Comments by DrDan
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Posted on May 23 at 4:16 p.m.
Don and Mina make great points. We need to vote YES on both W and X. I am a property owner and I want to pay this tax. California's approx. $9,800 spending per public school student pales compared to NY's $18,000 and most of the northeastern states (VT, Conn. Mass., NY).
Posted on May 22 at 6:39 p.m.
not #1, just get public ed expenditures up to 18,000 or 20,000 and honor our public pension commitments (after capping and reforming a la Brown, which the Repubs love)
Posted on May 22 at 3:04 p.m.
Binky, your link to http://www2.census.gov/govs/school/09...
was very good; on pg 8 "Per pupil Amounts for Current Spending of Public elementary-Seconary Schools Systems by State 2008-2009" has Calif. spending $9,657 per child...it involves some math to figure out CA's placement since it is alphabetically ranked.... But let's not compare CA to the poorest states in the Union, Mississippi [$8,075 at the bottom with Tenn., Oklahoma, and OH MY Utah at $6353 per kid], look at states with pretty good public school systems:
New York spends $18,126 per child in public school and they openly tell you this is not enough.
Connecticut spends $14,531, Mass. spends $14,118, New Jersey $16,271...it goes on like this.
Starving public education, and crying out about "massive public pension obligattions" is shortsighted, anti-society, and illogical since we will all need well-paid American workers contributing to Social Security...
Support the local tax measures for education, support Hannah-Beth Action Jackson, support Mayor Schneider's proposals.
Posted on May 22 at 2:50 p.m.
Yes, but isn't the point that Calif has a shamelessly poor per capita education spending per pupil? You conflate the pension obligation issue -- blown way out of proportion (an example is how hard it is to generalize about over 80 Calif public pension plans) -- with helping young kids learn. Our social safety net is dissolving, the Legislature is in perpetual gridlock, the economy teetering... "Investing" in the most valuable resource we have, the "human capital," in educating our children well for this global economy, in raising a few taxes to support public education.....
Wellllll, I think we all know Action Jackson genuine supports public education, and she will win this thing easily. Stoker was never elected a County Supervisor, he was an appointee. Hodge is a joke.
The bigger issue is will Hannah-Beth really crack down on public pensions, take on the prison guards union, and hold the inevitable and coming tax increases to a reasonable amount?
Posted on May 22 at 10:22 a.m.
California gives a shamefully low amount of money to public education, and Binky is correct, although I've also read that in terms of "state monies per pupil" Calif. is way below 30th position (among the 50 States), I've read 45th. We are hacking the guts out of public education here, and it's not only shameful but it is economically stupid.
YES, public pensions need to be capped and reformed, but of the over 85 or so "public pension plans" in Calif (CalPERS is only one if the biggest) some do a better job than others. The UC Retirement system has had their workers paying into their own pensions (what a concept!) for the last few years, and UC has upped its own contribution. This needs to happen plus a cap at say $75,000 max.
The prison system is a scandal.
More taxes is part of the answer, Botany, although only with further tightening, reducing prison populations (it is happening), capping and reforming pensions...
Action Jackson all the way.
Posted on May 18 at 7:09 a.m.
Hurrah for these parcel taxes, we need MORE for public ed. Wolverine, you are crabby... your comment "Talk about poor return on investment" means you see EDUCATING CHILDREN as an "investment" ... too bad.
Posted on May 17 at 6:37 p.m.
Good stuff. Robt. N. Bellah's magisterial THE EVOLUTION OF RELIGION takes a similar dim view of Dawkins, Dennett, Hitchens and their petty critiques of religion.
Posted on May 17 at 6:33 p.m.
Mr. Ruhge is a noted Lompoc historian who occasionally writes columns for the SB News-Suppress...
just one: "easy for Iran to step in and take control everywhere." uh, they can't even manage their centrifuges, their economy, their President (Ayatollah Khameini hates him more than we do)... yeah, Ruhge, you're a puppet & it's likely you don't even know it, true believers can be quite scary...
Posted on May 16 at 8:42 a.m.
@Don, this issue is NOT whether some folks are "ganging up on poor Mark Lee," what obfuscation! The issue isn't about EastBeach -- civility in dialogue matters! -- the issue is why help this developer, and the area is fine as is. No on Y. Let the voters decide, and judging by the many yardside signs NO ON Y! I'd say it's over for this latest version of the Veronica Meadows development.
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Posted on May 25 at 6:44 p.m.
Wolverine I agree when you state you're "extremely opposed to the ongoing class segregation by the City in its increasing conversion of properties, especially on the Westside (south of Mission) and Lower Eastside, from single family, owner-occupied, to high density, multi-family units" ... yet, a sales tax (Mayor Schneider has proposed this) is inherently unfair and regressive: someone making millions pays the same rate as a poverty-level person. The entire structure of public ed financing in Calif. needs reform.
On Parcel Taxes for Arts and Sciences