Mayor Berger has been a steady hand in times of crisis. That is what people should be looking for in a mayor. While Cheney makes some keen observations — his analysis of the facts, much like Trump, leave a little to be desired.
Cheney speaks to the fact that Lima has lost a lot of population which is true, but Lima holds up much better than many other Rust Belt Cities.
It is true that Lima has gone from around 50,000 to just under 40,000, but cities like Niagara Falls and Buffalo N.Y. both lost half of their respective populations in the same period.
Much of the loss of population in Lima was due to the great move to the suburbs. All local townships except Bath and Perry have seen population growth.
Cheney speaks about the fact that the poverty rate rose from 25 to 33 percent. Guess what the poor do not have money to move out of town so as the more affluent move to the burbs it leaves the poor behind and it leaves a void in the City Treasury.
Loss of major industry and their taxes along with the modifications to corporate taxes made by the Governor has left an additional void.
So when Cheney speaks about the mayor supporting two (2) tax increases somewhere the void needs to be made up as those of us still in Lima are now left holding the half empty bag.
We moved from Bath Township to Lima as we find a more common sense approach to things in Lima.
The leader of that common sense – our mayor David Berger.
Dave Smith, Lima
