To Crestwood residents, from the PROP "S" committee
CRESTWOOD RESIDENTS:
RE: PROP S
Can we put the politics, personalities, and emotions aside for the sake of supporting efforts to move our city forward? Although it is obvious that most of us have the best interests of our city at heart, there are those who are hesitant to show support while our city is in trouble.
LET US LOOK AT THE FACTS:
We have some of the best services a city can provide residents at one of the cheapest rates.
We received a tax cut in 1984.
We have had the luxury of this low tax rate due to retail sales tax revenue.
Sales revenues have declined over the past four years, for many reasons:
Galleria
Pool City money costs us $910,000 annually
Internet sales
West County Mall
South County Mall
Gravois Bluffs
Kirkwood Commons
Shopping trends shifting away from the mall atmosphere
Cost of services has risen in the last 20 years. Look at your incomes and expenses.
Mistakes: Oh Yes!
Money spent too freely!
Legal expenses!
Complacency
Lack of foresight
Corrective Action Taken:
New Mayor elected
Costs cut in the Street Program, Storm Water Program, and Capital Equipment
Employees cut, $500,000 worth.
Parks Department & Public Works reorganized to Dept. Of Public Services
17 people cut, staff reductions (Only one being a Department Head)
Police 5
Fire 3
Police building stopped and bonds defeased
New City Administrator hired, with credentials appropriate for our financial
situation
Commercial Utility Tax Increase approved by voters
Commercial Licensing Fee Increase approved by voters
BOA starting to work as a team along with Mayor Robinson
November ballot issues were agreed upon
Unanimous vote on upcoming PROP S ballot issue
Unanimous vote on new City Administrator, Mr. Frank Myers
Support of Personnel issues
Seven candidates have stepped up to the plate to assume four Ward Aldermanic seats in April.
Ward 1: Darryl Wallach and Richard Bland
Ward 2: Tom Ford and Chris Pickel
Ward 3: Gregg Roby
Ward 4: Charlie Berry and Steve Nieder
Four Ward meetings were conducted to inform constituents about Ward business and to educate citizens on PROP S and show support.
A Town Hall Meeting held by Mayor Robinson and Frank Myers, City Administrator, addressed city issues and progress. The PROP S Committee was
invited to speak.
Work in Progress:
Redevelopment plans in Crestwood Mall
Villas at Grantwood under construction
Shop Ân Save under construction
Las Margaritas Restaurant  just opened
Spectrum Retirement Center  Development Plan
Sappington Villas  almost complete
Sappington Square - Development Plan
These developments take time.
What Remains:
$2 million in debt
$1.5 million Line of Credit
City property held as collateral
IN SUMMARY:
It has been an active year. Yes, all of this has been done in less than one year.
Our current leaders are dealing with many problems of past administrations.
THEY HAVE FINALLY HEARD THE MESSAGE.
We got their attention, now we need to give them our support. The newly elected leaders, current leaders, and Mr. Myers need the tools to do the job we want. There has been enough finger pointing, it is time for positive action from us.
We need to pay off this debt. Attend BOA meetings, talk with our elected officials. VOTE IN EVERY ELECTION. If an official fails to perform we can vote them out just as we voted them in.
PROP S has a SEVEN-YEAR SUNSET. It is a $.20 additional tax on each $100.00 of assessed value of taxable residential, commercial and personal property. (If your home was appraised at $150,000, this increase would be approximately $57 per year or $4.75 per month additional tax on your residential property.) The ballot language states that this tax is to pay off the debt and build a cash flow. Our Mayor and City Attorney have verified numerous times that this tax will comply with the ballot language. Many residents still ask for guarantees. How can anyone do that? No one can see the future, but WE CAN VOTE the future.
The mistakes have already been made. Many corrective actions have already been taken. Let us show St. Louis what a community in trouble can do!
Let us put aside the politics, personalities and emotions, and continue up the road to recovery of CrestwoodÂs growth and prosperity.
HELP BRING CRESTWOOD BACK !
Vote ÂYESÂ on PROP S
Char Braun
Citizens for PROP S Committee
No. 107
RE: PROP S
Can we put the politics, personalities, and emotions aside for the sake of supporting efforts to move our city forward? Although it is obvious that most of us have the best interests of our city at heart, there are those who are hesitant to show support while our city is in trouble.
LET US LOOK AT THE FACTS:
We have some of the best services a city can provide residents at one of the cheapest rates.
We received a tax cut in 1984.
We have had the luxury of this low tax rate due to retail sales tax revenue.
Sales revenues have declined over the past four years, for many reasons:
Galleria
Pool City money costs us $910,000 annually
Internet sales
West County Mall
South County Mall
Gravois Bluffs
Kirkwood Commons
Shopping trends shifting away from the mall atmosphere
Cost of services has risen in the last 20 years. Look at your incomes and expenses.
Mistakes: Oh Yes!
Money spent too freely!
Legal expenses!
Complacency
Lack of foresight
Corrective Action Taken:
New Mayor elected
Costs cut in the Street Program, Storm Water Program, and Capital Equipment
Employees cut, $500,000 worth.
