Let politicians make first sacrifice

Let politicians make first sacrifice

Am I crazy or are Americans stupid? Where were all the activists and all the outrage when the government allowed the car industries and affiliated unions to be dismantled and devastated? No one was worried when Delphi purposely ran Packard Electric into the ground so they could file bankruptcy and take our jobs overseas. Not too many stood behind the workers when they lost their medical benefits and pension. The prevailing attitude I saw was that the auto workers were greedy and made too much money. It’s a little bit different when the government is coming after your wages and benefits isn’t it?

I wrote a letter to The Vindicator years ago warning of the dire results of a trickle down effect. When medical coverage is lost, jobs in the medical field decline. Look at Forum. When income declines many other businesses decline. Notice all the empty stores in Boardman.

Instead of being envious of your fellow workers you should have supported them. Instead of listening to the psychological babble of Karl Rove and his groupies, who propose that we need to make less money and pay less taxes to balance the budget, you need to understand that we need to make more money. When we make more money we pay more taxes and the government has more to spend. That contributes to more jobs and better wages.

I also want to add that I am amazed that the general public, the tea party, and the other activists have not demanded that the politicians need to cut their wages, their medical, and their pensions. Talk about entitlement. They vote for their own raises, benefits, and pensions with our tax money.

If the politicians are not willing to share in the sacrifices I think we need to make some changes.

Kathy Aaron, Boardman

Canfield schools should make do

In all of my years as a Mahon- ing Valley resident I have never felt as compelled to write to The Vindicator as I do at this point. I just completed the article stating the need for the additional 6.8 mill operating levy needed to operate Canfield schools. Based on the current economic situation of the Valley and the nation, the Canfield school board needs to reconsider its position and request of the taxpayers. The average homeowner as stated in the article would pay $208.20 per year on a $100,000 home. There aren’t many $100,000 homes in Canfield. So let’s assume that the average home in Canfield is $250,000, your share would be $520.50 a year.

Teachers pay an 8 percent share of their health care benefits. The rest of the working class share at least 50 percent. The teachers current retirement plan calls for them to contribute 10 percent, while the school board contributes 14 percent. The rest of the working class at best get an employer contribution of 3 percent, if anything. The average teacher salary $60,641, divided by 180 working days equates to approximately $42.11 per hour based on an eight-hour day. Have you ever seen a teacher work a full eight-hour day?

I certainly agree that we need a quality educator in today’s challenging world, however the board has made no attempt to reduce the operating costs as the rest of the working class has done.

The voters of this community are entitled to an honest attempt by this current school board to first make the necessary cuts to live within their means, as we have to do. Gas is up to $3.60 a gallon and the board wants to raise our taxes on an average of $500 a year. Where do we get it from?

Bill Jobe, Canfield

Canfield excels; deserves support

As a parent with two chil- dren in the Canfield school system, I am writing to voice my unwavering support for the upcoming levy. I bring a perspective that is a bit unique to many longtime residents. Our family did not grow up here but rather relocated to Canfield in 2007 from the Greater Cleveland area.

We knew nothing about this location other than it was one of the last exits before Pennsylvania. Hours of research about schools and academic opportunities brought us here. Since my husband’s job change required a move, the very first criteria we had for where to move was the quality of the schools. He drives 40 miles each way to work because statistically Canfield is the top school district around, and that is why we chose to make this town our home.

This region has seen its share of difficult times, no question, but recent developments are encouraging. Last year, Entrepreneur Magazine named Youngstown one of the best locations in the nation to start a business. Governing magazine highlighted Youngstown’s Business Incubator in the recent March issue, saying this:

“But there’s life emerging beneath these hardened scars. In the shadow of the iconic 1919 Home Savings and Loan Company building downtown, a managed cluster of high-tech startups is injecting new energy into the city. It’s the Youngstown Business Incubator (YBI), a nonprofit corporation, and it’s not only redefining the industry of this hardscrabble valley on the eastern edge of Ohio; it’s changing the notion of what cities and states can do to spur innovation and investment.”

All this positive news is for naught if nobody wants to live here. Repeatedly, the number one factor in making such decisions is quality schools.

One of the most impressive things about Canfield is the incredible commitment of families and the opportunities to produce well rounded students. Canfield really has impressed us with the community support for athletics and arts at the school level. The opportunities we afford our children are first rate. Yet Canfield’s spending per student is about 18 percent lower than the state average. ($7,685 for Canfield, compared to $9,288 as a state average).

We owe it to ourselves to support the upcoming levy. Our schools are the number one investment we can make in our community and deserve our support.

Kim Urig, Canfield

Working together takes a hit

I feel betrayed by the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber with their endorsement of Senate Bill 5. What next, the “right to work” legislation against private sector unions?

For years, the union to which I belonged, the UAW, along with other unions have worked in unison behind the scenes with the Chamber on many projects. Beginning in 1997, I was particularly involved in a committee called Grow Mahoning Valley that promoted economic development through the development of our infrastructure.

The whole idea was to bring together the political power of the unions and business with government agencies to lobby for funding for much needed highways, water and sewer projects. During my years on GMV we worked together to get funding for the Vienna airport interchange on state Route 11, the 711 connector, and countless other water, sewer and road projects in Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties

We had a gentlemen’s agreement. We would seek common ground and stay away from certain issues that were contentious. It appears the chamber decided it was time to hack the ties and declare war on labor.

For those labor unions still working on the GMV committee, I don’t think labor needs to join hands with the chamber anymore. It appears that the self-serving Mr. Humphries thinks he accomplished all these things by himself. I know the hours I spent with other GMV members on the back of a truck filming roadways and businesses to make a special presentation to the ODOT TRAC committee for funding of the 711 connector, and I didn’t see him there.

Alex Snyder, Columbiana