Cloud_Disconnected

Cloud_Disconnected t1_iygcj6d wrote

Reply to Property taxes by yaxgto

The late fees are cheap, five dollars a month, I believe.

Also, the assessor's, and especially the collector's offices are very easy to deal with if you ever need to talk to them on the phone or in person.

Edit: It's 10% the first month and 2% each month thereafter. So it could actually be a lot of you owe a lot, my bad.

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Cloud_Disconnected t1_ix17ihk wrote

Reply to Never by Stonkatron69

Heeeey....can I get a smoke from ya? And use your phone to call a cab? How bout some money, I ran out of gas, gotta pick up my sister's kids in 20 minutes.

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Cloud_Disconnected OP t1_ivroyh9 wrote

If I go to work tomorrow and my boss expects me to close five tickets for critical issues, and instead I spend the day cleaning out the supply closet, he's not going to feel like I'm being very effective or that I am prioritizing my tasks appropriately. I may be a good person and have good intentions, but at the end of the day I didn't do what he needed me to do.

When the city is asking for buy-in on projects like this but aren't delivering in other areas, yes, it's a trust issue, but it's also an issue of prioritization. Progress in economic development is important, but I don't see any progress whatsoever being made in the other areas I mentioned, or even any effort to address them.

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Cloud_Disconnected OP t1_ivri0us wrote

Obviously no one is calling for a vote on every rezoning issue, that's too ridiculous to even consider. However, when City Council votes unanimously to approve a rezoning and the vote comes out 70-30 percent against, that constitutes a major disconnect.

Good intentions and bold visions aside, people might be more receptive if we saw some substantive steps toward addressing issues that are more pressing than attracting out of state investors--poverty, homelessness, crime, and hunger, to name a few.

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Cloud_Disconnected OP t1_ivpmstj wrote

That lack of alignment is a larger issue. Between Grant Avenue Parkway, University Heights and Galloway, it's becoming clear that there's a small group of city leaders, developers, and influential citizens that have a particular vision for the future of Springfield, and the majority of the voting public, we can see from the numbers last night, are not on board with it.

Personally I found Cliff Smart's comment that allowing citizens to vote on rezoning sets "a very, very dangerous precedent" a bit ominous. What I took from that was, "sit down and shut up, because we know what's best for you."

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Cloud_Disconnected OP t1_ivp7fc4 wrote

I did not see any persuasive arguments that the development would be a net benefit for the community or the city as a whole. The yes campaign were relying on a false dichotomy of "development at any cost" or "no development at all," and were using scare tactics, i.e. "voting no will scare off future developers." That indicated to me that there was no real benefit to rezoning aside from that gained by the developers.

There was no middle ground on the ballot question, it was a yes or no vote. Given those facts, I had to vote no.

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