Imagine Lubbock plans vague by Mikel Ward

REPRINT of Letter To AJ,May 30,2013

  Imagine Lubbock Together finally outlined vague dreamy plans after five months of meetings. Their entire presentation never addressed taxpayer funding or any potential loss of private property rights. Only through several questions, we learned they will use "whatever measures are necessary to accomplish the goals." They plan to hold their "partners" (city, county and all independent school districts) accountable to fully implement their plans. After elected officials adopt the report, costly details will be filled in later — like Obamacare.
  Lest you assume voters will be able to control public funding, the City Council passed a resolution May 9 to redirect 90 percent of all future city mineral revenues, with 75 percent going to the failed money pit North & East Lubbock Community Development Corp. and 25 percent to downtown redevelopment with little accountability. Only council members Todd Klein and Karen Gibson opposed this outrageous creative money grab from the general fund outside the budget process without news coverage.
  Urge the City Council to reverse this vote and pledge to avoid end runs that force taxpayers to fund huge projects without their approval that will benefit only a select few who designed them through manufactured consensus. Elected officials must not fall into this trap committing support of the Imagine Lubbock vision without full public discussion of exactly what will be expected. Let the tiny fraction of Lubbockites who hired the slick New York City consultant to help them coerce us to change how we live pay for their own plans.

MIKEL WARD/Lubbock
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WT Free Press only reprinted this letter because this editor has but a one word comment,
"AMEN"!!!