To the editor:

Well, Mr. Simons, that was a fine rant.

You listed a number of areas where you think local leadership is lacking. Is it your take we should pursue them all? If we do not pursue everything, do you have a process in mind to obtain “buy-in” from the nonparticipating electorate or will our nonleaders decide? Oh, I know we will create another committee staffed with those with axes to grind to provide cover for whatever those “leaders” choose to do.

I might observe that, in my humble opinion, the last City Commission election was a bust. Most of the candidates mouthed the same platitudes. All the local “special interests” got an opportunity to demand more money for their constituency. The candidates then avoided any notion of how to pay for what they and the special interests proposed. Good reading of the voters but absolutely nothing calculated to create real interest or motivation. Sleep quietly; we will take care of you!

Our new leaders had hardly broken in their expensive chairs when the same old mode of operation surfaced. The annual loss leader to justify a tax increase appeared in the context of our police. No notion that we had looked internally to see if the few million (2 to 3 percent of at least one budget rack) sought could be found from older, less important, programs. Apparently everything in our budget is more important than our police department. Right!

If we keep falling for this approach, we have the leadership we deserve and the consequence that will result.