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<DIV>Dear Lou,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>By the way I'd be happy to award you an honorary phd so you can be
philosopher King...</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I do beg to differ on the perception of a "lack of participation" in the
budget process this year. On the contrary, any one who came to the 5/20
meeting or the 5/31 meeting probably saw more citizen participation in
government than has been seen in this town in a long time. I really
appreciated Rob Oppenheim's and other's getting the word out about that
meeting and impressing upon us on this list the reality of the tax
increase. It was suggested at the 5/20 meeting to give the council a
chance to hammer out some of the details and excellent points requested and
suggested by the citizens at the 5/24 meeting...and attend the 5/31 meeting
instead. And so I did. As far as public participation
in the budget process is concerned, this year, the old adage "be
careful what you wish for, you may get it" seems to apply. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>So worry not Lou, not everyone in town is too busy to attend.
Frankly, this time around, I can't afford to NOT attend.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Adrianne Lefkowitz</DIV>
<DIV>Madison & 48th</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>No one
appointed me Philosopher King, but the healthy discussion here is <BR>only one
part of a representative form of government. There is also <BR>direct
participation and letting you representative(s) know what you <BR>think/want.
(I must need an other treatment.)<BR><BR>Gerald noted that the at the 5/24/07
Finance Committee meeting the <BR>elected government and paid staff were all
alone, no public. Yes, we all <BR>have our excuses, (I'm 2,000 miles away). I
find it hard to believe that <BR>everyone in town that has an issue with
a-through-l above is busy. We <BR>are, of course, letting our ward council
persons know (directly) what <BR>"we" what our government to provide.
(Right?)<BR><BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<DIV></DIV></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">See what's free at <A title="http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000503" href="http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000503" target="_blank">AOL.com</A>. </FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>