State

//roncpp, how much would it cost the taxpayers to pay off all the farmers, all the homes, all of the businesses destroyed by levee failure in the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta if we have heavy El Nino storms . . . or heavy rainfall coupled with an earthquake-caused failure of levees or water delivery systems? $200 billion? $300 billion? Costs associated with Katrina are well over $130 billion and counting, with a fraction of the population and a tiny fraction of the agricultural products of the Valley.//

Pete:
They have been talking about the deteriorating condition of the levies for decades and as far as I recall, nothing has been done. Are you telling me one of the initiatives is to fund a comprehensive rehab of the entire system? Anything less and the same results you cited will ensue.

All these bond measures will add an incredible cost to the state's debt at a time when we've done nothing to cut spending. Someone will have to make a really convincing case that this is desparately needed before it gets my vote.

Actually, we have increased spending in these last two budgets by almost 8%...

Housing bond pledges don't jibe with reality

SACRAMENTO - Television ads and Web sites promoting Proposition 1C - the largest affordable-housing bond in the nation's history - flash desolate faces of battered women and the elderly.
The message to voters: Pass the bond, and they will be sheltered.

The official summary on Tuesday's ballot also suggests the bond's nearly $2.9 billion will go to building shelters for domestic violence victims and their children, as well as for homes for the poor, senior citizens, disabled and veterans.

The promises, however, are misleading. Most of the money will be spent on peripheral projects, including $1.1 billion for city parks, environmental cleanup and water, sewer and transportation systems. Hundreds of millions more will go to promoting development along commuter corridors.

Battered women's shelters would be eligible for just 2 percent of the bond. Low-income apartments most sought after by seniors would receive less than 20 percent.

Critics say the bond is a waste of public money. If the funds are not clearly going to housing for the poor, they say, then California has no business spending billions in the name of a few. They say that is especially true in a state where most people struggle to afford homes of their own.
The state's median home value of $477,700 is the highest in the nation.

"The money's not going where the state's saying it is," said Thomas Hudson, executive director of the California Taxpayer Protection Committee. "Battered women's groups will have to compete for funding; they could theoretically get zero dollars. That's deceptive and outrageous."

Proponents acknowledge that just a fraction of the bond money would go directly to the programs touted the most heavily in ads, but they dispute that their campaign is dishonest.

S.B. Sun 11/4/2006

Thank you voters!

Sabro: in spite of my questions, still unanswered, you may be pleased to hear I voted for most of the propositions.