Commissioners ignore concerns from residents

This letter from a local resident of Hernando County appeared in the Tampa Bay Times on December 12th. 

To the voters and residents of Hernando County: How much longer are you willing to be second-class citizens and put up with four county commissioners who continually thumb their noses at you? What does it take to show you that these same commissioners will always vote with the power brokers rather than the people?

With a standing-room-only crowd of citizens, most of whom opposed the mining operations being considered just off State Road 50, the commissioners voted to approve the request from a group of the county’s power brokers and business community. Not only did they ignore those residents who took the time to attend, they thumbed their noses at over a thousand others who signed a petition opposing these mining operations.

Even the planning and zoning board voted to deny this mining request. I’m sure the commissioners will tell you that they didn’t approve the mining operations, but merely voted to send the request on to the state for consideration. Ha! With the governor’s miserable record of dismantling everything and anything that resembles environmental protection issues, what do you think will happen?

It will be approved and returned to the commission for another vote. Care to venture a guess or make a bet on how they’ll vote?

And if this isn’t enough evidence to convince you that they’ll always vote with the power brokers and business community, just recall another recent issue. They would rather increase the sales tax on every person living in the county or visiting the area than tax the people who create the need for the improvements. And despite an overwhelming vote that defeated this initiative, they still have not acted on impact fees.

These are not Republican or Democrat issues. These are issues affecting our quality of life and our pocketbooks! When it comes time to vote again, forget about party and think about democracy, where elected officials do the bidding of those who elected them, not just the powerful few who finance their campaigns.

Ken Trufant, Spring Hill