City was right on Grand Concourse decision

While I can never support this city council in their position on tax increases for both commercial and private property, I do fully support them in their position on the Grand Concourse.

The Grand Concourse was established to develop a system of trails in and around the city. This they did this through the generous support of the Johnson Family Foundation and from support from various levels of government who used the tax dollars collected from you, the public, and your employer, and this includes the landscape industry and the professionals that make their living there, to make the trail system we now have a fantastic addition to our livable city.

However, the Grand Concourse did not stop there. In short order they were completing a variety of landscape work, everything from mowing the grass around fire halls, to designing and building landscapes — work that should have been put to tender. Work that those professionals who have opened landscape and green industry businesses, hired and trained their staff, purchased and maintain property in the city and, yes, paid tax back to all levels of government, (the same government that passed it right back to the Grand Concourse), never had a chance to even bid on.

The mayor is correct, we have a landscape industry that can complete this work, meet the required standard and deliver good value. And in passing this work back to industry, you support the growth of small business, increase employment and, yes, increase the tax the city can collect.

The Grand Concourse needs to stick to the reason it was established: the building and maintenance of our trail system. No one, I think, would have any issue with continued support from our tax dollars for this purpose.

Don Barry Barry Property Services Greenlawn Lawn Care St. John’s