Letter: What are Columbia's City Council's priorities?

Are the priorities of the city of Columbia reflecting the overall needs of the citizens of Columbia?

This question has been bothering me greatly since our most recent jump in crime.

We see our city government wanting to build bike trails,  parks, tennis courts and other various venues of recreation. All the while our city crime rates continue to rise year after year. Is the will of the people that all of these facilities be built, or is it the will of our City Council? That is a serious question that every concerned citizen of Columbia must ask himself or herself.

Just what are and what should be the priorities to be voted on by the citizens of Columbia so that our City Council works to enact such measures as necessary to begin to guide our city in the proper directions it actually needs to be going?

Are these priorities parks, bike trails, tennis courts and other venues of recreation? Or should this city be seriously looking at voting to hire more police department personnel to begin to take that bite out of crime that is needed?