At a weekend town hall of sorts to respond to concerns by residents of Cary about crime and the recent hostage-taking incident at Wachovia bank, one astute Cary resident nailed officials with the uncomfortable facts when they were told there was no money for a new police substation.
As I’ve blogged previously, Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht is leading the charge to fight a judge’s ruling that the town’s sign ordinance inappropriately regulated a resident’s speech based on content in the sign he put on his home as he was embroiled in a dispute withe town. So far, Cary is on the hook for $225,000 in legal and court fees, which doesn’t include the salary/time devoted to to the case by staff. What’s more, Weinbrecht is making the choice to continue devoting resources to the case.
When police said they could open a substation before 2012 only if the space were donated, one crowd member pointed out that the town was willing to spend money on legal fees to fight a homeowner’s homemade protest sign.
“We shouldn’t have to donate space for you to protect us,” she said. “It should come out of the budget that we’re funding with our taxes.”
Money to fight a sign-ordinance case, but no money for more police protection?
Gotcha.
Moral of the story: citizens are watching what officials are doing.
