Reject school budget
Here we go again, another increase request in the Bangor school budget. When will this stop? How much can we afford to pay?
A line item budget should be posted for all taxpayers to approve, at least we would be able to reject what we don’t like.
I believe there should be a two-tier tax system adopted for those with and without school-age children. Another option would be to allow for a basic education tax and optional tax for those who wish to fund special activities. I would definitely opt for the basic education option. Perhaps we could eliminate the expense of a full-time superintendent position and make it an honorary slot voted on by school board members.
The sad part of this situation is that nothing will be done and the city council will rubber stamp the increase instead of requesting a closer look at the extras such as social activities and pay-for-play programs that would ease the burden on those of us who do not have
children of school age.
Believe me, I am very pro-education. Our youth should have the best education we can afford to provide. I am very pro-classroom education and any extra curricular activities are just that, extra and should be funded by parents or boosters.
We the taxpayers are the only ones who can regulate our city unless we want to give it away to a few who seem not to care for our needs.
Wayne LeVasseur
Bangor
Unions reduce inequality
I suspect that opponents of collective bargaining reached for the headache medicine when they saw the recent report from the International Monetary Fund that concluded unions are the key to tackling income inequality, which has reached staggering proportions.”We find strong evidence that lower unionization is associated with an increase in top income shares in advanced economies during the period 1980-2010,” wrote the IMF researchers.
The study, issued in March, also found that “a rising concentration of income at the top … can reduce a population’s welfare if it allows top earners to manipulate the economic and political system in their favor.”
This analysis from the non-partisan IMF differs markedly from what we are hearing from certain state legislators who are pushing laws to weaken existing unions and to discourage further organizing (such as LD 489, the misnamed “right-to-work” bill). Working Mainers would be better served by legislators who have the motivation and the know-how to create well-paying and sustainable jobs all over the state, not by those who seek to undermine unions and keep wages low.
Robert Toole
Secretary
Eastern Maine Labor Council
Glenburn
Parking meter tax
The well-meaning Bangor City Council should give caution to its approach to implementation of parking meters in downtown Bangor. The council, in its quest to come up with a creative solution to parking issues downtown, risk being caught up in the controversy surrounding Gov. Paul LePage’s efforts to indirectly raise our property taxes by eliminating revenue sharing and creatively continuing his war on the poor by taxing the nonprofits that serve them.
Regardless of the intent, in light of the governor’s assault, the parking fees will be viewed as a new tax. The council should launch an educational campaign, followed by a voter referendum. This reasoned approach will be viewed by the public as the council using an inclusive approach, as opposed to the governor’s “tax and destroy” methods.
Ken Huhn
Bangor
No permit to carry
The amount of misinformation and confusion surrounding LD 652 is astounding.
The bill will not put guns into the hands of criminals. Persons prohibited from owning guns remain prohibited. Concealed carry permits will still be available, and many gun owners will still get a permit in order to maintain reciprocity with other states. Background checks will still be required when purchasing a new gun. Training will improve because slipshod “safety certificates” will no longer have value, leaving only high-quality trainers doing the instructing.
What will the bill do if it passes? Anyone who can now legally carry a gun openly (which is everyone who can legally own a gun) will be able to put on a jacket and discreetly carry the same firearm.
Concerning the April 7 editorial, the BDN was remiss in not making clear that the “poll” Everytown paid for was completed by a strategic research firm that specializes in providing “research” to support progressive agendas. That’s literally what they sell. It’s right on the Goodwin Simon website.
Finally, BDN readers deserve to know that South Portland Chief Edward Googins, who was in a picture that accompanied the editorial, is a director for the Maine Citizens Against Handgun Violence. Obvious questions about bias and conflict of interest exist, but the BDN failed to raise any of them. Nor did the BDN say that the Maine State Police do not share his concerns and actually support passage of LD 652 and scrapping the current system.
John Szarowski
Corinna
Cell phone dangers
I want to highlight a very important bill currently in the Maine Legislature. The bill, LD 883, is titled “An Act To Create the Cellular Telephone Labeling Act.” If the owner’s manual includes safety notifications about the use of the cellphone, this bill simply requires the packaging containing the phone to be labeled about the hazard and direct the potential user to the location where more detailed information is available. A label must be affixed to the phone to highlight the hazard.
The blinding flash of the obvious is “If there were a hazard associated with the use of a product, why in the interest of safety and informed consent wouldn’t that information be made readily available to the consumer?“ Informed consent is the very backbone in allowing the consumer to make a decision. Suppressing or withholding information from the consumer could be construed as an immoral act.
I urge you to contact your state senator and representative and ask that they support this bill. The people have a right to know.
H. David Cotta
China
No guns in public
I do not believe any loaded handgun should be allowed in public, open carry or concealed. What is the purpose? Surely, no one seriously believes that in our society they need a gun to protect themselves from “criminals.” Also, have they ever thought about what can happen to innocent people when the lead starts flying?
Loaded handguns simply have no place in public where they endanger the safety of everyone.
George H. Elliott
Bangor