#2 A rant

As a citizen of Jacksonville I have been told over the last year or so that the city is under such high budget pressures that they might have to close some fire stations and lay off some police, directly jeopardizing public safety. They are also taxing us for things like garbage collection and storm water runoff that were covered by our property taxes because we uppity taxpayers decided to increase our homestead exemption. Now I see tow intersections in downtown Jacksonville that are being redone (Laura St & Water St - Laura St & Bay St) With expensive brick pavers. There was nothing wrong with either of these intersections to begin with. I don't know what the cost is but I bet it is in the 7 figure range plus the ongoing maintenance. Instead of adding all the fees (pronounced taxes) why not stop spending money to redo streets that are just fine and cut nonessential services and go after welfare cheats that have big screen TVs, multiple new or nearly new cars, that have nails and hairdos that are an unnecessary expense. If they have money for those thing while on welfare they don't need welfare.