Not one negative comment about the city system raising taxes? Imagine that. Where's the conservative Tea Party? Where was the video coverage of this board meeting. Seems like a double standard. Or maybe those claiming to be fighting for what's right really only fight for the things that affect them. I wonder if the GOP will send out a mass email criticizing the Republican members of that board for raising taxes???

Steve, the city school board is non-partisan, so the GOP would have no reason to send out anything to them. No one really knows what party they belong to unless they tell people. Like I said over on Topix, we would love to cover more of these city meetings, but there are just two of us and one of us works full time to pay the bills.

I will definitely try to let people know when the required public hearings are on the tax increase so you can go make your voice heard if you are upset.

Melissa Huneke
www.bartowpolitics.com

Melissa- I would think you could figure out which party they belong to. You haven't had a problem figuring everyone else's out. I've been watching from the sidelines for the past few months and in my opinion several of these sites are "selective" in their causes and coverages...yours included. Now, that is certainly your right as youre maitaining them, but my hope is that more of our community begin to openly question and debate the louder, more vocal minority. My guess is that our community is more middle of road and less "radically right". You know, maybe the lack of response, concern over the city's action support my opinion.

Like I said, we are only two people, one of whom works for a living. I try to cover everything I can, but I have three kids on top of everything. This is a huge election, so there are more events than I can personally get to.

As far as the party of the city council members, I don't think it would be fair for all of us to assume what party they belong to, and I certainly wouldn't expect the local political parties to issue statements to non-partisan entitities. The reason they take more of an interest in the county school board is that they all ran and were elected as Republicans, so they supposedly represent the views of the party.

In an case, if you would like to help inform voters and start video-taping city council meetings, I would be more than happy to link to your videos in our "latest headlines."

See, that's where we disagree and exactly my problem. They should represent the people who elected them, NOT THE VIEWS OF THE PARTY. That's the problem with some of our locals representatives. They seem more concerned with taking the party line rather than doing what's best for our community.

The parties get criticized for either trying or not trying to hold elected officials to a certain standard. You will have to take that up with party officials, as that is not what we do at our website. We post information from even candidates whose views are opposite of ours so voters can choose the one whose views most closely match theirs.

What are yours and Bartow Politics' views on public schools?

If you're asking me: like anything else, theres good and bad. I think that both local systems are in good shape and do good jobs overall.

Steve, the city schools have had numerous tax increases over the past 15 years or so. And regardless of how much PR spin the city fathers put on it, their system is not that great. As for the county, the system was doing pretty well until Davis Nelson got back involved. Now it's consumed with turmoil just like when he was involved in the mid-90's. Doesn't matter who else is on the board or in the super's position, if Nelson is involved there is controversy.

I was asking Melissa H. but welcome your opinion also Steve. Thanks!

Brewster- I'll be surprised if you get a response from MH, but I'd be interested as well. From what I've seen, she seems very critical of public education, specifically the county system even though it appears "we" may be biting the hand that feeds "us"...

Katherine- my family has moved around quite a bit(were fairly new to Bartow). Over the years, I've seen some ugly situations that get a lot of press. I'm not familiar with Nelson so I'm not going to judge him. What I was referring to is feedback I've gotten from friends and acquaintances that have experiences with both systems. Overall, that feedback has been positive. I'm also unfamiliar with the tax situation, but the rates seem lower than other communities I've lived in. Take that for what it's worth.