This past week, Q-line asked: “Would you support another bond measure to build more facilities at SMC and local schools? Why or why not?
“I would support another bond, as I feel Santa Monica College has proven itself to be responsible with the money it receives.” — ✆
Here are your responses: ✆ “If the 30 million residents of Southern California only spend one sales taxable-dollar per day, the sales tax would add up to $2,550,000 thousand per day. The average sales tax on a new automobile is $2,550. Every item of merchandise that leaves a department store or various other retail outlets carries a high sales tax that adds up to billions of dollars per year for the state of California. Homeowners’ taxes are monumental. One can only wonder how prudently these tax dollars are spent. I personally will not support any issues of California government until the politicians and bureaucrats who have created this quagmire of state debt are tarred, feathered and flogged out of the state of California.” ✆ “I will not support another bond. There have been so many, and still the schools need money. I think the parents need to start paying their own money to buy books for their children like they do in so many other countries. One bond after another, one raise after another, most of us are just trying to make ends meet, trying to pay the rents in this city and we can’t afford another upheaval.” ✆ “The insatiable school district. Why is Santa Monica paying for Malibu’s schools? I think a public interest lawyer or taxpayer group should look into that.” ✆ “I would not support such a bond. The city officials have allowed a chaotic situation of vagrancy and homelessness to occur in our city. This is a crisis situation that needs immediate and aggressive settlement. Clean up this city and enforce the vagrancy laws.” ✆ “I would not support another bond issue for Santa Monica College. They are advertising overseas to see how many people they can bring in. They have saturated their land on purpose. They want us to provide additional fields for sports. Look at the parking situation. The traffic around the college is ridiculous. Let’s take care of our own people, not advertise overseas. This is totally insane.” ✆ “I would very much be in favor of supporting another bond measure. These children are our future, at least this would be money going to good use, not going to those a**holes in City Hall.” ✆ “You must be kidding. Don’t we pay enough in taxes already? Why do all the homeowners have to pay for everything? Why don’t you check with City Hall, the city employees, these people cost the city a fortune. Why don’t we cut down on city expenses?” ✆ “Hell, no. Enough is enough. This is taxation without representation. Eighty percent of the students at SMC are not from Santa Monica or Malibu. Why do we have to pay for this college and school board’s incompetence in being able to manage their budget? This bond is just a shell game. It’s a bad idea and (SMC President) Piedad (Robert-son) should be ashamed of herself for allowing SMC to get dragged into something like this.” ✆ “I would support another bond measure if there were a way to increase the tax base. The best way to do that is to bring more tourists in who fill up the hotels. The only way to do that is to fix the homeless problem. We are known as the homeless capital of the world, did you know that? When I say fix the problem, I mean eliminate these people from the streets of Santa Monica. This is one way to get the citizens of Santa Monica to engage in more giving.” ✆ “Absolutely not. Local schools need to allocate their money better, get rid of unnecessary administrators and social engineering classes and get back to basics. The college needs to start limiting its enrollment to students that actually live in the area and rely less on money and students from out of the area, state and country. It has become just too big for its britch-es, really.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 12, 2004. Read the original PDF.