By Frank Jones Santa Monica
Bill Bauer hit the nail on the head about Proposition V (“Prop V is ‘wastewater’ for oceans and taxpayers,” SMDP, Oct. 9). Bauer only scratched the surface of the black hole for Santa Monica money this proposal represents.
Prop V is only the most recent hare-brained idea from our “Environmental” Department. The City Council, thankfully, stopped it’s earlier attempt to spend $800,000 for just one SUV (our money would have funded some car company’s new-fangled vehicle testing). The council did approve spending millions for a stormwater system that turns off when it rains — in other words, it automatically shuts down whenever it is really needed.
How do Santa Monicans who rant against “ballot-box budgeting” (especially Proposition 13) reconcile those rants against support for Proposition V? If Prop V is a priority, it should be a priority for the city budget process, not something that bypasses the annual budget and writes automatic checks.
We love to talk about our green leadership.Yet we face tens of thousands of dollars in fines for failing to comply with clean water laws. Our trash department has been repeatedly written up by the LA County Health Department. Our trash trucks blow up overnight, apparently from failures to perform simple maintenance. Somehow, even our sneaker recycling bin burst into flames. On the strength of this record, Prop V is asking voters to write a nearly blank check, this year and every year into the future.
Prop V poses a question: Will Santa Monica voters say “Yes” to anything labeled “green,” regardless of how miserable the record of the department that gets the money?
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 23, 2006. Read the original PDF.