The people of Wake County are facing unprecedented economic hardship in job losses, business failures, homelessness, and whereas

    Elderly citizens on fixed incomes are being driven to poverty and fear for their very lives by ever increasing costs for food, medicine, insurance, utilites and houseing, and whereas

    The resources of our state, county and city are being strained to the breaking point to provide Medicaid and social services and whereas

    A rash of unwise spending projects are being proposed. Specifically, a civic center/hotel complex, and unnecessary rail transit system, an expensive and unnecessary remake of the Raleigh downtown mall, an expensive school construction bond issue and a parking deck, and whereas

    Taxes currently take close to half of the average family's income and additional taxes to support needless projects could turn economic difficulty into catastrophe for the people.

We, the undersigned, do urgently request that our lawmakers, being aware of these concerns, do not enact any additional taxes and fees in any form; repeal of the hotel and prepared foods taxes; disapprove the ill-conceived projects, above; and set their spending priorities to place public safety (police, fire, public health and courts) first, education second, and all else last.