Hey-there, hi-there, ho-there.
An interesting item approved Tuesday by the Long Beach City Council was a motion to spend $3.5 million in “redevelopment dollars” to develop green space at each end of the Promenade.
I always cringe when I hear qualifying terms like “redevelopment dollars” or “state dollars.” People who rely on this ‘government speak’ appear to think that by using such terms, the public will feel better about them spending ‘those’ dollars and not ‘these’ dollars. The point these gov-speakers seem to skip over in their haste to coin new terms is that we, the public, provide all of the money–no matter its source–with our local, state or federal taxes. It does not matter what you call them. In the end, they are all tax dollars.
The six attending Council members agreed unanimously to spend the $3.5 million to make green space out of an area in front of the parking structure at the north end of the Promenade (the one with the mural on the side of it). A second part of the project would do the same for the area in front of the high rise on the south side of Ocean Blvd. where the Promenade ends.
Now I am not sure what kind of Hanging Gardens of Babylon the City is envisioning in these two very tiny pieces of land, but an apparent problem from actually looking at the sites is… drum roll please… both areas are already landscaped.
The southern piece of property, which keep in mind is sitting in front of an office building and is about 300 ft by 80 ft in size, currently has extensive hardscaping and lawn. The northern property, sitting next to a parking structure and measuring no more than 40 ft by 150 ft, sports no less than 25 mature palm trees surrounded by woodchip-covered open space.
Also, keep in mind that each of these spots sits on a busy street—great for the lunching office workers, but not exactly the kind of green space where you might expect to take the family for the Sunday picnic, even if City Hall does plan to call the northern property Mural Park.
These are exactly the kinds of seemingly illogical projects that you don’t do when you are in a severe deficit situation. Even if the argument is that the money is coming from the state or the feds, it still belongs to the taxpayers. At the very least, I’m fairly certain the public does not want tax money spent if it could be used to reduce the deficit without costing them things like health programs and library hours, two things already on the chopping block because of the budget deficit.
I hate to beat a dead horse here, but the deficit should be the primary focus of every action at City Hall. And not just in coming up with gimmicks or quick-fix gutting measures to slash million and millions of dollars.
There is a reason the city finds itself with a $37 million deficit ($17 million in cuts already and $20 million more needed)—namely, City Hall does not know how to say no to spending. And I am not talking about spending for things like health programs and library hours—I’m talking about spending on things like landscaping areas that are already landscaped.
And the problem is apparently systemic throughout City Hall.
Of the 21 departments that make up Long Beach City government, all but three planned to spend more than they planned to take in for fiscal 2008. And don’t get all too excited about those three profitable departments saving the city. Even though Financial Management, Planning and Building, and Technology Services each planned to make more than they will spend, their collective profits will amount to just over $3.6 million–that’s out of a more than $2 billion budget for 2008.
But a city that has had to cut $17 million in the past year, is $20 million in the hole right now, and is also looking down the barrel of a $47 million shotgun over the next two years, can not afford to take any positive gain for granted.
Just as an example, even this paltry-by-comparison-to-the-budget $3.6 million could pay for the annual budget of the City Auditor’s office or the Civil Service department.
Well, unless of course, someone decides to blow the entire amount on something irrelevant to cutting the deficit. Like, I don’t know, $3.5 million worth of Promenade landscaping for areas that are already landscaped.
Now, that’s what I call balancing the books, LBC-style.