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not b borrow, orrow w, but felt felt e that th hat was was OK, sinc oject will w b ayying sincee neither pr project bee pa paying property pr operty ttax ax to pa pay ay ffor orr cit o cityy ser services. vices. I ccould ould ccontemplate ontemplate borrowing borrowing iiff w ere ggoing oing to to gget et ssomething omething llike ike wee w were rroad oad rrepair. epair. —Pierluigii Oliv erio Oliverio
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? ?Zggn 7gdlc ^h Robert Cortese ?Zggn 7gdlc ^h V egZiin h]Vge \jn# =Z `cZl i]Vi G96h V egZiin h]Vge \jn# =Z `cZl i]Vi G96h VVXgdhh 8Va^[dgc^V lZgZ cdi]^c\ bdgZ i]Vc V Xgdhh 8Va^[dgc^V lZgZ cdi]^c\ bdgZ i]Vc V ee^\ [ZZY igdj\] ÒaaZY l^i] YdaaVgh# ^\ [ZZY igdj\] ÒaaZY l^i] YdaaVgh#
The C The Council ouncil llast ast w week eek m made ade tthe he ssecond econd SERAF payment SERAF S ERAF p ayment tto o tthe he sstate. tate. S ERAF iiss where w here tthe he sstate tate rraided aided aall ll R RDA DA ccoffers off ffeers in nC California—again—in aliffornia ornia—again—in o again in our ccase, ase, ttaking a aking $75 million fr om San JJose. ose. from The T he sstate tate al allows llows p payment ayment o off the the SERAF S ERAF to to come come from from the the housing housing department de epartment if a cit city ty cho chooses oses to do so. so. This T his second second payment payment of of $13 $13 million million is due this week, so the council council had d tto od decide ecide tto o pay pay or or perhaps perhap ps not not pay pay orr eeven ven to ccease ease RDA RDA operations. operations. Ih ave ad dvo ocated p aying tthe he state state have advocated paying w housing department with department funds funds.. was however, was W What w aas decided, decided howe ver, w as to o iss sue ccommercial ommercial pap er to replenish replenissh issue paper tthe he h housing ousing d department epartment aass a w way ay financee the payment. Yet to o financ paayment. y Yeet there there is i m ore tthan han n $13 $13 million million o nh an nd in in tthe he more on hand housing department not ho ousing depar tment that would no ot rrequire e equir eb orrowing. borrowing. U ltimately, tthe he ggeneral enerall ffund und is is at at Ultimately, sstake take for for ccommercial ommerciall p ap per, iin n tthe he paper, ssame ame w way ay that that the the general generall fund fund is is on on hook tthe he h ook for for tthe he Hayes Hayes Mansion Man nsion and an nd go olf ccourses. ourses. golf I vvoted oted no elt e “Wh hy no,, sinc sincee I ffelt “Why b orrow w hen yyou ou h ave ccash ash iin n yyour our borrow when have p ocket?” W pocket?” Wee do not get “miles” orr some borrowing. so ome other rreward ewaard ffor or b o orrowing. Iu nderstan nd tthat hat we we would would not not understand b ble tto o ccontinue ontinue w ith ttwo wo m ore bee aable with more ffo ff ordable housing projects projects if we did d affordable aff
SSave th the SStreets t t The ccost ost of mor moree than 50 5 yyears ears e of ssuburban uburban ssprawl prawl iiss jjust ust n now ow b being eing fully fully rrealized. ealized. San JJose, ose, the L Los os Angeles of Santa Clara County, paying high S anta C larra C ounty, iiss p aying a h igh price p rice ffor or u uncontrolled ncontrolled ssubdivision ubdivision growth gr owth in terms of bud budget-busting dgett--busting unmet infrastructur infrastructuree needs n for fo or roads, roads,
CUBESOULS C U B E SO ULL S
sewers, se wers, parks parrks and buildings buildings.. Only O nly 0 0.4 .4 pe percent rcent o off tthe he ccity’s ity’s ccapital apital imp improvement proveement program program (CIP) dollars d ollarrs are arre p planned lanned tto o ggo o tto o rroad oad maintenance m aintenance d during uring tthe he next next fi five ve yyears. earrs. This This iiss iin n ccomparison omparrison tto o2 22 2 percent p ercent tha that at is planned to go to dir direct ect orr iindirect o ndirect aairport irport improvements improvements during thee same time period. period. JJust ust lik likee home maintenance, maintenance, proper p roper infrastructure infrasstructure maintenance maintenance rreduces educes h higher igher rrepair epair b bills ills later. later. This This is esp especially eciallly true with str streets eets and ssewers. ewers. S Streets treets ccan an n ccost ost ffour our tto o eeight ight ttimes imes aass m much uch tto o rrepair epaiir or or replace replace properly maintain. than to pr operly maint ain. IIff tthe he city city can can n bond bond ffor or a fancy fancy city city hall or a sswanky wank ky airp ort, t neither of airport, which w hich aactually ctuallly ssaves aves m money, oney, w why hy n not ot ffor or o street street maintenance m maintenanc e that do es?— does?— Klline Norman Kline
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