Proposition 1C: The Investment and Its Costs

* The time has come for Orange County to extend the forward thinking it has demonstrated in the development of organizations like Partnership 2010 and the Orange County Development Consortium to its colleges and universities. We may be able to keep a business from leaving Orange County, but if there are no skilled employees to work at that company, we have not succeeded in strengthening the county’s economy.

Proposition 1C, the Higher Education Facilities Bond Act, is a step toward proactively maintaining the superior quality of Orange County’s colleges and universities. By voting for the proposition, we vote in favor of training a skilled job force for Orange County.

As president and CEO of Independence One Bank, I understand the value of skilled and intelligent employees. I also understand what it takes to create these individuals. They need to graduate from a dynamic higher education system. With its universities and community colleges, Orange County currently has such a system, and cannot afford to lose it. Proposition 1C will help ensure that we do not lose our edge.

Supporting public education is a sound investment in the future, because it is an investment in a quality job force. I urge you to vote yes on Proposition 1C.

EDWARD H. SONDKER

Mission Viejo

* Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) and other proponents of Proposition 1C (Letters, May 29) have ignored the vital issue in their haste to champion this bond measure.

The issue is not if the money has noble purposes (arguable) or if it will be prudently used (does the state have a good record of this?), but rather, it is whether the state ought to take out another loan.

Yes, bonds are loans, and must be repaid, with interest . Why don’t voters realize this?

Do we want to mortgage our futures further? The total cost to taxpayers will be more than twice what is authorized by Prop 1C. Do we want to pay double for something we may not even need? And, if the purposes for the bond funds are so vital, why has not money been wisely set aside in the past? Further, what is our guarantee that another ‘crisis’ like this won’t occur again next year, and the year after, and . . .?

ROBERT SHAVELLE

Long Beach