The library?
Spit in the face of fire and police!
Handicapped accessible?
How about the police station?
The Mayor and BOA should be arrested along with Mike Hughes, if they look for taxpayer money for the library before the fire and police stations! Fire and Police 1st. They are our 1st responders! Outrageous!
I would vote to increase my taxes for a Public Safety Complex. If the Library, Memorial Hall and Police-Fire buildings were a "group deal", I would vote NO (sorry first responders)! Melrose voted down the Override 2 to 1 because the games this administration plays with money-slush funds. My family are Democrats who voted for Hillary and who Voted No on the Override.
I'll second that. As much as I'm in favor of a new public safety facility, if it's coupled with a library or Memorial Hall project, I too will vote no. I am sick to death of Dolan's financial sleight of hand.
Agreed.
When it comes to capital items, each tub on its own bottom. Not just financially but also BOA and voter approval.
The grab bag approach that the Mayor's opening volley embraces is an indication he has not really understood the voter reaction to the override vote last year.
Look, this ought to be really simple, decided by answering one question. Which is the most critical need? You could paraphrase by asking which facility is the in the most egregiously poor condition. Of course, the answer is the police department, followed very closely by the main fire house.
We absolutely do need a new public safety building. Both the police station and the main fire house are falling apart, do not comply with any sort of current codes, including handicap access, and cost a lot of money in maintenance and utilities. Having them both in the same up to code building would save a lot of money.
The problem is that he's rolled them all into the same proposal to garner favor for the project he really wants, the library. He did exactly the same thing with the override - adding a couple cops into it - remember? This is the same tactic taken to a different level. He's been promising since the day he took office to build or "acquire" a new police station, but every time another project comes up that he thinks can get him more votes - anything school-related - the police station goes back to the bottom of the list again.
You have to understand how he feels about the police. Over the last few years, they have made him look really dumb on more than one occasion, usually on some half-witted set of skewed inaccurate figures provided to him by his minion PDR. He hates the police, and he holds a grudge.
Wait and see - eventually the public safety portion of his so-called proposal will not make the cut, due to some "unforseen" budget circumstance, and all we'll get is a renovated library. I saw today that interest rates have begun to rise, so that by the time this project gets off the ground, rising interest costs will give him the excuse he needs to eliminate the public safety building from the proposal. "Cost prohibitive" is the phrase that comes immediately to mind.
I would also remind you that the plan as proposed would involve tearing down the 1963 addition, leaving the original 1904 building intact, and then building another, bigger addition. I fail to see the sense in that.
Now it might seem like the priorities are a little backwards here - the public safety building ought to be the #1 priority, but Dolan's priority - as it ALWAYS is - is to make the project that makes him look good and wins him the most votes #1. That's all that matters to him - not whether it's the right thing to do or not.
Am I being cynical? I sure am, and with really good reason. Haven't we had just about enough of this duplicitous crap?
PDR is secretly running the city. Everyone knows it. Cocky arrogant and not very nice. The EXPERT in finance has somehow allowed the cemetery to become a RICO shelter. Go figure. When will the leaders with integrity stand up and make Melrose great again?