay out of debt" NOT!!!)

(5) Mayor Curtis tried to pull a fast one by touting the fiscal responsibility of the city because of the poor condition of the carpet in council chambers.  In my comments I mentioned that this was not fair because the council has already appropriated the money for a huge upgrade to the council chambers.  Other members of council got fed up with public comment and either directly or indirectly insulted the citizenry for not having facts to back up their comments or for not attending all the budget meetings that they had (of course they're paid to do so, we're not).  One council member did apologize privately afterwards.  No one including new council Garrett showed any spine for taking a fiscally conservative approach to government; every single appropriation passed unanimously.

It's a sad day when the city government in Provo is as liberal as New York City.  Maybe it will help when we elect a new mayor who doesn't promote the agenda of his former Party:  big government, big spending, and massive tax increases.

The Upcoming New Face of the Provo City Council

Top Row L to R:  Kay Van Buren (Dist 4), Yancee Hardy (Citywide), Jim Pettersson (Dist 4)
Middle:  Gary Winterton (Dist 1), Howard Stone (Dist 4)
Bottom:  Bonnie Morrow (Dist 1), Gary Garrett (Citywide), Lindsay Wiblin (Dist 4)
Note:  Six Candidates for District 3 not pictured; Collage arranged in artistic manner not to favor any candidate

Friday marked the end day of filing season for four Provo City Council seat vacancies from a total of seven council seats including Districts 1, 3, 4, and a citywide seat.  We had a remarkable number of filings despite the recent stiffening of filing requirements by the current council.  Perhaps the remarkable number was due to all four council incumbents up for reelection chose not to run again.  Whatever the case may be, because the outcome of the Nov 8th elections will determine a majority of council seats, there is perhaps not better time than to get involved with city elections.  (See official Candidate List)

• District 1 voters will choose between Bonnie Morrow and Gary Winterton on November 8.

• District 3 voters will have a primary on Sept 13 to chose from the list of six candidates:

Tom Jarman

James E. Kallbacka

Jeff Marvell

Hal Miller

Glen K. Thurston
Richard E. Wood

• District 4 voters will have a primary on Sept 13 to chose from the list of four candidates:

Jim Pettersson

Howard Stone

Kay Van Buren

Lindsay Wiblin

• All voters will vote on Nov 8 between the two citywide candidates, Yancee Hardy and Gary Garrett.  (Note:  Find which district you're in on the Provo District Map)

In looking at the group as a whole, it is going to be an exciting election.  Some of the candidates have run before, while others are first-time-ever candidates for office.  I really appreciate the willingness of all the candidates to step forward and to provide us with differing options for change as we try and promote liberty among our citizenry.  I also salute the lame duck members of the council for their service with one final plea:  do not raise our property taxes up to 16% as you are now considering (Daily Herald, Jun 16) in contradiction to Mayor Curtis' proposed budget.
 
Many Provoans are finding themselves frustrated with their city government on a plethora of issues ranging from attempts to impose a daytime curfew, incessant tax hikes and fee increases, backyard pavement regulations, and building unnecessary roads and bridges on the west side. Yesterday, I sent out the following questionnaire to my District 4 candidates to find out where they stood on these many issues.  I expect to have a similar one developed shortly for city-wide candidates.  The questions cover a number of different hot-button topics.  There is also a movement within our district to get a forum scheduled for the candidates before the primary to increase voter awareness of the candidates.  Here is the questionnaire:
 
Did you support Prop 1 (Rec. Center bond)?

Do you support Opt-In or Opt-Out for curbside recycling?


Do you support the implementation of a RAP tax?


Should city property tax be eliminated, lowered, held, or raised?


Do you support the building of the Northwest Connector?


Do you support the council’s recent changes to campaign filing requirements?


Do you believe that a council member should resign if called to active military duty?


Do you support the current ticket policy whereby a fine doubles in 6 days and triples in 11?


What ideas will you bring to balancing the budget?


