I read in Ashland.news that Ashlanders may soon vote on whether to be able to approve utilities fee increases. I’m all for it. Things have gotten out of hand: several increases just in the past year.
It seems to me that at least some of the time, the City Council is a yes-man for top staff. Not just the top staff who want Ashlanders to fund their substantial and frequent raises. But also the police chief, who has gotten council to “yes” him twice as he increasingly buckles down on our homeless citizens. The police can now exile people, not for raping, murdering or robbing, but simply for being a “nuisance.” For peeing in public, for example, or “making too much noise.” Many of these people have mental illness and can’t help themselves.
A councilor told me that community members asked for this ordinance, but I think it’s the squeaky wheel getting the grease. How many Ashlanders have asked for people to be exiled for not behaving in a “respectable,” middle-class manner? I doubt there are more than 50. Those of us who tolerate such “nuisance” behavior are silent; we may be the vast majority. Many of us love our homeless neighbors and accept their sometimes displeasing behavior.
I say yes to George Kramer’s proposed law regarding fee increases. I just wish it could give us Ashlanders the right to protect our homeless neighbors, too.
Ambuja Rosen
Ashland