Parks Department & Public Works reorganized to Dept. Of Public Services
17 people cut, staff reductions (Only one being a Department Head)
Police 5
Fire 3
Police building stopped and bonds defeased
New City Administrator hired, with credentials appropriate for our financial
situation
Commercial Utility Tax Increase approved by voters
Commercial Licensing Fee Increase approved by voters
BOA starting to work as a team along with Mayor Robinson
November ballot issues were agreed upon
Unanimous vote on upcoming PROP S ballot issue
Unanimous vote on new City Administrator, Mr. Frank Myers
Support of Personnel issues
Seven candidates have stepped up to the plate to assume four Ward Aldermanic seats in April.
Ward 1: Darryl Wallach and Richard Bland
Ward 2: Tom Ford and Chris Pickel
Ward 3: Gregg Roby
Ward 4: Charlie Berry and Steve Nieder
Four Ward meetings were conducted to inform constituents about Ward business and to educate citizens on PROP S and show support.
A Town Hall Meeting held by Mayor Robinson and Frank Myers, City Administrator, addressed city issues and progress. The PROP S Committee was
invited to speak.
Work in Progress:
Redevelopment plans in Crestwood Mall
Villas at Grantwood under construction
Shop Ân Save under construction
Las Margaritas Restaurant  just opened
Spectrum Retirement Center  Development Plan
Sappington Villas  almost complete
Sappington Square - Development Plan
These developments take time.
What Remains:
$2 million in debt
$1.5 million Line of Credit
City property held as collateral
IN SUMMARY:
It has been an active year. Yes, all of this has been done in less than one year.
Our current leaders are dealing with many problems of past administrations.
THEY HAVE FINALLY HEARD THE MESSAGE.
We got their attention, now we need to give them our support. The newly elected leaders, current leaders, and Mr. Myers need the tools to do the job we want. There has been enough finger pointing, it is time for positive action from us.
We need to pay off this debt. Attend BOA meetings, talk with our elected officials. VOTE IN EVERY ELECTION. If an official fails to perform we can vote them out just as we voted them in.
PROP S has a SEVEN-YEAR SUNSET. It is a $.20 additional tax on each $100.00 of assessed value of taxable residential, commercial and personal property. (If your home was appraised at $150,000, this increase would be approximately $57 per year or $4.75 per month additional tax on your residential property.) The ballot language states that this tax is to pay off the debt and build a cash flow. Our Mayor and City Attorney have verified numerous times that this tax will comply with the ballot language. Many residents still ask for guarantees. How can anyone do that? No one can see the future, but WE CAN VOTE the future.
The mistakes have already been made. Many corrective actions have already been taken. Let us show St. Louis what a community in trouble can do!
Let us put aside the politics, personalities and emotions, and continue up the road to recovery of CrestwoodÂs growth and prosperity.
HELP BRING CRESTWOOD BACK !
Vote ÂYESÂ on PROP S
Char Braun
Citizens for PROP S Committee
No. 107
posted by Crestwood Independent at 16:55
23 Comments:
Excellent! Bravo! Very well said! Lets move forward!
Good Luck to: Wallach, Ford, Roby and Nieder - just the no strings attached breath of fresh air we need.
I hope that no matter who is elected we give them a chance to prove us right or wrong in our voting. That is only fair. I did not vote for Mayor Robinson but I am certainly impressed with his performance thus far. I Do know that Charlie Berry is not getting a fair shake with some people who seem to want to put him side by side with the former Mayor Fagan and some of his supporters. Yes, they are friends, as he is also friends with Mayor Robinson. So what? Yes he supported and was spokeperson for Prop 1. So what? He was trying to help this city. I'm not trying to campaign for him, that is up to him, but I do think some of these notions that people are throwing around about him and his alliances with the "Fagan five" are WAY off base. All I ask is to give the guy a break. he thought he was doing what was best for our city.
There is no strings attached with Charlie Berry.
There are strings attached, look a little deeper.
Guess, what? The firefighters union that supports Mr. Ford called the Communications Workers of America
and asked their president to with draw their support of Chris Pickel in this election....The CWA president refused to do so, instead he stauncly defended Pickel.
Now I am not a political guru, but I have never heard of a union asking this of another union. Nor do I know what this means about the condition of Ford's campaign as viewed by the firefighters union. So maybe those who moniter this blogg by the minute and are in the know on this type of even can fill us in?
Of course the firefighters can deny all of this so we may have to call the CWA local 6310 and get their side of the story.
Fagan, Berry, Kelleher, and yes, Pickel are joined at the hip!
See one, see them all! If you want the same old failed Board, and the same old borrow and spend, there your boy's!
Even the mayor has stated that he underestimated the condition of the city of Crestwood. The BOA are provided with volumes of information. When you refer to the "boys" you too have your "boys" and most of them have not been able to examine all of the information provided to the BOA. You also seem to think past individuals have purposely deceived the citizens regarding the financial condition of Crestwood.
It also concerns me that citizens who claim to understand the budget say we have a "balanced budget". Crestwood is still going to be over $1mil in debt as we were this time last year, that is why Prop S was on the ballot. They did not have their eyes closed to the General Fund deficit and the ability to continue paying for the current level of services.
