In regard to the “Higher rates necessary to protect city services” editorial in the Oct. 22 Renton Reporter: It is unfortunate that in the past number of years the City of Renton was more concerned with getting “ahead of the curve” than in preserving the quality of life for those of us who live here. The city issued building permits allowing houses to be built without having the proper infrastructure in place and without any regard to the integrity of the existing neighborhoods.

Maintaining the existing infrastructure should have been No. 1 on Renton’s budget. Instead, Renton decided it more important to try to grab as much money from new construction rather than allowing those of us who have lived here for years to continue to have the proper and necessary upgrades to our basic systems. For Mayor Denis Law to state that “was a good one” reason is not good enough.

Law, as well as others who made those decisions and now say it is good stewardship should have known that the good times come and the good times go. This is not the first recession and won’t be the last. The idea of budgeting is to plan for the bad times, not spend every dime during the good times and then expect the taxpayers and customers to bail out the city. Instead of raising rates on already financially strapped families, perhaps Law should pay for his poor decision-making choices. Growth is good, greed is not!

Linda Fry

Renton