An Inconvenient Variable

In every field of study and discussion, the "variable"
has an important place. When it comes to politics, the
most crucial variable has a name, "the Overton
window." Its importance has to do with what a
politician or political group can get away with and
still be re-elected. The concept that a politician's
primary reason for existing is to serve the public
falls by the wayside whenever such ideology
assumes control over the decision making process.

Whether Iron River's torturous lengthy demise is
the consequence of stupidity on the part of elected
officials or one of "what can we get away with"
becomes inconsequential at some point. The fact is
we are engaged in the total collapse and failure of a
very small city that is well on its way to complete
irrelevance. Iron River is, under all the present
circumstances, unsustainable. Within the rules
governing how municipal governments may behave,
as established by the legislature, Iron River cannot
survive.

Many variables have been hidden from the taxpayers
and citizens of Iron River for a very long time. And
there's a plethora of wrongdoing yet to be uncovered.
The following was sent to the Iron County Reporter for
publication as a letter to the editor. At the time of this
writing we have no idea whether that newspaper will
publish my contribution or not.

===================================

During the August 27th city council meeting, damage
to and closure of Blossom Street was blamed on a
failed or plugged culvert. Show me that culvert, please.
I looked and the only thing I found was a lame excuse
for failure to maintain our streets. There is no culvert
there. Go around a few corners you’ll see an identical
failure evolving on Coolidge near Cherry. There’s
another in the alleyway behind my house on Plum
Street. How many more are around the city? With
public works trucks driving all over the city every day,
why not report similar problems in writing? 

Misallocation of funds for decades, leaving no
money for maintenance, has brought us a Blossom
Street looks like an episode of the TV show “Life
After People,” perhaps 50 years after.

Cost cutting by the city should never be done at the
expense of diminishing infrastructure that the
taxpayers paid for. Come on, City Council, we
handed you a well functioning street, why can’t you
maintain it? Every property affected by a permanently
closed street, whether it is a longer altered traffic
pattern to get home, or loss of street access, should
experience an immediate reduction in property taxes
by 50% until the problem is fixed.

Blossom Street has been there for about 100 years
because it is needed. Does the city have an inventory
of failing assets in order to plan repairs or are you
simply “grant chasing” and permitting everything not
covered by a grant to fail? How many more make-
believe culverts will collapse before the recall petitions
begin to circulate?

I fear that Blossom Street is just the tip of an iceberg.

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Bill Vajk