San Bernardino, apathy is not the answer. For too long, we have not had an effective community coalition in place to deal with any civic problems that may arise in our community. Our city council is dysfunctional. Our mayor is weak. Our city attorney is unethical. Our public safety and civil servants are overpaid, demographically unrepresentative, and uncaring to the needs of our populace.
However, we also need to lay the blame on ourselves. Only 8% of our residents vote in city elections. We might think local voting is not important and of minor consequence, but this bankruptcy has shown that we need to pay attention to the officials we elect and what policies they are pursuing. We can no longer afford to sit idly by and allow our elected officials to deal with the situation effectively.
As this process unfolds we must be vigilant against powerful interests outside of the city, chiefly police and fire, but also outside residents that making their profits off our city residents. A virtuous cycle can only come if we start spending our disposable income at businesses who call San Bernardino home and our awarding our vendor contracts to folks who are local.
We also need to become familiar about how city government works. It is important to learning about the budget and the different departments that are funded by our tax dollars.
Where do our tax dollars go?
What is being funded?
Why?
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