lbpost.com columnists Dennis C. Smith and Daniel Brezenoff share their views on Measure G and K. Measure G will restructure the city’s utility tax to contribute more heavily toward improving infrastructure, while Measure K will grant the Long Beach Unified School District more than $1.2 billion for property maintenance.
Dennis C. Smith
City Measure G: Long Beach Utility Users Tax Modernization Measure. Basically expands the utility tax in the city to include mobile phones, internet and other technology systems that have replaced older technologies like land lines and antennas. I am against expanding taxes, but this tax already exists and this is to bring it into modern times. My vote is Yes on Prop G.
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Daniel Brezenoff
What you’ll see on your ballot: “Without raising current tax rates, shall an ordinance be adopted to help preserve funding for critical City services, including police and fire protection, paramedic and emergency response, street maintenance, parks, youth services, and libraries, by updating the telephone users tax to include new and evolving technologies so that all taxpayers are treated equally regardless of technology used?”
What it is: Yes, it says what you think it says: The city will tax your cellphone at 5%.
Pros: More money for city hall.
Cons: Less money for me.
How I’m voting: NO.
The city does nothing to support cellphone usage, and is harmed not at all by it, so it doesn’t deserve any money for that service. I can support a gas tax: gas pollutes our air, gas tanker trucks clog traffic, cars require traffic lights and traffic cops and they cause accidents stressing hospitals and police, etc. I can support a progressive tax on property owners, because, among other things, they take up space. But cellphones occur independently of the city infrastructure and services. Therefore, they are not in the city’s purview.
I understand that landlines tend to skew towards older and poorer folks, but there are a million and one more appropriate ways to relieve those people of expenditures without losing essential city revenue, or passing on the tax to the middle class, which relies on cell phone use.
Will it pass? Not if voters understand it.
Trivia: I will have the same cellphone number forever. I have no idea what my landline number is.
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Dennis C. Smith
LBUSD Measure K: Classroom Repair. Student Safety Measure. Would issue $1.2 Billion in bonds for retrofitting existing and building new schools. The district went through a two-year process involving all levels of stakeholders in the district to determine maintenance and retrofit needs and new school needs. This bond also comes with a bonus of about $220 million in matching from the state already funded for districts that put up funds for repair, retrofit and construction. Part of the bond funds would go to establish new high schools, including a trade/tech school. The District proved with Prop A funds from 1999 that it is detailed and efficient in its use of bond funds. My vote is Yes on Measure K.
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Daniel Brezenoff
Measure K
What it does: provides money to repair schools
Pros: Being forced to learn trigonometry sucks. Trigonometry while sitting in a broken chair is child abuse. Trigonometry with asbestos water dripping on your head constitutes torture.
Cons: Educated children grow into educated adults, and may disobey orders. Offering kids a nice learning environment now might give them the crazy idea that society cares about them, intensely disappointing them later. Also, teaching is a liberal conspiracy.
How I’m voting: Yes.
What more to say about this? If local government doesn’t provide a decent school for all its children, it has no purpose or mandate. They even had a school on Deadwood.
Will it pass? You know, it might not.
Trivia: The essential problem of public schooling is: Puberty and pedantry do not mix.