Thursday, December 3, 2009

Money well spent?

Last night at the Eagle Mountain city council meeting a request to purchase a $215,000 bronze statue of a horse and rider, i.e. Pony Express, named “Special Delivery” was presented to the City Council by Mayor Jackson. The intent is to place the statue in Mid Valley Park along the Pony Express Trail. This was not a budgeted item; therefore money used for this purchase comes from somewhere else in the city. What exactly will be sacrificed is not yet clear, but one can imagine how many neighborhood parks could be built or improved with $215,000 or perhaps the four years of an aquatic center subsidy that the city is unwilling to commit to that $215,000 would cover. It turns out that because of the absence of Ochsenhirt at the time of voting, Mayor Jackson was able to vote on her own request. Lifferth and Cieslak voted in favor and Burnham and Ireland voted against, thus Mayor Jackson needed to vote as a tie breaker. It is the hope that much if not all of the necessary funds will come from grants, but at the time we make the commitment to purchase, we don’t have the money. That philosophy, buy now and figure out how to pay later, is troubling to say the least. It’s the philosophy that significantly contributed to much of the economic troubles experienced today by many who are in homes they can’t afford. Rising credit card debt is another symptom of this philosophy. Aside from the unknown payment plan, I question whether this statue is the best way to spend $215,000 of our limited money.

5 comments:

  1. Unbelievable, to say the least! What in the world are they thinking, especially in these times. She needs to stop trying to make herself look good and start doing what is best for everyone in the community.

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  2. Ridiculous use of money in this economy. When pet projects like this are proposed and approved one of the most important things to do is follow the money. Who is doing the project? Do they have a connection to someone in the city? Who came up with this proposed amount of money for the project? Could it be done for a better price? What is this project taking away from the other city projects?
    Do we really want to build monuments that cost the same price as a house in Eagle Mountain?

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  3. I would have voted a strong "NO" on this too. Famous artist or not, let's raise the money first! We then could buy or have made our own statue. I was extremely disappointed, and thought passion not logic prevailed.
    --Tiffany

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  4. The statue is already built. It is a one of kind piece done by a famous artist that some kids inherited in CA and are cashing out. It is larger than full size of a pony express rider on his horse doing a handoff with another person with Lincoln's Address in it.

    I however do propose that our new city council when working on the 2011 budget this upcoming April, if the promised money hasn't been fund raised for it, the council should list it as "for sale" at an art auction. I think with the Lincoln History of it plus the artist, we could get some good dough. Don't spend our tax dollars on it. -- Tiffany

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  5. selling the statue isn't a realistic option. the contract binds the city to display the statue in its original location for a minimum of 5 years from the date of the unveiling.

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