I feel impelled to write to you with my concerns, after reading the column entitled Elected to make decisions, written by Greg Neiman.
It seems that Mr. Neiman views taxpayers who take an interest in the workings of their elected officials as “goofballs” (his word, not mine).
Now this normally wouldn’t concern me, but I remember his recent comments in the Advocate regarding the $800,000-plus debacle that first of all painted bike lanes on city streets, then in short order decided to remove a lot of them, at a cost we will never know. Again in his comments in the Advocate, Mr. Neiman showed his disdain for taxpayers and the redneck pickup truck drivers who in his opinion have no concern for Mother Earth.
In his latest Insight piece, Mr. Neiman once again looks down his nose at concerned taxpayers, this time in Lacombe, where a group has had the audacity to question council spending.
Now one can question whether using a reality television show is the best way to get your point across, but instead of encouraging citizen participation, Mr. Neiman thinks it more productive to label them as malcontents.
His comment that Red Deer citizens are allowed to give their diversity full expression, whatever that means, surprises me as over the years I have seen our council spend taxpayers’ money on a lot of very questionable projects.
We only have to remember the Taj Mahal called the civic yards that was built at the height of the construction boom, the cost overrun on the Collicutt Centre, the downtown sidewalk patio that was removed for the winter, at what cost we don’t know, and the list goes on.
But according to Mr. Neiman, we taxpayers are too stupid to get involved in the machinations and ongoing spending spree of some of our council members.
I would like to suggest to the real editor of the Advocate, that if you are going to allow this type of left-wing rant, maybe it would be a good idea to counteract it with someone from the other side of the political spectrum.
After living in this city for 25 years, I have the feeling that more people would tend to support right-wing ideas and appreciate a column that reflects their views.
George Croome
Red Deer