Reader Letters

Reader Letters | February 11, 2010

BUY NOW, PAY LATER?
    Downtown Jail? We the people have spoken a resounding “NO!” Yet there continues to be a push for an option that most of us oppose. What happens when this kind of disconnect becomes so apparently willful as to defy explanation? It requires distortion to prevail. It depends on apathy to keep it alive. Fair discussion and wise decisions require an informed constituency that keeps the actual costs and options on the table. Many a citizen has fallen victim to the “buy now, pay later” plan, without knowing the hidden costs. All of us have an obligation to reveal and the right to know all the costs for any option. Our people are not served by “spreading out” the cost of a downtown option. It is far more than its advertised “Phase One Introductory Offer” teaser price. Buy now? It is the costliest option, when coupled with phases two and three. Stay involved. Demand full disclosure. Encourage our representatives to make sound and informed decisions, reflecting the will of the purchaser, not the sellers.

– Mark Kasiewicz, Eau Claire