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The public jail hearings
are a farce
Most of our local officials aren't the least bit interested in
what the public thinks about the proposed new jail. In spite of
evidence that our existing jail only needs to be renovated,
hearings were staged for one reason-- to prop up the illusion
that the proponents of this project have everyone's best interest
at heart. Their statements that the downtown location will be
beneficial to the development of the area are totally
unsubstantiated, yet any criticism is arrogantly dismissed.
The annointed proposal will only serve to enrich the politically
well-connected construction companies and owners of properties at
that site. No studies of environmental cleanup or asbestos
removal have been conducted, so those potential costs are not
included in the proposal. Parking there would require the
purchase of even more properties, yet neither Cohn, Scott,
Meyers, or Logli will admit that the location on the edge of town
would save tax dollars and be more feasible for a number of
reasons.
They say transporting prisoners would be a problem, which is not
so because there will be courtrooms at the new facility, and only
a few prisoners would have to be taken downtown for civil
hearings. They say files would have to be carried to the new
building, which is not so because all the information is on the
computer network. They say clerks, judges and lawyers would have
to go to and from the building, which is not so because they will
be able to do all their work at the new building. They expect the
public to believe them when they say we should spend millions on
a tunnel or walkway to accomplish these things, even though it is
not needed at all. They say we need nearly a thousand beds to
hold the rising number of local criminals, which is not so
because there are inmates who could be released on their own
recognisance, or processed through the system faster.
Many of the present or future inmates could be put on electronic
home monitoring, or are being held in jail for actions that
should not even be considered crimes, but that issue is cleverly
evaded. Not one scientist with actual credentials in the field of
criminology was ever consulted, and the entire referendum was
"sold" to the public on false pretenses. These
politicians continue to distort and ignore the wishes of their
constituents because they know that the unfair ballot access laws
have severely limited any third-party choices on election day.
Our local economy has lost thousands of jobs, but this project
would pay high wages to a relative few, while further bleeding
the taxpayers. The entire community sees that none of the
aforementioned cheerleaders have successfuly refuted any of the
challenges raised by critics of the current jail proposal. It's
time for them to admit they are wrong, and then proceed with a
cost-effective alternative.