Reductions in R.P.V. Recreation Programs

Your reportage of the stormy Rancho Palos Verdes City Council meeting when we eliminated the recreation programs was very accurate. One, however, could get the impression that I shouted at the audience when, in fact, I shouted to be heard.

(Councilwoman Jacki) Bacharach, who bled profusely over the demise of these programs, is never willing to stand up and take her gigantic share of the blame for the financial mess the city is in. She was ardently defending spending some $200,000 (the real number is this or more because the rec programs have continually undershot their revenue projections) and I pointed out that she was the architect of four to five million in city red ink. Her minions in the audience, some of whom didn’t care if a giant pothole swallowed the entire city as long as they had their favorite programs, groaned, booed and whistled. I simply provided the necessary decibels to be heard.

It is mind-boggling to hear people demand the continuation of programs that undermine our infrastructure; $100,000 in deferred street maintenance can cost a million in five or 10 years. Every level of government is cutting to the threshold of pain and we are treated like Martians for cutting highly subsidized programs.

A person came to the podium and challenged us, despite the fact that we are 0-2 in tax elections, to have the guts to raise taxes on our own. He said he had a check for us as an indication of his good faith. The check must still be in the mail.

Somewhere in the great scheme of things someone will find an explanation for the fact that cities that do good things when they have the $$$ and have to stop in bad times take a lot of heat while cities that never do anything escape the blast.

ROBERT E. RYAN

Councilman

Rancho Palos Verdes