city audit aftermath

Now that the audit process is finished where do we go from here. By reading the opinion pieces and the online edition it appears the battle lines are drawn. Some people would much rather have remained in the dark to city finances, while others want to get the broom out and start a new.
I believe change is needed to the way this city is run and some department heads need to either change the status quo of there departments or find a new place of employment. A supervisory role means that decisions need to be made and not all of them are going to be pleasant. Budgets are something that should be taken quite seriously, just as every homeowner must watch their expenses so must the city leaders watch the expenditures of the city. We have come upon an age where spend now fend off the bill collectors later seems to be the normal modus operandi for many businesses, government institutions, and homeowners. The nation is nine trillion in debt, many states remain with red ink bleeding the state coffers, the average city spends three times the amount of there revenue, and the average homeowner carries about 20G's in credit card debt. If government institutions were rated in the same manner for a credit score as the individual then credit counselling services would be booked with appointments for years to come.
The fiscal health of this city is beholden to the taxpayer not only in our elected officials, but to every individual that resides within the city limits. If you feel something is amiss in government then go to the source and make your voice heard, stop complaining to the handful of people that read the editorial section. You can change government for the better, but one must get off the couch and make the attempt before seeing results.
It took approximately five thousand six hundred people to shine the light on city finances, in a city that has a population base of over one hundred fifty two thousand. A minority can institute change if they are willing to make the sacrifice.

shameless self promotion

Steven Reed is well known in this area for trying to get a government boondoggle project here to the Springfield area. The project is called Amtrak. This wasteful government program spends millions of taxpayer dollars while bringing benefits to the minority and not the majority.
Another type project of which seems to be on the forefront is a technology park which he seems to want the taxpayers to fund to the tune of millions of dollars. This city doesn't have millions of dollars as the city audit pointed out.

Mr. Reed is also the self promoter that he was instrumental in getting the city audited and the Springfield News Leader finally listened to him long enough to put a blurb in the paper proclaiming his greatness for this thought. I'm not very familiar with his effort since I didn't live in Springfield at that time, but since 2006-2007 was the very first time this city got audited by the state I would have to assume his attempt failed.
I'm quite sure research could point to countless others in the past that may have made a passing statement on this same subject however we aren't promoting them as the originators.

It appears that Steven Reed wants to become the Paul Revere for this effort while the members of the local libertarian party, and the individual members of the police and fire departments are regulated to the status of Samuel Prescott and William Dawes