In city politics which are nonpartisan, I have never been one that looks forward to saying “I told you so.” It doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that I’m worried about any sort of unity within the city government or their constituents, but that these people control quite a bit of control over our pocketbooks and our city’s wellbeing. Recently, the newly elected mayor and the Lubbock city council with the exception of two council members voted to raise property taxes in Lubbock again. They also decided to set aside $1.5 million dollars for red light cameras when the terrible ordinance passes.

I can see how many Texas Tech students wouldn’t be interested in Lubbock city politics, at least until an issue here affected them. The red light camera situation would affect everyone in the city. Instead of looking out for our citizens’ safety, the council saw a projected number of extra revenue from these cameras and immediately fell in love with the idea of having big brother watching over our traffic systems instead of having police do their jobs. They might not be in the mood to, since the city council also decided to cut city employees’ health benefits due to the so-called lack of money. They were, however able to set aside 1.5 million dollars for these cameras when the ordinance passes. I wouldn’t be happy even if the council tried to make it sound like they were worried about the safety of their constituents, but they’ve made it blatantly clear that all they want is to suck more money out of our wallets, so they can waste more of the city’s money on things we don’t necessarily need.

With all things considered, including the annexation of the strip and the red light cameras, Lubbock is looking to pull a projected 8-12 million dollars in extra revenue which apparently is still not enough. Last Wednesday, the council voted to increase property taxes, while cutting city employees’ health benefits. They did decide to give the employees a raise however, which is negated by the fact that their health benefits were cut“

While all this was going on, one city councilwoman was surprised when the media was holding all this under close scrutiny. “I think it’s really bad when people grandstand in the news media, when we have given our utmost, and I have depended on the Supreme Being for guidance and that’s why I’m supporting this budget,” piously spouted Councilwoman Linda DeLeon last Wednesday. However, when KCBD Vice President Dan Jackson contacted DeLeon about how she would vote, she told him that it was illegal for him to even ask that. She’s wrong again, because it’s not. Who’s grandstanding now?

Mayor David Miller said on Wednesday that he considers himself a “conservative redneck republican” but was still voting to raise taxes because he considers the budget that they’ve laid out to be a responsible budget. On the other side, Councilman John Leonard, one of the two real conservatives on the city council disagreed with the council’s budget. "We ought to live within our means and with the $8-12 million revenue coming next year, I disagree with raising taxes,” Leonard said Wednesday. Councilman Gary Boren also voted against the tax hike.

While Miller fancies himself a conservative for media’s sake, he’s shown us that it’s not true. Not only has he outright lied about what he would fight for in his campaign, but he’s making the life of Lubbock citizens more difficult. These people are trying to price Lubbockites out of their own homes because most of the council lets the city manager, Lee Ann Dumbauld tell them what to set the taxes at, and not the other way around like it should be. Miller hasn’t kept his campaign promises, and chalks it up to that he didn’t know then what he knows now. I don’t think that’s the case. I think he’ll say anything to get elected, and then do what he wants for the rest of his term. Lubbock is a nice city, and it used to be quite affordable to live in. Now, these people who actually have the money readily available to pay for these increases don’t seem to care about those who have a more difficult time paying all the bills. They’re only one vote, right? The next city elections may be quite a while away, but don’t vote for someone because their campaign ads make them seem nice. Look at their voting records, and see who actually fights for us. This is the same for state and national politics as well. We elect these officials to work for their constituents, and if we hold them to it, things like this won’t happen again.