Should Taxpayers Say Yes or No to Measure J and Gypsum Canyon Jail?
Regarding the need for more jail space, how can voters continue to allow elected officials to ignore real solutions to this problem? If voters are scammed into voting for Measure J’s half-cent tax, we’ll never see any jail space! This will simply give encouragement to a financially unachievable solution.
Recently, the county couldn’t even open a small expansion of Theo Lacy (jail) because it had no money. Assuming the county takes enough tax money to buy the Gypsum “cure-all” site, how will they afford to build and operate this huge facility? Dump fees won’t be enough. The voters aren’t going to buy into more half-cent taxes.
We need about 1,500 beds now. Why can’t the county use land it now owns, expand the five jails it now owns (spread throughout the county), use alternatives to incarceration it now has? Why can’t we expect sensible problem-solving from our county?
The Gypsum Myth is a compelling one, perpetuated because it seems to solve a big problem in one fell swoop. But it remains a non-solution because we cannot afford it. It is time for political decisions to give way to reason.
People in this county know waste when they see it. Call us all BWIMS (Build Where It Makes Sense) or BWIPs (Build Where It’s Possible). A BWIMSy BWIPy decision will get countywide acceptance.
S.L. HAWBAKER, Anaheim
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
