Bobby L. Just say "NO"

I went to the city council meeting Tuesday night.  It was a packed house, and I'm assuming that for the most part people were interested in what the city was going to do about the horses in our city limits.  It was nice to see our citizens in action, and that they are so passionate about an issue.

But the thing that made me laugh more than anything was Bobby Logans performance on 3 different votes.  During the discussion he'd made it clear he was against these issues, and that's fine.  Your city council person should not always be in line with the rest.  There isn't a person up there I agree with 100% of the time.

But what was funny to me was when the mayor call for the vote it went like this, "Mr. Schroeder?" "Aye", "Mr. Schurig" "Aye" "Mr. Hernandez" "Aye" "Mr. Logan" ".....(tapping pencil on the desk)...(squirming to his right)...(tapping some more).......(deep breath)....(more tapping of the pencil)...."aye", "and I too will vote Aye".

These performances by councilman Logan were nothing shy of Oscar performances.  His district should be proud.

GIVE ME A BREAK!  Just say "NO"  If you don't agree with paying the alley, the GEDC appointments, or anything else that has been discussed, just say so! I would have more respect for Mr. Logan if he did.

I give the mayor credit for not making to much of a big deal about it.  2 times he made snide comments about the issue at hand that could of been left off the records, but when it came time to vote he just did it.  No scene from Gone With the Wind to go along with it. So while he too could of said "Nay" (the vote issues were already passed by the time they got to Mr. Logan anyway, so his No wouldn't of effected a thing), at least he showed a bit of class.

You know our city council shouldn't be voting 100% one way or another.  It makes me worry there is to many behind closed door deals when it happens.  So my message to Mr. Logan, grow up and just say "NO" next time!

Kudos to both Tommy and Gary for stepping up this week!! Both of them came prepared for bear, and had to put their foot down to get their points across.  I love to see our city councilmen actually prepared to talk about issues, and know the right questions to ask when the city manager tries to squirm out of it. Both need to be called and told what a great job they've done!

Lorenzo should be complimented on not dragging out this GEDC board any longer.  If left up to Mr. Logan it would of taken another 2 months to get people appointed. I think Councilman Hernandez had done his job to seek out good candidates that will help Gonzales grow through GEDC.  After all they've been vacant since April, how much longer should we expect to wait for these positions to be filled? Keep up the great work Mr. Hernandez!


God Bless,
Dennis Nesser

Show me the money!!!

Interesting fact this week.  Since our city manager has taken over our city of Gonzales almost 1/2 of our city reserve money has been spent.  That's right, over $2,300,000.00+ is GONE! Gonzales, the town of 7,000, has had to dip into their rainy day funds to the tune of over $2,300,000.00+.  That's $325+ for every man woman and child in Gonzales. I have a family of 6, that's $2,000 for my family. Hmmmmm, nope, I haven't seen my 2k worth of expenditures.  All I see are pot holes everywhere.  Look on Ft. Wahl, College, Church just for a start.

So when do you stop the bleeding Gonzales? Why isn't our Mayor and council stopping this bleeding right now? This isn't a case of we didn't raise taxes, so we've had to go through the money.  It's a case of we don't want to do what it's going to take to run a balanced budget in the long run. I honestly think it's a case of we don't have a clue of how to stop the spending. I don't think the mayor has ever met a program that cost us money that he didn't like.

If you or I ran our household like this we'd be in bankruptcy court. Guess what? We keep up spending like this the City of Gonzales will also be declaring bankruptcy.  You think it would be bad to have to cut back on some services now? Wait till the town has no money what so ever and we have to cut back! This will effect you and I directly. 

Want to know how they rate you for interest for loans or bonding if we need to get any? It's based on your spending, and on your ability to repay.  I can hear the broker now, "Lets see, you've just spent 5,000,000 and you want another $5,000,000 to replace that? Sure, it will be 21% interest."  Who do you think pays that? It's YOU and me!

Ask your councilman where that money is going.  He's suppose to be on top of it.  Remind him he's running a business here, and right now he's running it into the ground.  He needs to change course and right this ship so that we're not in a bind and going to have to shut down the entire city! And oh, by the way, let's not wait another meeting, let's start now! I don't know about you, but I don't have a spare $2,000,000 to pay in taxes. Times are hard for everyone, and that means cities too. 

I think our city manager and council would rather keep their head in the sand and ignore the problems then to deal with them.  Then WHY ARE YOU SITTING THERE? Move over and let someone who will deal with them take the positions.

I do want to point out there as I have watch the voting in our city council there is consistently one vote against all the spending.  Unfortunately that one vote is not enough to sway the city spending.  But that is councilman Lorenzo Hernandez.  I've watched over the years as the vote has been 3-1 and 4-1 over and over and over again.  I've never seen the others vote against the mayor on anything.  Wondering if they can think on their own? Would love to hear in this forum what they are thinking about and how they plan on stopping the bleeding.  Hear that mayor? Bobby? Gary? I know some of you read these blogs, how about a response and let your constituents know why you are going through our money so fast?

Just more food for thought Gonzales.

On a different note, I will probably repaint the board Wednesday of this week. So weather permitting there will not be anything on the board till Friday morning.  But have no fear, I'll be back Friday morning after breakfast, weather permitting. :-)

God Bless
Dennis Nesser