City Commission...read this

Budget cuts have you down? Feel you need to sacrifice those trivial things such as officer safty, level of service, mechanical upkeep, city pride, and hometown reuputation. Instead of ignoring the statements from all those insignificant troops on the ground, try being as aggressive with their needs as you are with more monumental and important endeavors. (martin luther king statue) What do I mean by this? If you do not have the money in the budget...GRANTS...there are thousands of them out there....use that grant writer position and MAKE them be aggressive. In less then FIVE minutes of searching I found seven....yes SEVEN federal grants that a police department can apply to for various things that we DO qualify for. Want an example? OK:


http://www.unclesamsmoney.com/?hop=haileywill ( Federal Grant page)

http://www.policegrants.com

http://www.freegrantkit.net/Government_Grant.htm

http://www.usdoj.gov/10grants/index.html

Bottom Line...you hear troops mention that we do not have enough cars....we DONT...you hear us say we do not have enough officers on the street...WE DONT....during times of fiscal hardship is the chance for government leaders to truly shine and show why we placed our trust, respect, and admiration in them. Do not let us down...you do a lot for us....now do it when it really matters.

and the spelling is atrocious....I know....I typed fast because the kids were crying. (not excuse)

Hey...easy with all that crazy police talk. There's a clock tower to refurbish! And an cartoon convention to sponsor. Don't harsh the Largo buzz with talks of staffing, manpower, or vehicle repairs (duct tape tends to work well, BTW).

Exactly! Besides...we have almost the exact same amount of officers now that we had 15 years ago...if the number of officers worked then...what makes you think its not enough now?!? Its not like crime, population, and size has gone up any...jeesh...quit whinning about small things like public safety when there are much more important things to worry about.

- making more bars for the crack addicts on clearwater largo rd

- spending a few million on a new clock

- building the ten millionth statue to a respected black civil rights leader that nobody will pay any attention to or even care about.

- spending even more millions on another "town center" that happens to be located less then a block from another said crack hang out

Go to the city manager's report almost any Friday and you will rarely read anything about the PD. FD is all over the report as are parks and rec., streets and drainage, etc. Everybody but the pd. There must be something going on, but you wouldn't know it by reading that report. If you want to get recognition, have the chief start writing up some of your accomplishments. Burglary or robbery catches, fatal crashes, life saving calls, murder solved. I know the chief isn't answering calls, so he and the captains should be able to come with something to crow about to the manager. If people don't read about it, it must not be happening. How can you complain about staffing and equipment if there is nothing newsworthy to report? One would get the impression that you are just riding around with nothing to do. Just read this week's report and you'll see what I mean.

I am at a total loss about the budget cuts. You're right we do have the same number of officers on the street that we did a decade + ago, but our admin/supervision has grown by leaps and bounds, plus we continue to have the lowest number of officers per capita in the area.
Combine these with the commissioners refusal to increase the millage rate at all and we have a bleak outlook. Largo will attract and retain residents from lower income brackets, 'cause we'll be one of the only places they can afford to live in Pinellas. They will be renters or large extended families buying one home together and city revenues will go down, and calls for service will go up. Are we trying to follow in our Governor's footsteps? It seems like the only people who understand economies of scale and public safety less than Charlie are sitting on our commission.

This is by far one of the best posts we have had in a long time. All the comments have been well spoken and legitimate concerns....however...does any leadership or city commission members even read this board? I hope so...and if not maybe one of the readers is in a position to bring these concerns to them....and hopefully they listen to you.

The future is never as bleak and the naysayers always shout...however inevitably an officer IS going to get hurt...and then the city commission will say how brave we all are and need their support....I can do without the complements and praise....just give us the support we need now before that tragedy ever happens.

The best and only thing lester can come up with for the cm's report is some officer completing a cpted course? On city time on the city dime, that's real newsworthy les. How about some lt. or capt. going to the fbi academy on city time and dime. Are you for real jefe? Your boss is killing you boys and girls.

no kidding! All he has to do is post that weeks arrests, reports taken, and possibly add in a quick summary of an interesting call....takes NO time...and makes the CM see what you do.

Does the city council not have access to the daily significant activity reports? I feel that the information passed along in these daily emails would give the kind of information that you all are speaking of...and not require any real change.

If we are not already, maybe we should be doing this.

We don't have a "city council," azzmunch.

Are you a midnighter finishing your tour, having done nothing all night? I bet you think of citizens as azzmunches too, huh? I'm glad I voted for amendment 1. Hope you have some seniority.

ya....that 240 dollars your going to save is definately worth the extreme costs to your public safety.

On the bright side at least a few criminals will not have to go to jail and get to enjoy their freedom. I am sure they would love to thank you. Make sure you leave your door unlocked, your child unsupervised at the park, your wife alone when she goes to the ATM, and go ahead and donate a few of that $240 to a drug rehab. Your son is going to need it when he buys that pill the, now unwatched, drug dealer at school sells him.

Thank you for making the informed decision that you did. I feel even more confident knowing that you will be helping choose the next leader of our country.

Ya know, when you said "City Council," it makes one think ya get all your governing knowledge from Survivor's Tribal Council. Or that you're just one of our fresh faced newbies used to taking direction from your high school student council. Gosh whatever the case, thanks so much for your sophomoric suggestions, now run along and let the adults talk. And yes, I have all the senority I need.