|
Local politics, the county, and the world, as viewed by Tammy Maygra Tammy’s views are her own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bill Eagle, his pastor, Tammy’s neighbors, Wayne Mayo, Betsy Johnson, Joe Corsiglia, President Trump, Henry Heimuller, VP Pence, Pat Robertson, Debi Corsiglia’s dog, or Claudia Eagle’s Cats. This Tammy’s Take (with the exception of this disclaimer) is not paid for or written by, or even reviewed by anyone but Tammy and she refuses to be bullied by anyone. See Standard Disclaimer.
|
|
Active kids are too busy to be hooked on sugar.
The city of St. Helens wants to impose a city wide tax on sugary drinks. Are their efforts to impose this tax to protect the health of kids as they claim? I do not believe so. I believe this tax is simply to bring revenue into the city’s coffers. If the city was so concerned about the health of the city’s youth why hasn’t the city banned fatty hamburgers, potato chips, and all high carb foods that are easily available. Why did the city sit on their duffs quietly when the high school used Coke as a means to fund the new football stadium? Why not tax sugar in coffee, Slurpee’s, Star buck delights, fruit juices, everything which has sugar in it? Personally I don’t think the city needs to be the food and drink police, what anybody eats or drinks whether you are 9 or 90 is none of the city’s business. It is the parent’s jobs to decide what their kids eat or drink. And to use the idea of trying to protect some ones health by implementing a sugar tax, when in reality this as a backdoor revenue source is sneaky manipulative and down- right wrong. Why has the city sat quietly and done little as more and more families become homeless, spending money on ugly art to adorn the gateways to the town. I know they will use the same old verbiage that the money used to create these art pieces was funded by grants. Sorry people--- grant money is taxpayer money. Instead of putting up art work that looks like something a 4 year old would create, why not make a nice center for kids to use for free, pay for people to manage it, have something in this damn county for kids to do. People can’t understand why kids turn to drugs and theft , and are couch potatoes it is because they have nothing to do. Both parents have to work to provide a house and food on the table and their kids are left alone. You want kids not to be over weight then give them something to do! Encourage them to be active by providing them a safe place to be active in. Why not ask the taxpayers for a few cents per thousand to create a huge rec-center, have CC Ryder provide rides for the kids. I understand it would cost all of us a few bucks but the money spent now would save us $$$$ in the future, decrease the number of kids making bad decisions, or running with the wrong crowd which negatively impacts their future. Now back to the sugar tax. The city wants to protect the kid’s health--- then why does the city want to bring in toxic sludge from the Portland harbor a super fund site into and through our community? These toxins are proven to be harmful to people’s health. The city supports the pot plant they have courted to site on the old Boise Cascade property so let’s encourage pot usage. I don’t care if it’s legal now or not, it sends the wrong message to our kid’s. Our community supported the prospect of a new hospital for years, the money being spent wrongly to the tune of millions with nothing to show for it, that money could have been spent on a rec-center. The hospital property on Millard could be used as a site for a re-center everyone in the hospital district paid for it, so let’s use it for something positive for the community. We gave Boise a new water treatment plant for nothing now the taxpayers are paying for that, we gave the same company $250,000 to stay in the county and less than 6 months later they sold out and the taxpayers were left holding the bag. We have gave PGE $30+ million in a 15 year tax abatement package which they did not need, all we did was to fund their stock holders, we funded USG, we have funded countless industry with no thought. We have funded Port Westward for years with very little success. Why don’t we ban together with corporations, small business and the taxpayers and do something beneficial for everyone. My question why are we so tight with money when it comes to funding something for our kids? The people in charge want people to stay in town, to live, and shop with in the community, then have something in the community to make people want to stay. Ugly art, and banning sugary drinks, won’t do it. Tammy
|
