Mr. Gitz in his weekly column in the Journal Standard on October 13 talks about new ordinances to regulate noise and other undesirable conduct in the community. He said problems are contagious. He talks about delapidated houses and the impact of living next to one. He states that he would like every street to be a neighborhood of choice. My reponse to you Mr. Gitz is that the City of Freeport is part of the problem. Mr. Gitz and the present city council should also be concerned about the impact of living and driving on streets everyday in this community that are in such bad shape that they are not even safe. No wonder people fail to maintain their homes. For years they have paid high taxes and have seen few results. Mr. Gitz – there are few neighborhoods left in Freeport which are neighborhoods of choice. Mr. Gitz states that property owners have to act responsibly in order to restore our Freeport. The question is – when is OUR government going to start acting responsibly? Those in government believe that more money (which means more taxes) and more laws will solve all problems. More money and more laws are not the solution. The City of Freeport must allocate its resources where they will do the most good for the majority of people living in this community which means fixing the streets and a police department enforcing existing laws.

Oh, by the way Mr. Gitz, where are the ordinances that say the City should maintain city owned buildings such as the Germania, City Hall, and the Carnegie Library? Is it true that intentional neglect and waste is acceptable in the public sector? What a shock – one standard for those in the public sector and another for those in the private sector who pay the bills!