There are many serious problems that just arent getting solved in the Tuna valley, but particularly in Bradford itself. The more people i speak to in all walks of life, around the city, and in the townships (including many city employees), the better picture i have of the underlying problems. If we are going to keep Bradford its own seperate entity, we need some serious restructuring, from our mayor/council form of government on down, and including as most people agree, the police department and probably the fire department as well. The first thing that needs to happen is that we taxpayers get our voice back, as time goes on with the current administration, it seems we have less and less say in how our money is spent. Every hardworking taxpayer i speak to has the same complaints, and its becoming a groundswell, a low roar. We need total transparency, and advance notice when major spending is imminent, along these same lines we need to know whats going on behind the scenes concerning plans by a few that will affect we the many. We also need leaders, and not just in the city, who we can trust not to follow their own, or worse, others hidden agendas, and will listen and respond to serious complaints, leaders who dont forget who put them in office and why. I think in this respect actions (and past records) speak louder than words. It is starting to become clear who has our best interests in mind, or at least who has been the least swayed by the powers that be. Bradford citys tax rates are rediculous, this is just made that much more obvious by what we arent getting for our money. The condition of the city speaks to the condition of our city government. Bombed out streets, Welfare that you cant escape, way too many slumlords and slumlord rentals, and warring factions at City hall that probably cant be fixed without a clean sweep of everyone above the administrative level. Do we need a city manager government structure? Who can we trust who wont be "puppetized"? Are we beyond repair? Would a living wage for the mayor be a better incentive? The whole consolidation idea sounds good on paper, but there are too many questions unanswered right now, and too much infighting and egos for this to happen anytime soon. If it did, would we be better off, And would we have more say in decisions made, or less? I do know that our garden needs weeded and soon, before they choke out all of the healthy plants...