Scott Tibbs
Open letter to the Bloomington City Council
July 08^th, 2005

Back to Short Writings.

The Herald-Times carried a story yesterday about the intersection of Basswood Drive and Bloomfield Road and the need for a stop light there. The following accidents have been reported at that intersection:

• 2005, to date: 15
• 2004: 9
• 2003: 9
• 2002: 4
• 2001: 7
• 2000: 2

I could not help but notice how much the proposed light would cost: between $80,000 to $100,000. The city hands out over $100,000 to social service agencies each year. If the city had done away with the John Hopkins Fund this year, there would have easily been enough money to pay for a new stop light. In addition, city employees almost did not get a raise in 2005 because of a budget crunch.

Ideally, city government should not be funding social service agencies at all. I do not believe government should be deciding for me what charitable organizations I should be giving money to. I believe, as an informed citizen, that I can make that decision for myself. But city government (and government at all levels) does so and continues to do so.

I understand that I am in the minority on this issue and that social service funding is not going to go away. However, it should be obvious that the first priority of city government should be making sure that essential services provided by city government are paid for. If there is enough money left over for things like grants to social service agencies, then (and only then) should the discussion begin over which organizations to fund and how much to fund them.

As Ms. Shipley's mother said, "accidents are going to continue, and someone's going to die" if something is not done to improve safety at the intersection of Basswood Drive and Bloomfield Road. If that happens, the blame falls directly on the City Council because of your poor budgetary priorities.