Newspaper Article

[Rick Rowlands]

Have any of you actually read the charter amendment?  Please do.

http://www.voterfind.tzo.org/mahoningoh/data/20130507PS/0004%20%201D.pdf

As you read through it, please consider the following.

1) a city charter cannot supersede state law, federal law and especially not the U.S. constitution, but this amendment proposes to do just that.   
2) it could be construed that if you do as much as drive an automobile within city limits that any citizen could file suit against you for violating their inalienable right to clean air.
3) the text of this amendment was NOT WRITTEN by anyone in Youngstown or even anyone within this state, but was written by OUT OF STATE SPECIAL INTERESTS. 
4) This amendment would prohibit any new economic development within the city related to oil and gas.  Do you think that the city's finances would be better served if V&M never built their new plant here?  If this amendment had been in place three years ago we would have denied ourselves OVER A BILLION DOLLARS of private investment and would have denied he city MILLIONS OF DOLLARS of tax revenue.
5) on top of it all, our water supplies are already safe, and this amendment would do nothing to protect meander which is NOT EVEN WITHIN THE CITY!!!!!!!!

Billy, if you want to ban the actual practice of fracking within the city then do that, but why support an amendment that not only bans fracking but bans just about all economic activity within the city?   You should oppose this amendment even if you do want to ban fracking because of all the intended and unintended consequences that this very poorly thought out amendment will bring.

[Towntalk]

I couldn't have said it any better.

[Why?Town]

The Vindicator says: Vote No on Charter Amendment

http://www.vindy.com/news/2013/apr/28/vote-no-on-charter-amendment/?newswatch

[Towntalk]

Lets suppose for the sake of argument that you decide to bring in a garden expert to redesign your lawn by planting wild grass and flowers that make your lawn look unkempt to those who do not appreciate the beauty of it all, and your neighbors  complain. Should they have the right to tell you how to landscape your property? Suppose also that you decide to cut down all the trees on your property, should your neighbors have the right to stop you?

You invest thousands of your own dollars in your property ... it's the largest investment that you will ever have ... so what right should the man down the street have to tell you what you can or can not do with it?

Now there are, to be sure limitations as to what we can or can not do with our land ... that is set by municipal laws, but what we are discussing here truthfully does not fall under those exceptions, so you should have the right to lease your lands mineral rights without some total stranger poking his or her nose into your business.

[Billy Mumphrey]

After reading all the posts by the people on this forum who support a NO vote on the fracking charter, this article poses a good question.
Opponents of the bill of rights claim individuals should not have the right to determine if neighbors can sell mineral rights or not. So, why can the oil and gas companies have the right to determine and pool individual properties of neighbors for mineral rights? Seems like a double standard to me. Can the pro-fracking folks explain this to me?

[iwasthere]

this article did not surprise me. i read articles about the gas and oil co doing the samething in other states when it came to gas and oil exploration. frac free mah co has brought this practice to light to our public officials in past discussions.

[Towntalk]

Very long newspaper article about something or other.


http://www.vindy.com/news/2013/apr/28/landowners-face-challenges-new-leasing-rules/