”
The City Council was elected by their district voters to do a
job. At this time, their job is to make some tough decisions on
budget cuts. As a tax paying voter, I say make the cuts, good, bad
or indifferent.
I, for one, am fed up with all the talking, hand wringing and
finger pointing. I want to see some action. If they believe it’s
necessary to ax the fire chief and police officers, DO IT! It
reminds me of that old saw, LEAD, FOLLOW OR GET THE HELL OUT OF THE
WAY.
“The City Council was elected by their district voters to do a job. At this time, their job is to make some tough decisions on budget cuts. As a tax paying voter, I say make the cuts, good, bad or indifferent.
I, for one, am fed up with all the talking, hand wringing and finger pointing. I want to see some action. If they believe it’s necessary to ax the fire chief and police officers, DO IT! It reminds me of that old saw, LEAD, FOLLOW OR GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY.
Every time there’s a mention of budget cuts, one side or the other starts with the terror tactics and rolls out the sacred cows – fire protection and law enforcement. If it’s the Council, it’s to raise taxes. If it’s the other side, it’s to stop the cuts.
As for fire protection, how many real fire emergencies do we have in a year? Three, five? The rest of the time, while on duty, the firemen sit in the station polishing their equipment and, based on your front page photo, eating very well. If you can’t cut personnel, then cut the wages and if you can’t do that then at least cut their food bill.
The way I see it, I don’t care where the fire station is located – the only part of a burning house that is ever saved is the concrete foundation. City Council, roll the dice and let’s see what happens.”
“I read the articles on drive-by shootings and the need for low income housing. How many gang killings did Atherton, Los Altos Hills, Pebble Beach or Carmel have in the last few years? Zero. How much affordable housing is in these towns? Zero. Connect the dots.”
“You know you just don’t get it. Housing should not be just for the rich. There are more of us than there are of you and I think you will see that in March with the Measure G vote.
Where on earth have you been? Did you not hear what I said? We did not build any affordable housing or multiple family housing in two decades and yet you still defend rich housing, which has put us where we are today – greatly lacking in infrastructure. Also it’s obvious that you don’t know the property tax is split amongst our public agencies. The city gets the dubious honor of trying to run a city on 2.6 cents on the dollar from your taxes and the county gets 18 percent. So you do the math and I would much rather suffer knowing poor people are in housing rather than just the rich. So please justify for us one more time why we should continue down the same path. No thanks and I still say the voters are getting smarter.
Remember why you moved here newcomers – it was for the small town atmosphere and affordability. Measure G opponents guarantee us something other than $750,000 residential homes and then we might be able to favorably consider your request. Also, why do you continue to separate the county from the city? Both entities need to build their share of affordable housing along with the other housing that no one currently living here can afford.
It’s simple – quit building homes for outside people and start taking care of the people that already live here.”
