Dear Editor,
All is well and good for Prop 4 to protect California from “catastrophic fires.” If that was true, we’d endorse and vote for it, at least twice. But nowhere does Prop 4 describe the percentage of the bill that will go to wildfire prevention, and the latest equipment to put the fires out!
According to CalMatters, “Prop 4 will add $10 billion in bond debt — costing $400 million every year for 40 years to repay — for ambiguous, short-term, so-called ‘climate’ programs.”
Prop 4 gives the state of California a blank check to make costly mistakes like the Malibu Lagoon Restoration project, which has left the iconic Adamson House in danger of erosion, losing its ability to be economically independent. Not to mention the questionable infrastructure Topanga Creek Renovation, which will more or less close Malibu by clogging traffic on PCH for a projected five to seven years! California Parks & Recreation proposes tearing down the existing 79-foot working bridge, which is and has been the Pacific Coast Highway since 1939. They plan a massive 462-foot bridge to widen the creek and transport 250,000 cubic yards of contaminated dirt. Now, that will be an environmental disaster, whether the dirt is dumped in the ocean or 12,500 truckloads of it are transported more than 20 miles through city and county streets and freeways to landfills.
CalMatters describes another bond that seemed like a good idea at the time and “cost taxpayers $4.4 billion in 2014 (10 years ago): the Sites Reservoir to add dams and store more water to send south. It is still years away from completion.” Gov. Gavin Newsom has already declared a budget emergency due to the state’s spending outpacing revenue. California faces a $62 billion deficit. We can’t afford additional debt to pay
for questionable infrastructure programs. California is the most overtaxed state in the country.
That’s why people who can afford it spend six months and one day out of the state to avoid taxes. State Senator Brian Jones, who represents California’s 40th Senate District, asks why critical services, like wildfire prevention and safe drinking water, are not already a priority in the state’s General Fund budget.
Further, he writes, “Prop 4 will spend millions on so-called ‘infrastructure’ for farmers’ markets — things like pop-up tents, restrooms and hand-washing stations. It will also fund ‘workforce development’ to help ‘mitigate unemployment,’ which of course, is completely unrelated to infrastructure and climate. To top it off, the bond also includes grants for exhibit galleries at zoos and museums.”
These are make-work projects for government agencies to justify their existence. Even the LA Times, which reluctantly recommended a “Yes” vote on Prop 4, calls it “a Christmas tree with environmental gifts to private and public interests across the state.”
Please vote NO on Prop 4!
Ron Kurstin and Concerned Malibu homeowners