Taxpayers' group: Message has been sent
The following was submitted by Bob Miller of Malden Taxpayers for Accountability:
The Malden Taxpayers for Accountability wants to thank the voters of Malden who came out this past Tuesday to voice their opinion on the Pay as You Throw Trash Program. In a non-Mayoral Election year, to have the unprecedented amount of voters appear at the polls should send a clear message to City Hall: democracy won and the citizens expect their government to follow realistic rules to make the playing field “fair.” Based, on the city’s rules called Acts 1950, we had that opportunity.
In the past few days many concerned citizens have spoken with us about Question One’s victory. It’s been very difficult to tell people that the question lost, when in actuality they won. Again, we thank the voters who gave us their vote and a clear mandate of public opinion in regards to the Pay as You Throw Trash Program. If you follow our fourteen month progression from the signatures to the ballot question, you will find out that we’ve never waiver from our core beliefs which are that we want our voices to be heard by City Hall. We also have always supported the recycle efforts of the City. In our opinion for the Pay as You Throw to become a model trash disposal program we now believe that citizen participation and public input is in need that will garner proper support from the community.
Time will only tell if the City Council, which is the governing body that authorizes us to be on this year’s ballot, will listen to our voices. We do believe that they have a duty to the voters of Malden to discuss the ballot question’s results. When will this get done? Your guess is as good as ours. But, if you’re serious about finding out join us on the third floor at 5:30PM at the Council Chambers (200 Pleasant Street) on any Tuesday night and really see what is being discussed when it comes to the spending of our tax dollars.
Malden’s elected officials have had some time to reflect and review the vote totals. Our hope for them is to listen to the people, so, we can meet on common ground where all sides will accept the Pay as You Throw Trash Program. Let this not be taken as a sign of weakness from our group. But, as an offer to put aside our differences as we ask City Hall to move forward as we all work together to have a program that the citizen’s truly care about, will support and be proud of. In our opinion, there are other issues in our city that need attention, but, the energy that this one continues to generate needs to come to a positive conclusion that the majority of people will respect and honor.
We make another plea to the City Council and Administration that many people need relief because they’re jobless, the winter is fast approaching and fuel bills will be due, homes are in foreclosure or just living each week paycheck to paycheck. Hopefully our political leaders after this Election Day now understand that the Pay as You Throw Trash Program needs changes, modifications, alterations or repeal to truly reflect the public’s sentiment on how a community accepts additional fees and or taxes to justify maintaining its services.
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