I can’t imagine anyone, including Ravi, not supporting our fire and police departments. If you took the time to see how the entire budget approval was set up, you would see the fire and police proposal, which was a given on its own merit, was thrown into the pot with other proposals that cost the city to unnecessarily spend hundreds of thousands of dollars over a five-year period.
This was politics in motion and a well thought out plan to get what the Mayor and Council wanted on the backs of police and fire departments. The citizens were used as unaware emotional pawns being threatened about the safety of their city if the budget didn’t pass.
Ravi was well aware his voice would be unpopular but stood up for the citizens in speaking out on why he could not, in good conscience, approve the entire budget. It was an all or nothing deal. A separate vote was asked for and reasons for doing so were given, it was turned down. Our children are instructed from a young age to take the right path and not to be bullied with following the herd when bad decisions are being forced upon them. Ravi represented the best interests of the city knowing the bill would pass but still refused to be bullied into voting on a budget that was not in the best interest of the people.
We teach our children to speak out when an injustice is taking place, yet we don’t expect this of our civic leaders. We elect council members to represent our best interests, which was what Ravi was doing.
Mayor Barnett knows this to be true and it was confirmed by outside consultants. The issues that Ravi was concerned about were fixed but not before the city spent $750,000 of taxpayer’s dollars.
Watch council meetings; listen to citizens with real concerns about the future of our city. Green space, oil rigs, and water towers, all handled like the fire and police vote, are being buried in an all or nothing budget, or slipped through poorly attended meetings because of the public’s lack of interest, not aware that there is an issue or undying trust.
Serving hot dogs and cutting ribbons is necessary PR. Trying to deceive the public with shady politics is not.
Mayor Barnett has done some nice things for the city but it’s time for a change. We need new leadership with new ideas, and like any business, change is good.
Good leadership comes from listening to all your citizens and making the choices that serve the common good. Politics is serving special interests at the expense of the citizens. We live by the choices we make!
Marianne Maurer
42-year resident of Rochester Hills