Commentary By Samuel Strait – June 24, 2022
At this past Crescent City Council meeting, the agony of the possibility
that the City’s “slush fund” may be in jeopardy in the upcoming November
election has the council in a spending frenzy. $2,352,112.00 to be on
the books to be spent on “police, fire, road repair, and the swimming
pool”. More than the entire income received by the City in the past
year from the Measure”S” sales tax scheme. If only those that oppose
the tax were wise enough to discover all the “good works” that this
endless revenue stream will “benefit” the City’s residents. All the
“dreamer” government projects with suitable highly paid staff to
accomplish those “wonders”. Crescent City will enter the world of
modern marvel, that is if the local population sits still for this
continued grift by City Councilmen whose dreams of a fantasy land
outstrip the local population’s ability to pay for such extravagance.
The City’s fathers are completely oblivious to the fact that many of
those dollars are local and those that are not, do not reach the pockets
of those that are local. This community cannot afford to entertain on
such a lavish scale and must ask themselves is the Measure “S” money
actually a benefit to the community which by the way consists of far
more than those that live within the City boundaries, or is it a
financial drain that only serves to boost the egos of those that serve
on the City’s council? The question might be asked, “when you vote to
repeal Measure”S”, how often do you really use the City’s swimming pool
and is it worth the half million dollars of restoration and nearly four
hundred thousand in operating cost every year?” Understanding the
true scope of necessary road repair in the City, “does five hundred
thousand dollars really measure up to this task?” Does spending
$362,000 to hire three paid fire captains truly represent a step forward
towards a functional City Fire Department? How exactly will body
cameras, tasers, two new inexperienced patrol officers, and a newly
elevated lieutenant change anything at the City’s Police Department?
All this begs the question which plainly stated, why is it always
police, fire, and emergency services that seem to be lacking funding
whenever the City wants more money to spend? Why does it always seem
that every time more money is wrestled from the public to “improve
services” they never seem to improve? What about the City’s pool that
is so utterly vital that thousands of dollars must be spent for a
facility most in the community will be paying for that they do not use?
And finally, roads that are used by most in the community only appear to
be getting the scraps and left overs of the Measure “S” income, not the
amount that is needed to fix nearly every street in the City?
Monuments to the arrogant are the luxuries of the wealthy, not most that
live in Del Norte County. Our representatives and even those that voted
for this extravagance, clearly do not understand that this does not
benefit those that live, work and for the most part pay for something
they do not use or need. Most have difficulty paying for the things
they need in their own personal lives. A community swimming pool is not
one of them. An inexperienced police force with tasers and body cameras
does not satisfy. Three hired fire captains does not improve the City
Fire Department. And $500,000 is well short of doing something positive
about City roads and streets.
Yet, that is not the worse aspect of this increase in sales tax. Those
that have so little in their lives will have even less. Small business
will lose even more to our neighbor to the North. Those that live
outside the City’s bounders and still local will be unable to have a say
as to how the money was to be spent. That somehow sales tax is the
fairest way to levy the public for what? A swimming pool? Services that
government should be paying for out of its general fund? Road repairs
that have been neglected for years? To cover for years of negligence by
the City Council? To pay for the monstrosity that will grace Beach Front
Park? Are we suddenly so wealthy in this County that something of so
little worth to its citizens will dominate the City’s budget? What
happened to those that were elected to be so deficit in their
understanding of what the local population has for “needs”? Where has
common sense gone? And what is with all the whining from those that
should be the adults in the community and not thoughtless three year
old’s who cannot live without their favorite toy?
Same old story; they starve the muscle in order to feed the fat. Deny Emergency Services their due; all in order to collect public money for government salary increases, public funded international travel, and sweetheart contract graft for their cronies. Our emergency services will NEVER receive what they need, because that is not part of the money-making scheme. Our government leaders create a crises in order to extort more taxes from the community. The public, being a soft-hearted, trusting and naive group of lunk-heads believe our elected con-artists every time “Taxes for Emergency Services? Yup-Yup Okie-Dokie sounds good to me!”
Perhaps we should remove all of the critical public services from “Government Control,” due to malfeasance and misappropriation. Should we start a separate “Emergency Services Agency” that is funded separately from our local “Government?” That way, the public will fund emergency services directly, with our police, fire and emergency medical working for the community, instead of being enforcers for our “Government.” Perhaps we could have a separate “Sewer and Water Agency;” float a bond, and then issue public utility bonds to every client that uses their services. Perhaps do the same for our Schools, Fairgrounds, Pool, Library and Harbor. If the public pays money, they should receive stocks and bonds in return, thus building tangible equity in our community infrastructure.
Then, when all this privatization is accomplished, we can determine the true nature of our local “Government.” Does our local “Government Corporation” actually serve a purpose? Are they simply in business to grow bigger and pad their own pocketbooks. Do our “Managers” earn their hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual compensation; or are they simply a glorified white collar organized crime group? If this government monster is as untrustworthy and nefarious as they seem, should the public provide any financial support at all. After privatizing our critical services, perhaps all tax support can be withdrawn from our local “Government” leaders.