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Presentation of the FACTS: Public Safety & Police Funding
By Jerry | October 25, 2007
Recently, my opponent sent out a flier portraying Snellville as a run down, crime-ridden town. In this flier, he uses my vote against a resolution, pictures of purported gang signs, headlines of crime, and a picture of a house (outside the city limits) as proof that Snellville is going “in the tank”.
What the flier didn’t tell you, is that crime in Snellville is down 6% from last year.
He didn’t tell you every year we add more and more police officers to our force. Including three more on Monday night
He also didn’t tell you that in the past four years we’ve added K-9 Units, Motorcycle Patrols, Commercial Vehicle Patrols, and Park Bicycle Patrols.
Finally, he didn’t tell you that most of the crime you see on the news and read in the papers happen OUTSIDE the city limits, where the average response time for Gwinnett Police is 16 minutes compared to TWO minutes for Snellville City Police.
The point of this flier is to scare you into believing this town is headed for rough times, and that I’m the one leading us there, But that’s just not true.
For more information on the increases in Public Safety here in Snellville, please read my blog entry: Expanding our Police Force, Protecting our Community
My opponent uses the example of resolution 2007-14 (that he wrote himself) that urges the city to dedicate all funds from the Red Light Cameras to the police department. What he didn’t tell you, was that the resolution was brought up AFTER the budget had been approved for the year. This meant the police department had already received all the funding it had requested, and all funds had been properly allocated.
He also didn’t tell you that the Police Budget is already bigger than the amount we receive from fines every year. You see, this year, our Police Department and Municipal Court have a budget of $5,165,204.86. Our total revenue from Fines is $2,746,550.00, which INCLUDES Red Light Cameras Fines. This revenue all goes 100% into the police department. So in effect, the resolution was meaningless because there were no additional funds to allocate. Just another political trick!
Council member Barbara Bender, a certified CPA led the argument against this resolution. Calling it bad policy and against our city’s proper budgeting procedures. Anyone who wishes to view this argument can view the July 9th (not the 20th as my opponent’s flier cites) video recorded council session here.
While Red Light Cameras do provide a small source of income for our city, their main purpose is to SAVE LIVES. My opponent is busy trying to figure out how to use them for political gain, while I’m busy looking at more intersections where they could save more lives.
Passing this resolution gave you the citizens a false impression that more money was being dedicated to our police department. When, as I stated above, there were no “surplus” Camera Fines to distribute. True leadership does not deceive it’s public, nor does it go against proper procedure in any aspect of government. Hence why Council member Bender and I voted against it.
I have consistently voted my conscience, and will continue to defend my record as your City Councilman and Mayor over the past eight years. Don’t let dirty political tricks fool you, I am always open to your comments and discussion, and unlike my opponents site, JerryOberholtzer.com will KEEP OPEN the comments portion of my Blog!
Topics: Miscellany |
October 25th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Long-time residents of Snellville know the value of our police department. We also know that you, Mayor Oberholtzer, have invested in building that department like no other mayor in our City’s history.
As you mentioned, bike patrols, K-9 units, intersection cameras, commercial vehicle enforcement, and more officers. The list goes on and no one but you, Jerry, deserves credit for the tremendous increase in police and public safety in Snellville.
We are safe in Snellville. I’ve heard both Chief Whitehead and City Manager Brooks complain about the local newspapers reporting crime and using Snellville as the location when the crime actually occurred outside the city limits. It’s tough enough to battle the media, but when a candidate running for Mayor joins in creating the false persception that’s just too much. A candidate that stoops to that level, attempting to scare voters into supporting his candidacy, deserves neither election or residency within our wonderful, safe, and propserous city.
Hey Bruce, you’re just another Damn Yankee. If you don’t like it here, head back to New York where you are from! I’m sure it’s alot safer there.
October 26th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Mr. Mayor - Another series of documented lies!! I’ve thought back to all of Bruce’s mail-outs, and every single one is an outright lie. I think it’s time to set up a “Garraway ledger of lies”. I’ll get it started and then others can fill in. One that really upset me was his fake support for Melvin Everson’s run for a State House seat against Warren Auld. He pretended to support Melvin, while behind Melvin’s back he was trying to sabotage his campaign while feeding information to Auld. After Melvin won, Bruce had the audacity to come to Melvin’s victory party, again pretending to rejoice in his win. The only problem was that all the people in Bruce’s voting precinct (all 5) voted for Auld. Bruce left with his tail between his legs. What a Judas Priest!!
The AJC on Thursday published their 2007 Voters Guide. I almost choked on Garraway’s answer to traffic problems….”requiring traffic impact studies”. He and his buddies, including Kautz, worked the residents of Nob Hill sub-division into a frenzy with their lies about a free to the City ONE MILLION DOLLAR traffic study that would look at intersection improvements and a possible access road behind Highway 78 and 124 businesses. The study was rejected thanks to Bruce’s actions and now with no hope in sight, these businesses are leaving or going out of business leaving a huge scar on the city. Or as Bruce says in his most recent mail-(lie)-out “abandonded buildings are a magnet for vagrants and drug addicts”. I wonder why he didn’t include a picture of these in his mail-out instead of the out of town building? Oh, but your developer friends have plans for these properties after they get you elected to office and they pull all the strings. Now we’ll have SENIOR APARTMENTS at the rate of 35 units per acre with ZERO green space. And yes, that was the ordinance you and your buddies passed admittedly under the advice of your greedy developer friends.
Your last quote in the AJC about being stranded on a desert island……….I hope the hot air balloon you plan to escape on with all your hot air is a double wide! You have been feeding at the public trough for too long.
It totally scares me to think of what the future might hold for Snellville with you as Mayor. You are a pathological liar with a huge ego that is out of control.
I could go on and on with Garraway’s lies, but I don’t want to hog all the space. Chip in with your favorites. Get the word out!
October 30th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
I have noticed that I cannot leave my house for even the shortest errand in Snellville without seeing a Snellville police car (in motion…there’s no sitting around eating donuts)…I really appreciate the great job our Snellville Police do!
November 2nd, 2007 at 7:42 am
I have a problem with a man who is running for office of Mayor (Garraway) who lies about issues, slanders the good name of a fine man who is a citizen, and uses elementary language with elementary attitudes to report and distort the truth. The other problem that is huge with me is that he uses houses of worship to promote his rapport with voters. When I saw him in our church on the front row recently (twice) and then talking with the church staff after the service, I knew he had stooped to an all-time low. Bruce, if you are reading this, we call it a house of worship, and it is NOT about YOU. Snellville needs honesty and integrity. And it is not Bruce Garraway.
Jerry is doing a great job.
November 5th, 2007 at 2:04 am
I move to Snellville from New York 7 years ago to get away from people like Bruce Garraway. Come election day I will be proud to say that my vote was for Jerry! Bruce can say whatever he wishes, send out whatever crap to my mailbox, its not going to change the fact that he is not the man for the job. Is not, never will be. My only regret is that I have not saved all the nonsense mailings Bruce sent so I could deposit them on his front lawn the day after he loses.
Jerry has done an outstanding job on his watch, and its in Snellvilles best interest to keep him as Mayor. Big things are coming, and Bruce is not one of them!