Xblog

J basically removes a number of unhelpful restrictions from a 2000 proposition to fund th building of new fire stations, the key restriction being that you needed to provide all services on a single two acre parcel of land. I think the original theory was that you wouldn’t get as good services with smaller facilities that address the issue in a piecemeal fashion, but now apparently the Fire Department and the City Engineer feel they can do just as well going with this approach. Honestly, I don’t know if they are right or wrong, and I doubt many other voters have a good idea on this either.

This is kind of a classic example of what I hate about some propositions: they are so specific that they place too much decision making in the hands of voters, tying the hands of those with a responsibility to govern. What would have been wrong with the city council making this decision, and in the event that there were real negative consequences to it, voting them out of office?

Anyway, I haven’t seen anyone advance an argument against measure J. It’ll be interesting to see just how far off 100% of the vote will go for it.