Letters to the editor
Use caution in hiring contractors
With the recent high wind storm event, I wanted to pass along a word of caution as each of us proceeds with the stressful task of navigating through the process of seeking a professional to repair our homes.
Please keep these tips in mind:
o Interview several contractors.
o Check to verify the contractor is registered with the city.
o Check the contractor through other sources and ask for references.
o Get a written contract stating exactly what is to be completed and the cost.
o Advance money very carefully.
o Know what kind of guarantee you are receiving.
The building department can verify that your contractor is registered. The contractor registration is required under city ordinance, which protects you as a consumer.
Also keep in mind that certain repairs may require the contractor to obtain a permit. Please contact the building department to discuss any questions regarding your project; they are available Monday – Friday from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. at (614) 322-6802.
Brad McCloud, Reynoldsburg mayor
Bail-out only rewards big businesses
This financial bail-out is nothing but rewarding big businesses for taking bad risks and losing lots of money.
I read the president’s speech on Sept. 24. Here is just part his speech: "Major financial institutions have teetered on the edge of collapse, and some have failed. As uncertainty has grown, many banks have restricted lending, credit markets have frozen, and families and businesses have found it harder to borrow money."
This is absolutely not true. I received just today as I do almost every day an offer from Discover Credit card to borrow $25,000. There is plenty of money available if you have good credit.
What the president is asking is if we could give our government more money so they can lend it to people who won’t pay it back! It seems to me that it might be a good thing if "credit" was not so easy to get, and maybe we won’t get back in this mess again so quickly. But thanks to the president’s so called ‘bail out’ there will be lots of easy money for people to borrow again.
The president also wants us to bail out the banks that lent money to people in places like Florida who bought houses that cost millions of dollars and now they are not worth that much. I am sorry but I am having a problem feeling their pain. The president is telling us that the government’s top economic experts warn that, without immediate action by Congress, America could slip into a financial panic and a distressing scenario would unfold.
I find it difficult to trust these top government economic experts, since they were the ones who have been giving counsel to the past few presidents and they are the ones who got us in this mess to begin with.
These are the same top government economic experts who have counseled our government to go into debt $3 trillion already and might I add that most of these "top" government economic experts are the ones who don’t want to lose their investments in these banks which are going down.
My top economic advisers have told me that we need to reduce the size of our government and its influence in the free enterprise. Whatever the government takes over fails and I am sure this will fail also. I urge everyone to call their Congressman and let them know their feelings on this that rewards the rich who made bad decisions and punishes the middle class family that is paying their mortgage plan. Congressional aides are saying that the calls coming into their offices are 90 to 1 against this plan.
Middle class citizens are tired of being trampled on.
David Di Yanni, Reynoldsburg
