I have been following the election process of the City Council members and find a number of things very concerning to me.

Firstly, the city manager seems to be running the city.

I thought City Council ran the city and the city manager was employed to their pleasure. It is time for a change.

But it seems business as usual as the city manager did not present a budget that would allow the taxpayers of Suffolk to continue to own their homes.

He is running them out of their lifelong homes on the overflowing pockets of Mickey Garcia.

Garcia sits on the Board of Redevelopment and Housing. Do the citizens see a conflict of interest there?

A for-profit developer sits on the Board and is privy to information regarding where building will take place, how much homes will be purchased for, etc?

Garcia sits on the Affordable Housing Task Force. Do you as citizens see a conflict of interest in that?

What affordable housing has Garcia built in this city?

To a low-income family or a retired family is $238,000-$400,000 affordable?

We have senior citizens on fixed incomes losing their homes under this administration.

Building Suffolk’s Angela Koncz, who builds home for low-income individuals, would be the more appropriate task-force member.

But our current mayor appointed Garcia to these boards.

Which brings me to the mayor.

Any citizen can go over to the Board of Elections and obtain a copy of the donors lists for any candidate running for office.

I was appalled to note that Mr. (Bobby) Ralph’s list of donors has a huge number of developers who haw contributed to his campaign. Not Suffolk based developers.

Why is that?

So that it is business as usual for developers to scald the citizen’s of Suffolk.

These

Developers do not have an interest in our community other than we are a prime place with which to line their pockets with green while taking away our green spaces!

I have had long conversations with the born and bred Mr. (Charles) Parr (by the way I guess outsiders stick with outsiders, the mayor is from North Carolina, the developers are from outside the city, Garcia is from Georgia, etc).

Parr is for further development in the city, in areas that already have infrastructure and will not cost the taxpayers their arms and legs.

He is a successful businessman who operates many businesses in Suffolk, promotes others in the community and knows how to save the taxpayers money and be thrifty in areas that need the fat trimmed.

Did you know that Garcia and Ernest Hefferon donated in-kind services, $1,500 and $2,000 respectively, to Ralph’s campaign? How many other Developers donated in-kind?

Why were they considered in-kind?

Because as in-kind they do not have to be reported on the donation report for the candidate.

Now who’s buying city hall?

Penny Wood

Suffolk