When I read the letter to the editor about Mike Nykreim I was thrilled.
Mike is a hero to me, a man that stands up to fight against the extortionists.
From Wikkipedia: Extortion (also called shakedown, outwrestling, and exaction) is a criminal offense of obtaining money, property, or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. It is sometimes euphemistically referred to as a “protection racket” since the racketeers often phrase their demands as payment for “protection” from (real or hypothetical) threats from unspecified other parties. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime groups.
Same folks screaming “it is for the children” when the only thing they are going to “give” the children is a pile of debt added to big pile of debt they have already stuck future generations.
If the ARC is such a great deal then why not privatize it and make a profit?
The reason is simple – math. Extort 84,000 people for a facility that will serve a few hundred to a few thousand. These folks would not be willing to pay full price for the use of the facilities so they must stick the taxpayer with the cost. If the cost to use a private pool was $5,000 a year the purveyors of this snake oil would not be interested in paying, they are all for you paying for them.
Always the same screaming, crying, threatening and carrying on to get a free resource at the expense of the taxpayer. Never changes, probably never will until ethics is a required class from first grade through high school. It would be wise to add a course in economics as the second class required.
After all, if the ARC is such a great idea then why Prop. 1 and the creation of the Metropolitan Park District as a end run for the 60 percent vote requirement, then they can raise taxes as often as as high as the “deem” necessary.
As usual it is the “it is only a few cents per $1,000 assessed value when the goal is more like 75 cents per $1,000 or $300-400 added tax burden to all households including those retired and on fixed incomes.
After all is said and done “it is for the children,” a worn out and threadbare lie, all the children get is more debt.
Thank you Mike for standing up for the taxpayer and for really standing for the children.
These children and their parents, who deserve better than the same tired snake oil we are being fed by the Council and the ARC proponents and the Metropolitan Park District scam.
Steven Swedenburg, Kirkland
