The following email was sent to all members of the Superior City Council and was added as an agenda item for the January 18, 2011 council meeting:
Superior City Council:
RE: Fill the ballot initiative
I respectfully submit this request for consideration by the Superior City Council:
Before the official April spring ballot is set there will be an estimated 48 inches of unused ballot column space. Rather than go unused, this ballot space should be fully utilized and contain non-binding advisory questions to better help the City Council and our next Mayor in representing the needs and wants of the people of Superior.
I would like to request that the City Council set a committee of volunteers to handle questions submitted by the people of Superior and to choose from the pool of questions those that are most popular by number and those that are most beneficial to the City of Superior and to include them on the April 2011 ballot. It is noted, that in discussions with the City Clerk, this request is not expected to materially raise the cost of ballots, if any at all.
Thank you for your consideration,
Don Raihala
The proposal, I believe, is cut and dry. The request was made for a committee to take the best and most popular questions from the public and add them to the ballot as non-binding advisory questions that the council could use as an advisory tool. There is room on the ballot for it and the cost is negligible. So why not?
Here's what happened at the meeting:
http://www.ci.superior.wi.us/index.aspx?NID=528
[click on the Jan 18th meeting and advance the video progression bar to 57:10]
What is the feel of the public? I would say the biggest complaint from the public is property taxes, but how do you quantify that. As a real estate broker, the property tax issue is quite clear. It is usually the second question out of a potential buyers mouth, "what are the property taxes?" Are Superiorites willing to do without some services or reduced services? or are Superiorites just fine with progress in Superior and the annual tax increases? I have my opinions and I'm sure you have yours, but until questions can be quantified or truely validated, we as a community will not know those answers.
Closing Remarks on this topic can be found at:
http://www.donaldraihala.areavoices.com
