To the Editor:
Councilwoman Del Pepper likens opening a new fire station without any firefighting equipment or firefighters to opening a library without any books as if she and her colleagues were somehow disinterested bystanders, instead of the elected officials in charge of an incompetent city government which lets this happen.
Alexandria’s brand-new fire station without firefighters is a testament to the hidden costs of all this development city hall has green lighted lately. A whopping 4 cent tax hike two years ago and another increase last year still isn’t enough to cover basic needs like equipping and staffing a fire station necessitated by all the development city hall is allowing in the West End.
If all this development really were good for us, wouldn’t it be generating extra revenue — net of costs — so we wouldn’t need to increase taxes? Every year, city hall has some squirrelly excuse or another for revenue shortfall, but the constant is this development binge and its hidden costs.
Remember the brand new, unequipped, unstaffed fire station when the same cast of characters tries selling you on a new metro station.
Dino Drudi
Alexandria