I'm not saying that they were perfect but the comments saying "they" got us into this mess implys deceit on their part and I that really bothers me.
Charlie Berry is not joined at the hip with these people! Try to dig somewhere else.
I believe most of the corrective measures you mentioned were in progress prior to the current mayor being in office. The Commercial Utilities Tax and the Commercial Licensing Fee increase was presented as a way to increase revenue during a BOA meeting and ignored. It took several months before that idea materialized.
With that said, I hope that the future BOA can make more timely decisions. Most of the corrective measures were formulated in 2005.
The General Fund Budget IS balanced for THIS YEAR. Next year won't really matter when the Bank comes knocking for City Hall & Public Works Building. Southwest Bank IS NOT a local bank anymore. Don’t think for a second they are not watching this election.
We MUST have money to pay off the debt - then we have 8 months to figure out what to do about balancing next year's General Fund Budget.
The General Fund is only balanced regarding income and the current year's expenses. BUT you have to include the <$1,537,800> deficit from last year. It doesn't just go away because a new year/budget is in place. This is the amount of the "cash flow" loan with the bank and they will be addressing payment of this amount I believe in Sept. of 2006. The income from the Prop S will pay down the $2mil loan first, I assume, which leaves the payments for the $1.5Mil to be paid from the general fund that is if they continue to give Crestwood that line of credit.
How do we know bank officials aren't mnitoring this website? They may see that Prop S wasn't passed, not because there was concern about aldermanic seats, but because the general population just simply won't improve the city's ability to pay the loan.
If you were a banking official, even August would look dismal. The only thing the city can do is to improve their income to expenses by drastically reducing the budget. That means drastic payroll cuts and selling of properties, that may or may not have been used to secure the loan. You can't sell a property when it's used as part of your collateral. There are two different loans here. One secured with city hall. One secured on credit rating and ability to pay.
Would you loan out money if your creditor simply couldn't get support of the people?
Anyone have an idea why it might not have the support of the masses? Take a guess. Thanks to the CALL, every pin that dropped was heard round the world. Man, this town really looked good!!!
That is true. Like it or not. The soap opera reporting did nothing but stir up the masses. Now they should take responsibility to do the damage control.
The Call, an "equal opportunity offender".
They did not allow an adult difference of opinion without being smeared. Every "uh" and pause documented to make the speaker look stupid in print.
BIG PROBLEM,,,
Tom Ford has an unlisted phone number..Call information yourself or check the latest White Pages and see.
If he gets elected how will anyone contact him if they dont have access to the internet or have not gotten his number from his election flyer? I can not believe he is running for office with an unlisted phone number and claims he didnt know the rule about an elected offical having a relative working for the City. What was he thinking about when he filed for office? Today I got my first mailing from Tom, he states he wants us to share with him our ideas and concerns, my question is HOW would anyone do that untill today when his phone number has been unknown? Plus he has now posted on his blogg he wasnt going to do anymore posts.
So much for having an open government.
You wish my numbers? Well they have been on the blog numerous times, and I will post them again today!
But, if you would look on the City web site, you will see home, and business numbers under each Alderman (well most of them,)and you will find mine there also.
So, now having solved your "Big Problem", here you go.
Tom Ford: 965-5792 (home)
341-2307 (cell)
965-8732 (fax)
tford60@earthlink.net
www.crestwoodindependent.org
No teen agers to wait for!
"My name is Tom Ford, and I want to be your Alderman from Ward Two"
Tom Ford
Ward Two
I have a better question! How do we talk to Chris Pickel when he is attending all the meetings he say's he goes to?
Is it ok to get him out of the meetings via cell phone when his "teenager's" tie up the regular phone?
Next you will complain about To Ford's choice of dog's!
SHEESH!
So my next door 80 year old neighbor cant efford a computer, how does she get your phone number to reach you if I'm not home to give it to her?
I have never heard of an elected offical with an unlisted phone number. Jim Murphy used to have TWO numbers in the phone book.
What kind of dog does he have? Dont try to lighten the seriousness of not having a listed phone number with the dog bit.
When you elect me, I will send you, your 80 year old neighbor, and every household in Crestwood a refigerator magnet, or un-list my phone number, your choice!
This City is broke thanks to the previous administration, we need funds now, we need leadership, now, and your worried about the phone number of a person who is not yet an elected official!
Please, Can't we find more pressing problems to discuss?
"my name is Tom Ford, and I want to be your Alderman from Ward Two"
Tom Ford
Ward Two
Which financial institution does Char Brown work for in Clayton?
Does her firm have something to gain by this Proposition S like bond fees or service fees?
Are you out of ideas that you have to recycle old ones? Call her and ask!
Char Braun is a really great lady who cares about and appreciates her community.Why do you people have to see some sort of consipiracy in EVERYTHING. Believe it or not, some people get involved in supporting community service projects or political campaigns simply because they believe in the issue. And here is something that might be beneficial to a paranoid person--sometimes you even meet new people and make friends along the way.
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