Examine Priorities

The failure of Measure Z in Port Hueneme and the subsequent talk of a utilities tax raise some issues that need to be addressed.

Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers of American conservatism, said that “taxes are the price we pay for civilization.” I firmly believe that it is not so much that people object to paying taxes as they object to the way the government spends the taxes it collects. The good people who worked so diligently on the campaign and the great majority of voters who supported the measure bear this out.

Nonetheless, we must ask how we got to the point where public safety is tossed into the political arena to be booted about like a football. Admittedly, Port Hueneme--like the rest of California--has been forced to endure severe cutbacks in revenue. It is at times such as these that budgetary decisions become most critical.

Can we really afford to pay our city manager more than Los Angeles pays its mayor? Do we really need a full-time, fully staffed Planning Department in a city that’s 98% built out? Ought we to be placing a higher priority on landscape maintenance than on building maintenance? Should we continue to fight our citizens with the pursuit of otherwise avoidable lawsuits, the loss of any one of which would bankrupt the city?

For the sake of argument, let us propose a different scenario. Let us imagine a government that agrees with the majority of its citizens and puts public safety right at the top of its priorities. Then let us suppose, with the police budget taken care of, that this government then goes to the voters and asks for new taxes to pay for legal fees to pursue litigation rather than reach an out-of-court settlement. I wonder how many votes they would get then.

Times of great difficulty are also times of great opportunity. Now is the time to re-examine our priorities. Now is the time to seek out new directions. Now is the time to begin the journey from where we are to where we ought to be. With clear hands and sharp pencils, we can build a future that works for everyone.

JONATHAN SHARKEY

Port Hueneme