Stan Geiger

Mayor Bartlett, Kiss my...

I saw a couple of stories published over the weekend applauding the efforts of citizens that answered the call of the mayor to mow city grass for free. I kind of hate to do it, because I'm sure the participants are fine folks, but I'm going to have to slap them around a bit.

Folks that are donating their time, sweat, labor, wear and tear on their equipment and gasoline as they mow city property are dumb as duck turds. They are enablers; they are helping government screw people.

What's next? Should I grab a shovel, follow a truck around and fill potholes with asphalt? Should I grab a garden hose and run to a fire? Come winter, should I jump in the seat of a truck and drive around spreading salt and sand?

If you paid somebody to mow your lawn, would you do it yourself?

It costs more now to fund city government in Tulsa than it has ever cost. Yet the mayor calls for donated services from the citizenry.

Forty-five years ago, there was no city sales tax. Today, it's three cents on the dollar. At least one councilor has called for another penny.

City utility bills are higher than they've ever been. The mayor---Republican mayor---calls for them to be raised again.

Fixing the streets? Well, the streets got so bad people voted in half-a-billion-dollar's worth of property tax increases to fix them.

Traffic fines? The city has set the minimum fine at $150. That's 10 times the level it was when I first got my driver's license in 1974.

More and more money flows into the city government; we get less and less in services from the city. Now it's gotten to the point where we are supposed to pay for city services then provide them ourselves.

The city has thousands of people on its payroll. Taxpayer money pays their salaries, pays their insurance premiums and pays their pension fund contributions. A large portion of those people, on any given day, are off on paid leave. The ones that aren't on paid leave are likely standing around scratching ass.

If the mayor needs a volunteer workforce to mow grass, he has one at his disposal.

It will be a cold day in July, Mr. Mayor, when I go out and mow city grass sans compensation. You do it. You're drawing over a hundred grand a year in taxpayer compensation---plus perks. You do it.

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