CLean Out Your Closet!

CW2 which is short for Communities Working 2gether is holding a clothing drive in conjunction with the Saginaw YMCA. Clothes can be dropped off at the YMCA on Saturday Nov. 28th from 10:00a.m. - 2:00p.m. There will be free pop, popcorn, and balloons.
Your donation could help the less fortunate as well as women and children in various shelters. If you are interested in donating but can't make it to the event, please contact Bobjohnson at 989.717.3960 or by e-mail at communitiesworking2gether@yahoo.com.

Bobjohnson has opinions tooo!

Apparently there are people that that do not agree with my views and opinions as expressed on WNEM News 5. Let me clarify. First I am entitled to think what I want this is why it is called opinion. But the news made it sound as if I was in favor of raising taxes abroad. This is only a half truth. Saginaw has been operating under the same property tax cap since 1979. Property taxes help our city pay for services such as police and fire rescue. In 1979 Saginaw had 100,000+ residents as well as GM plant jobs to support our economy. The tax cap was set at 7.5 out of 10. With an economy that was booming like it was in Saginaw during that time, 7.5 was sufficient. Lately Saginaw has been on a downward spiral losing GM jobs as well as residents. Our population is down in the 60,000's now and we are not collecting nearly enough property tax as we should be to pay for these service and keep our economy running. This is why I feel that we should raise this tax cap, if not to 10, then at least a little to make up for the dwindling population. Some people may argue that we have lost jobs and residents and that we can not aford to pay anymore taxes for our property. I respect their opinion. But if you look at the ones that are arguing this, most do not even own property so raising the tax cap would not affect them one way or another. MOST people that own their homes also care about the community they live in as well as their safety and the safety and well being of their loved ones and may not mind paying a little extra to help out in their community (MOST). Sure we can sit around and beg for stimulus money from Washington or we can show Washington that we are trying to do it ourselves first. I feel like this, a church has tithes and offerings that we are not legally bound to, but we participate because you know it is the right thing to do. These donations help out in different areas of the church. Well Saginaw is not a church but it is definetly a community. In order for a community to work effectively it needs citizen participation. Where do we think the money to run this country comes from- a tree? No, money we receive to run our country comes from TAXES. TAXES sounds like an evil word but they are very necessary. How can we complain about everything but never offer any solutions. Let's start being part of the solution and not part of the problem. I once heard a local Pastor say, "If you shoot down my idea's at least have another idea to replace it." All I'm saying is 1979 was a long time ago and much has changed since then, hell, much has changed since last year. We need to look at our system, rules and regulations and bring them up to date. Even the constitution has amendments! If you missed it the video is below.

http://www.wnem.com/video/21252384/index.html


http://www.wnem.com/video/21495038/