Florence City Council Gets SOMETHING Done..

It Ain't Easy When One of the Pigs Is Ed Robinson, But ...

Change takes a while sometimes. Nine months after getting two new City Council members and a new Mayor, Florence City Council finally was able to pass something aside from the usual budgetary junk. Granted it will like costs taxpayers a little more on their annual bills, but for one, there should be some tangible evidence of those 4 mills...

First off, Flotown will have 18 new police officers, some of which were paid for by Obama money. The most important part for locals will be the South Florence Fire Station. Yeah, I'm a southie, but here's where Florence basically had it's back against the wall. For years, the City would annex properties like friggin' Pac-Man (not Jones, he can't cover his own ass). However, you need to add services or else, the insurance companies end up dropping your ISO rating, and then your rates go way up. That was the case for Florence, and we all know we pay way more for insurance than property taxes - it was a no-brainer...

So, what was the problem? When you're faced with the first tax hike in over 20 years, you don't want to be the guy/gal who signed onto it. Also, for some reason, half of council felt it was more important to quibble over proceedural stuff. Real stupid ego-driven stuff. Lastly, there were some who asked "what's in it for my district?" Billy D. Williams said exactly that at the last meeting. Aside from more cops, streetscapes and park improvements, not much. Granted, I don't think the streetscapes, park stuff and money for the Animal Shelter are priorities, but I'm a realist - you gotta sweeten the pot..

Not that everyone was happy. Ed Robinson, despite being given kid gloves treatment by Mayor Stephen Wukela, still was ranting and bitching. Here are his exact words. You judge if it makes sense....

'We are going in the wrong direction...Are we going to build an animal shelter before we deal with our own kids? This is wrong... You are just taking everything from us, and I'm gonna fight you with everything I've got..... We ain't crazy y'all. We're getting robbed...What are we getting out of this? We're losing our children every day. They have no place to go, nothign to do, yet we want to hire another 18 police officers. This is not right. it is ungodly what Council is doing. Were suffering and no one cares."

I get the animal shelter part along with the tennis courts previously approved. You don't put dogs and cats above kids, but the rest is nuts. Robinson wants a Teen Center, becuase the kids can't go out for their own safety. He is upset because the city is adding cops and improving the parks so kids DO have a place to play? Yes... Becuase in Mr. Robinson's neighborhood, the cops' sole purpose is to put young black men in jail, not to protect the citizens from criminals. By the way, Robinson also thinks that there are no gangs in Florence. Wake up and smell the Bloods and Crips, Ed..

Robinson would rather not pass any legislation until every kid in North Florence has their own basketball court and Ice Cream stand. OK, maybe not that bad, but he will piss and moan until he gets his Teen Center, which he likely will get eventually - but that's not fast enough. Personally, I think they should have increased the budget to buy a Taser to keep him in line at meetings..

The important part is that City Council finally cut out the BS, got to business, and staved off an impending problem for all of it's citizens. Mayor Hickory Head may never get everyone off of his back, but he somehow managed to rein in most of the dissenters, and get something positive done.....

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