Letters to the Editor, 5.20.2017
Sample comes clean
Hello Mr. Carleton,
I am forwarding this e-mail I sent the Mono Co. Supervisors and a few others involved. Like I wrote in the letter below, It is a shame your publication focused more on the messenger than the message.
Regards,
Ken Sample
Sent: Friday, May 12, 2017 12:44 PM
To: scorless@mono.ca.gov
Subject: Cartoon Commentary
Dear Stacy Corless,
Since discussion of my cartoon commentary had been subject to scrutiny in the current edition of “The Sheet”, I felt the need to send you an e-mail clarifying the issue.
I sent out cartoon commentary primarily due to my disgust with government in Mammoth. It is my own personal commentary. I am sick of all the influence-peddling the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area has forced upon the Town. Rusty Gregory himself stated recently MMSA has over the years paid for multiple of the Town’s conceptual planning drawings and docs. Look at the TBID, who gets the most benefit from subsidized air travel? How hard is it to pass the TBID with MMSA having 40% of a simple majority vote? Look at the 30 million Airport debacle, what could have been done to improve Mammoth with those wasted taxpayer dollars? The hiring of consultant Darin Dinsmore—a $150k waste by Town Manager Dan Holler, without any checks and balances on the purse strings. The Town was pushing “minimum [Floor Area Ratio}” rules as a pathway for big investor-sized development to drive out the little guy. None of this helps Mammoth or Mono County, all I see is a waste of taxpayer dollars, a rise in residential real estate costs, policy that drove out the middle class and decimated the labor pool.
My cartoon commentary was obviously pointed at unjust influence and lack of fiscal responsibility regarding some of Mono County’s office space decision makers. I believe the current office property will thrive regardless of the Supervisor’s decision, my family was one of the owners when it sold for $21 million and smartly participated in buying it back at value. I believe all government should be run like a business, make fiscally smart decisions for the taxpayer, not special interests. Like the family budget, debt is the enemy. So when I hear of unattainable construction estimates that prostitute simple math and contradict recent reality, who is protecting the taxpayer? Who is driving a decision that is not fiscally sound? I believe the Town’s past history may provide the answer. All I want is to see is the Mono County Supervisors cast a fiscally responsible vote in the matter.
