A $15,000 Boondoggle Project?

The Martin Chronicles wonders if any but the most rabid of Villa Hills malfeasant Mayor Mike Martin's dwindling supporters believes the diminutive mayor when he says he "runs a tight ship". We are going to be very gracious. We'll give Martin his recent claim that he "saved" one thousand dollars by "getting rid of the postage meter".

We'll be more gracious. We won't count the tens-of-thousands-of-taxpayer-dollars- needlessly-wasted-on-attorneys Martin is squandering attempting to fire Assistant Chief Joe Schutzman. Or Martin's annual six-figure budget amendments that are draining the City's dwindling cash reserves. Or Martin's self-approved $23,000-plus taxpayer-funded bonus. We won't count any of that, or all the rest of the waste, fraud and abuse-at least in this post. But all of it sure adds up to a whole lot of "postage meters".

We do have some questions:

1. Why did Martin approve spending taxpayer money to have the City Engineer determine the cost to fix "drainage problems" at Harry Rigney Park?
2. How many of you Villa Hills taxpayers have ever been to Harry Rigney Park?
3. How many of you Villa Hills taxpayers even know there is a Harry Rigney Park?
4. How many of you residents knew that Councilmembers Mary Koenig's and Holly B. Menninger-Isenhour's properties abut the aforementioned Harry Rigney Park?
5. How many of you Villa Hills taxpayers think its a good idea to spend $15,000 of your hard-earned money providing property improvements for councilpeople?
6. How many of you Villa Hills taxpayers agree that wasting $15,000 of your hard-earned money providing property improvements for councilpeople is a corrupt outrage?

Look, we love the memory of Harry Rigney. But there is a large contingent of long-time Villa Hills residents who are still royally upset that their money was wasted many years ago constructing a retaining wall and planting trees on Mary Koenig's property near Harry Rigney Park. Should another $15,000 be spent on what some believe are improvements for Koenig's and now Isenhour-Meninger's property? This seems to be pork-barrel politics at its worst. Many now believe that Martin is far worse-and more corrupt-than any imaginary "good old boy's network" that Councilman Mary Koenig has ever spouted off about over the years.  

The Martin Chronicles holds a mandatory staff meeting promptly at 3am every morning to discuss the status of stories our reporters are working. Today, our beloved publisher quietly listened to all of the latest Martin mayhem, leaned back in his chair, took a few puffs of his deadly cigarette, and then summed up his views on the mephistophelian Martin. He used a quote from one of his favorite movies, The Usual Suspects, to describe what Martin has done to the unsuspecting people of Villa Hills. Taking a sip from his "sweetened" coffee, our publisher said, "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."