Changes to Balboa Park, voter turnout, taxes vs. kids and more were the subjects of debate in the comments sections this week. Want to get in on the discussion? Join us.
Here are five comments from the week:
• Bob Spaulding on “Taxes vs. Kids: City Schools’ New Gamble“:
Once again, voters are being played by the teachers unions and their captive politicians like Governor Brown. This is another shakedown of California voters and taxpayers, and the victims, like this mother and her children, are mere pawns in their game of blackmail. Parents are enlisted to plea for more money for the inefficient public education system so that real reform and a fairer–meaning lower–pay for teachers and administrators is not considered.
• Cara Schmidt on “San Diego County’s Wildlife Killers“:
People who live in condos in the city and who have never gotten closer to a calf, goat, or produce crop than on a trip to the petting zoo or farmer’s market clearly don’t seem to understand the reality of how important it is to keep those animals and crops balanced fairly safely against predators. If it’s wrong to kill coyotes for becoming a nuisance in damaging fences to protect crops and animals, damaging a farmer’s nut crop and irrigation lines, then don’t be whining and irritated when the prices for your produce and animal products go up at the grocery stores! People want to buy local now, which is great! But if city people want to enjoy local produce, meat, and dairy at prices that are somewhat affordable, firing off outraged e-mails and phone calls to congressmen about how these poor coyotes are being killed just to protect a farmer’s produce is not going to help that. It’s going to make your costs go up.
• David Priver on “Balboa Park Remodel’s a Go“:
As I listened to Sherri Lightner talk about the need to keep parking free in Balboa Park like we do at the beaches, I began to wonder just why we here in San Diego have made such a sacred cow of this. It is utterly absurd that a cash-strapped city like ours does not charge for beach parking. You may be assured that we are alone among major beach communities in doing so. Most assuredly, one pays big time to park at beaches in LA and Miami. It boggles the mind to think how many millions of dollars we forego to perpetuate this foolish policy. $10 dollars per car to park at the beach, the vast majority of which would be paid by tourists, would prevent no one from going to the beach and would help immensely with our budgetary problems. This is an issue which needs to be re-thought.
• Janet Shelton on “Public Ignored in Balboa Park Debate? Fact Check“:
I too think the Voice is wrong on this one. At the heart of it is that you chose the wrong thing to fact check and as a result, the determination is not meaningful. While it is true that Coons should have qualified his statement, it is also true that from the point of view of most people (all who commented here), any changes to the plan were minor and the plan itself did not change. It’s still an ugly bypass bridge and it still destroys historical aspects of the park. I don’t believe the Voice made this determination because of Jacobs’ donations. But I do believe that this fact check unnecessarily attacks a person who has been a tireless fighter for the park and for the people of San Diego. I don’t know him; I am not a member of SOHO. Some people have attacked you, but most people have respectfully disagreed with you. But yes, this does undermine your credibility with me.
• Ric Bainter on “Where People Didn’t Vote: Graphic“:
Low voter turnout in primary elections disproportionately empowers highly partisan voters, which is just one good reason for adopting instant-runoff voting. The much larger voting population in a general election would rank their choices and the results would more accurately reflect the true preferences of a majority of voters. It would also save money by eliminating a primary election for city offices.
Statements have been lightly edited to fix spelling errors and typos.
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Dagny Salas is the web editor at Voice of San Diego. You can contact her directly at dagny.salas@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.550.5669.
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