for a complete list of our election recommendations.
They should send a message that, with strong general fund tax revenues, city leaders need to stop reflexively trying to reach into the pockets of property owners for evenThe issue is not whether the city needs more money to fix its badly dilapidated roads. It does. The issue is that, when city leaders ask for new taxes, they need to come with clear budgets that ensure the money will be wisely spent — and data that demonstrate past tax revenues have been used efficiently.
To be clear, Measure U has nothing to do with public safety in the sense of reducing crime or bolstering the city’s badly depleted police force, which by the end of last year hit. Nor would it address the city’s homicide rate, which in 2021 was the highest since 2006 — and is on pace this year to match that.
, championed by Mayor Libby Schaaf. At the time, Schaaf was completing her first two years in office after inheriting a backlog of deferred maintenance and liabilities, most notably the city’s failure to properly maintain its roads.