Lexington parks vote didn’t give enough consideration to elderly, low-income residents | Opinion

Parks vote

The vote to increase property taxes to make major changes to parks could not have come at a worse time. Over the past few years property taxes have sky-rocketed for most people and with high inflation this was not the time to ask people for more money. Also, in the proposal there was no consideration given to our senior citizens who live on fixed incomes or to people who are struggling just to make ends meet — two groups that our city leaders ignored pushing this vote.

I don’t think pouring more money into our parks is a priority to them. Our city parks are already very nice, and we spent $27 million last year to maintain them. Most people will have to pay a lot more than $53 a year in additional property taxes now, and others will pay higher rents. This amount will only increase in the future. Once a camel gets his nose under the tent, the rest of him is coming in.

Ken Riha, Lexington

Moral equivalence

I didn’t realize it then, but what happened in my church’s bible study last week may have revealed a root cause for our current miasma. I’m talking about moral equivalence: a fancy term for “so’s your old man.”

We’ve all heard folks saying, “They’re all crooks, so it doesn’t matter who I vote for.” And the degree of moral failing doesn’t seem to matter. If Tom steals an orange from the fruit stand and Pete forces a busload of nuns over a cliff they’re both bad apples, so let’s just forget it.

Last week, I said something that led my pastor to mention some suspect things about President Joe Biden, to make a moral equivalence with President Elect-Donald Trump who lies and cheats at golf. My thought was that at least Biden is man enough to admit some bad choices, while Trump would collapse like a house of cards if he had to admit being wrong about anything. But that doesn’t matter either.

So it goes: moral equivalence leaves us stuck and nothing gets resolved. Gee, how about a moral equivalence between Joan of Arc and Stormy Daniels. Stormy is no role model for young girls, but Joan of Arc had her faults, too: she wouldn’t eat her vegetables.

Ernest Henninger, Danville

Election money

Thankfully, John Cheves wrote about the housing issue now being faced!

For years, I’ve been critical of the banking industry’s investment in corporate housing and “We Buy Houses.” Notice how many banks have become new businesses in Lexington and in other Kentucky cities?

Like banks invested in “Cash in Advance,” the victims are clueless, particularly now that housing and rental prices are skyrocketing due to banks. It’s a matter of controlling our political leaders — yet big money determines elections more now than ever. Our own corrupt U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said that money is free speech. No, money buys elections.

The recently announced battery plant, as well as the infrastructure work, was a mistake. Individual cars are not the best solution for our children’s future! How many more roads will be built for the increasing vehicle travel in the future? Fast passenger rail between cities and greater freight movement by rail is a must for our children’s future!

Our democracy needs a non-violent revolution to take money out of politics and such massive corruption.

Don Pratt, Lexington

Reconciling the vote

President Elect Donald Trump’s first four years in office were exhausting. Now, he is not even President yet and it has begun all over again. He is nominating people to run our government who are accused of child sex trafficking, illicit drug use, prostitution, rape, etc. This begs the question: how do the American people reconcile these decisions with their values and beliefs?

Rene Payne, Stanford

Independent Voters

Since Election Day, I’ve read a number of times that exit polls show Vice President Kamala Harris won the largest plurality of independent voters across the nation this year.

I find this encouraging, as a Kentucky Democrat, because it’s also widely reported that independent voters are increasing in number as voter affiliations with the two major parties shrink.

These voters appear likely to count more heavily in the next mid-term election and the next presidential election. My fervent hope is that my party will listen to these voters more carefully as their numbers grow.

Tom Louderback, Louisville

Edited by Liz Carey