be T.U.F.

Press Release From Chip Hoever - 11/12/03

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Franklin Township

Now that the elections are over it seems that the Franklin Township council is going to return to "spending as usual" with two large capital items on the agenda for Thursday night's meeting. The items are two that Taxpayers United in Franklin (TUF) have been fighting since the inception of the organization and are explained in detail on the TUF website (www.betuf.org). They include the proposed, highly controversial skateboard park and the renovation and expansion of the township library. "From what I understand they are now going to try and push through the skateboard park by spinning that it's not going to cost any taxpayer dollars because the are going to use fund given by the developer of Canal Walk," according to Chip Hoever, founder of the taxpayer group. This is a total misleading and nothing more than post election political spin, Hoever said. From what I understand the money was given to the township in lieu of installing recreational facilities in the Canal Walk development. There are many park facilities in the township that serve thousands of taxpayers that need repair or improvement. Perhaps we should consider those thousands of taxpayers before the handful of children that will benefit from a very specialized facility that will be in an area only convenient to a very small portion of the residents, one of which is the appointed chairperson of the recreation committee and mother of one of the skateboarders who started the idea for the skateboard park.

It also appears that the library is yet again requesting funding approval for their expansion/renovation. "In talking to numerous taxpayers I have yet to find one person who is in favor of this extravagant palace, with the exception of some members of the Council and Library Board." It's so grandiose that deputy-mayor Bill Grippo, who also sits on the Library Board, has constantly referred to it as becoming the "jewel in the crown" of the township municipal complex. "I have found that taxpayers are generally in favor of repairing the library and expanding it to some degree, but not this Taj Mahal", Hoever said. "I understand that the design costs alone are now approaching 1 million dollars," Hoever said. In an effort to get accurate facts about the project Hoever said that TUF is initiating a study of the project to report the facts back to the taxpayers. Hoever said he has requested information from Library Director, January Adams previously via email but has yet to receive any pertinent information. Another written request was made today and hand delivered to the library, Hoever said. "I'm sure that they are going to scream that we are against children, sports and literacy, which is not the case, we are simply against waste and extravagance", he said. "We have many taxpayers on limited or fixed incomes and many who have just lost their jobs and simply can not afford these extravagances," Hoever said.

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(note - a copy of the letter hand delivered to the Library director is attached for ready reference)