Way to go, Lois Stark and Ann Bornholdt! I really like your letters to the editor about the Creekside water rate giveaway that have popped up on the Statesman Journal web site.
Hopefully your letters (see here and here) will make it into the print edition of the newspaper soon. I'll boldface the most pleasingly snarky portions of what you said.
Salem residents not responsible for golf course's woes
Nice try, Kent Hunsaker and Jerry Bennett, but it ain’t gonna fly!
No matter how much these guys tried to sugarcoat the issue in their guest opinions, lowering the water rates for the Creekside Golf Club amounts to a bailout at the expense of all others in the city of Salem.
The Creekside Golf Club is a private golf course. If it can’t remain solvent, then let their members pay to subsidize it. Why should my water bill increase so they can play golf?
Yes, the golf course is a critical watershed for the city. So if the golf course must close, then let’s either make the course public or have a small development there which carefully protects the natural habitat and wildlife.
If the Salem City Council votes to increase our bills for the Creekside Golf Club members, then I will withdraw 65 cents each month from my bill and urge others to do the same. My hard earned 65 cents will be donated to Marion-Polk Food Share and Family Building Blocks. These two non-profits provide needed services to families who could never afford to play a day of golf.
Lois Stark
Salem
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Creekside water rate a sweetheart deal that benefits developer, not city
I hope all members of the Salem City Council — current, ongoing, incoming and potentially future — took note of the overwhelmingly negative response to the proposed increase in water rates for most citizens in order to subsidize a lower rate for a private club.
There is so much wrong with this proposal I can’t keep my objections within the word-count limits of a letter to the editor.
Who the heck are the members of the advisory committee who thought this was a good idea? Suffice to say, I took the opportunity to vote for the challenger in the most recent City Council elections in order to vote against just this kind of sweetheart deal that benefits a well-connected real estate developer at the expense of the rest of the city.
For those concerned with the loss of 50 jobs, it sounds like the developer, Larry Tokarski, is already planning to shut down the golf course to build houses on the site no matter what happens with the proposal.
City Council members: Vote down this turkey!
Ann Bornholdt
Salem
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