What has been your political party affiliation(s) for the past 10 years?


What future projects should the city fund?


Do you support tax increases and bond issuances being subject to a 2/3rds supermajority of voters?


What are your ideas for increasing revenue through growing the sales tax base?


What percentage of a backyard should a landowner be allowed to pave?


Do you support a daytime curfew for minors?


Do you support the redistricting of the city as to eliminate city-wide council positions?

Do you support the creation of a third interstate interchange for Provo?

Provo City Council Raises Garbage Fees 57%, Forces Opt-Out Tax

Congratulations, Provo, your taxes went up again.  And it's worse than you think.

Last month the city council voted 4-2 (5/3 Minutes, Item #7) to raise the fees on garbage collection from $11.00 a month to $14.50 for a single black can.  Councils Turley and Healey were the two who voted against the proposal.

Wayne Parker, Provo's CAO, claimed that the fee needed to be raised to $12.50 to cover costs.  But the liberals and environmentalists on the council then took the opportunity to pursue their own progressive agenda and voted to further hike the cost of black can collection by $2 more to penalize those residents who would not sign up for curbside recycling.  In other words, more than half the increase in cost of black can recycling will go to subsidize the curbside recycling.  Congratulations, Provo, you are now subsiding curbside recycling with tax dollars!

But it gets worse.  After raising the fee by 33% the council also decided to force its citizenry into "purchasing" a product:  no longer will trash collection be opt-in, it's now going to be opt out.  That means you have to submit the form available online at BY AUGUST 7, 2011 or call 801-852-6000 to not have to pay for the curbside can.  Otherwise you're stuck paying for an ugly blue recycling can in addition to your black one.  As Chair Healey pointed out, if you don't opt out, you will end up paying $17.50 for the two cans--an increase of 57% over the $11.00 you were paying!  Sounds to me like a redo of the Obamacare health insurance mandate.

While many longer term residents who are aware of the change and will read through the form mailed to them in with their monthly bill, many students preoccupied with studies will not.  When those not fortunate enough to catch the opt-out tax will be stuck (literally) in the cold with a huge surprise November bill.

The perpetrators of this curbside tax know that they can get unwatchful Provoans to pay the tax.  Currently only 24% of residents have the blue recycling can in addition to their black one.  With the opt-out the city expects to draft 65% of residents into recycling.  They further plan to use the revenues from recycling to propagandize the program (excuse me, "market" they termed it) the program instead of using the funds to subsidize the cost of the curbside recycling.  Just what we need: a government-subsidized "Re-use It Man".

In all, the liberal, environmentalist ambitions of the council were summed by the big-government phrase coined by Council Sterling Beck: "We need to incentivize people to recycle."

Rephrasing Beck's ideology: "Government needs tax its citizens and then use those funds to incentivize people to behave in a manner the government wants them to."  This ideology is nothing but pure socialism and breaks the trust put forth in the Declaration of Independence which gives citizens the right to pursue "life, liberty, and happiness [determination of one's own property]."

Mayor Curtis who as a candidate talked favorably about privatizing garbage pickup, has flip-flopped and now seems more interested in spreading falsehoods and spin about the program on his blog.

Consider the following by Curtis:

• "No one is required to participate." (False.  I am required to take action or else on August 7th I am forced into participation.) 
• "No sorting is required"  (False.  You need to review the Recycling Do's and Don'ts on our city's website.)
• "You'll find you have much more room in your trash can for trash since so much goes into the recycling can." (Pure opinion.  When I had the blue can, it was nearly empty each week.  It probably cost more in labor for the refuse worker to empty the can than in the materials I recycled each week.)

Any entrepreneur who wants to pick up my trash for less than $14.50 a month, please contact me at:  nacilbupera@gmail.com to get my business.  If I can't get a taker, maybe I'll just completely opt-out and take the trash myself to the dump:  at SUVSWD it's $4 per covered truckload.