Letter: Results show we have right mayor

From: Bob Snively

Columbus

It seems that every four years we hear from every political candidate about how they represent the best interests of “we the people.” Now surely not every candidate bothers to ask all of the people for our views, so we can only judge them on their records.

For several years I paid $14 a month or $168 per year for a tax to have my trash picked up by the city. Councilman Jim Lienhoop voted, not once but twice, for this tax. He voted for it initially, refused to second the motion of Priscilla Scalf to rescind it and then voted to reduce it to $9 per month but still left it as a $108 per year tax. Mayor Kristen Brown removed this onerous tax after taking office without raising property taxes.

Lienhoop voted for spending our tax dollars on the highly unpopular downtown outdoor sports complex and the half-baked scheme to build ski lakes in the flood plains out on State Road 46 West. Brown got rid of the sports complex and spent the money on our crumbling city streets instead.

The councilman was part of an administration that thought the city limits of Columbus extended north to Eighth Street, south to Water Street, east to Lafayette Avenue and west to Lindsey Street, and he never seemed to protest that the rest of the city was suffering from neglect. Brown has changed that for the better.

She has completed the State Street corridor revitalization plan and has begun implementation of the plan. This is long past due and a reflection that Brown knows there is a Columbus east of Lafayette Avenue and that all parts of the city deserve equal services.

Now we are seeing the start of curbside recycling in Columbus, which was another promise Brown made when she ran. Through her tireless efforts she was able to get almost every company in town to help pay the cost so that it is being done without any kind of tax increase to me or to you.

I wanted a mayor who would represent all of the people of this great city instead of the “good old boys” who have ruled for so long, and I feel that I have her in Kristen Brown.