Valpo Elite Volume One - the series

First an introduction, I live in Valparaiso and pay property taxes here and have for many years. I voted for Mayor Costas and liked the fact that there was a plan for moving Valparaiso forward. Far too many cities go years with nice people in office who don't have a plan, and therefore don't go anywhere.

But, there is an undercurrent of elitism that exists in Valparaiso and the surrounding Center township areas. Some of that elitism has turned into virulent opposition to development and annexations, in essence suggesting "We're Valparaiso, we don't want to get bigger we want to stay what we are right now." Some of that elitism has turned into a "raise the barrier to entry" so that it's more expensive and thus we're safer.

One specific example of this is the current push by the administration to raise a tax on all landlords in the city. I am just such a landlord, one who has abided by zoning laws and construction codes. I find this tax offensive. We heard years ago that if we just taxed developers with impact fees, then we could pay for roads and schools and sewers. Now that system is broken because there aren't any developers left and the money that was projected isn't there. So this new tax, a landlord or rental tax.

1. Raises the cost of entry level housing, and thus by its very nature makes Valparaiso less affordable.
   
2. Penalizes the law abiding property holder under the banner of a protection racket, similar to South Chicago mob rackets, that will punish the law breaker using the money fleeced from the law abider. And actually there is a rumor that the money is actually going to the fire department for raises.
   
3. Rental property is already taxed at twice the rate of owner occupied, the tax caps are 2 percent not 1 percent. This is just adding to the outrage, by adding an additional "Elite Tax" that I'm calling a protection racket.

Another example that really frosted me was the story this morning about a political candidate that is running for office, and Elite City - Mob Boss administration flunkies decided to enforce an ordinance on the size of the campaign signs. Mind you, our sign ordinance has been ruled unconstitutional and a potential infringement of free speech. This gets better though:

1. The City charges each candidate for office a "sign tax" of $100, for the right to put up their own signs for an election. I'm not sure even the Chinese are this ingenious. This sign tax then puts the candidate in the position of agreeing to the unconstitutional ordinances.
2. If the candidate puts a sign out, like the one in today's paper, that is four inches too big, then the City can keep the $100. Wonder where it goes? Or the city can even steal the candidates sign which is on private property.
   

Do you see the Elitism oozing from the very pores of this policy? The rest of the county can have bigger signs. The rest of the county can put out signs for months in advance ... but we're Valparaiso and we mandate size, time, and a tax for the right to speak to our residents in signage.

I can only hope that Mayor Costas has been misled by his own zoning enforcement and building department staff on both of these ideas and can regain his conservative patriotic footing. Send these new taxes where Ronald Reagan would have, to the trash. We love our City, but we don't need anything that resembles more taxes, more regulations, or more Mob Boss Elitism.