1.
With
only minor changes in legislation, all eastern cities and
western cities of any class are at risk of being unilaterally
taken. The thresholds for annexation in current annexation law
are completely arbitrary and can be changed with the stroke
of a pen. It doesn't matter what "class" your city is.
However, the laws that we intend to enact will protect ALL
cities and villages in
Nebraska
from being taken forcefully without a vote of their citizens.
It bears repeating that no other state in the Union allows one
municipality to take over another without a vote of the citizens.
As Citizens for a Free Nebraska, we must correct that. After all,
WHAT is the fear in allowing the people to vote? WHO fears
that, in the
United States of
America,
the principles of democracy would be put into action??? The answer
is obvious: those who do not represent the people.
2.
Criticisms that, "it won't happen to us," or "it won't happen for
a long time," are terribly short sighted and ill-advised...
(Ever hear the story of the ant and the grasshopper?) Because of
those kind of criticisms, this fight is also partly, and
unfortunately, a fight against the citizens' own apathy. Future
generations will eventually have to deal with our generation's
problems if we don't make immediate and effective changes. How
many cities were overtaken over how many years? Yet, that 1917 law
still stands until we put something into place that takes
precedent.
Forced annexation is NOT an issue that will go away on its own
or might never affect someone. On the contrary, all
Nebraskans' right to representation is at stake in the
Legislature, and the problem of forced annexation will only get
worse and more far-reaching over time if we continue to allow it.
3.
Our
effort is about even more than the battle against forced
annexations. Another state-wide issue is that all Nebraskans'
right to representation is being threatened. With increasing
control of the State Legislature being taken away from western
Nebraskans, even the most remote citizens are at risk of losing
fair representation in the Legislature.
If and when the east controls the west, any legislation would
undoubtedly favor the east, regardless of whether or not they have
the west's best interests in mind. Whoever controls the
Legislature controls state law. And whoever controls state
law ultimately controls ALL lower governments, no matter how
remote.
4.
The laws that we intend to enact also give ANY city or
village in Nebraska that has been annexed by another city or
municipal county the right to petition to vote for
detachment and reestablishment.
Again, the thresholds for annexation in current annexation law are
completely arbitrary and can be changed with the stroke of a pen;
it ultimately does not matter what "class" or how big your city
is, or whether or not your city is currently being protected by
an outdated court case. But with the looming threat of
Municipal Counties on the horizon, it won't even matter if
you're contiguous.
The laws that we intend to enact include language that protects
cities and villages from forced takeover by a municipal county.
Although current municipal county law protects the remaining
independent municipalities from forced annexation for four years
(and also freezes their borders), what happens after four years?
Not much is said in current law. However, the laws that we
intend to enact will guarantee a vote of the citizens
of the city that the municipal county is attempting to annex.
Another problem is that the way in which votes are tabulated under
current municipal county law can be skewed to the favor of the
city that merged with the county. Our proposed laws correct
that by requiring that the vote takes place in the city that is
being threatened with annexation.
5.
Cities
that are either over 10,000 in population or are across county
lines, or both, are at much greater risk of being taken than they
realize. There is no law that says annexation cannot occur over
county lines - that "rule" comes from a 1960's court case - a
court case that, as far as my knowledge of it goes, only denies
annexation across county lines due to 1960’s issues such as
sharing paperwork and services. If and when Omaha reaches
the borders of Douglas County, it will inevitably be tested
– in fact, it seems that the “testing” has already begun – Senator
John Nelson of Omaha recently introduced LB1166, which would have
given Omaha the power to annex across county lines. It is
undoubtedly the first of many such bills to come, and they will
only become more difficult to stop if we don’t act immediately.
Omaha officials have stated that they have no intentions of
annexing across county lines. But, According to testimony
entered by the City of
Omaha in the trial
against the City of Elkhorn,
Omaha said that it must be allowed to continue to expand, or it
will die. So, according to testimony given under oath, it follows that
Omaha will
die when it reaches the borders of
Douglas County. What
then, can it do? What then, must it do?
Cities that you may not think would be in the "immediate line of
fire" like Ashland, Bennington, Gretna, Hickman, La Vista,
Louisville, Papillion, Springfield, Waverly, etc., can and will
also be taken unless we are successful, and they are in much
more danger than they might realize.
And, being that the 10,000 population threshold is an arbitrary
threshold, defined by the Legislature, there are no real
reasons for the number to be 10,000, and there is no reason
that it couldn’t be 50,000… or 200,000.
With the stroke of a pen, both annexation across county lines
and annexation of a city of over 10,000 citizens are possible
and are necessary to satisfy the continued desire for
sprawl that both Omaha and Lincoln so desire. And, due to forced
annexations of their surrounding areas, they are exponentially
gaining in power to make such self-serving changes in the
Legislature. If anyone thought that western representation was
up for grabs before, just wait a few years.
You see, the problem compounds itself. It will not stop
with Elkhorn. It will not stop at Douglas County and Lancaster
County. If you are a citizen of the State of
Nebraska,
you will be affected by it.
6.
It
should go without saying that whenever freedom and representation
are at stake, all citizens of this nation have the obligation and
duty to defend them without hesitation.
The
citizens have the power to act as "The Second House" in the State
of Nebraska, and to enact laws or repeal laws, just as the
Unicameral does. And, when laws exist that are contrary to the
principles of democracy, the citizens not only have the ability,
but they have a duty and obligation to their government, society,
themselves, and to those countless many who have already fought
and died for the freedom and representation that are being stolen
from us, to set things right again. Our struggle may be difficult,
but our purpose and our goals are vividly clear: Let the citizens
decide. Let the citizens be represented. Give the citizens the
same right to vote that is found all across the entire United
States.
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We invite you to
stand with us as citizens
for the good of our communities and our future, and
together, we will remind this state of what the
principles of democracy are all about.
~
Citizens
for a Free Nebraska
