Letter: A ‘no’ vote will send a message

When you cast your vote on the parcel tax measure, I urge you to let reason — rather than emotion — prevail. If you do, you will vote “no.”

On the one hand, the initiative has a provision to exempt senior citizens from the tax, presumably a kind gesture from the measure’s advocates. On the other hand, plausibly it is simply a ploy to dissuade the most fiscally conservative voters in the electorate — seniors — from voting. The architects of the parcel tax measure are certainly aware that every “no” vote requires two “yes” votes to counter.

Keep in mind that if you don’t vote or if you vote “yes” and you claim the exemption, you are effectively voting for Marxist-style wealth redistribution.

Are La Cañada schools any good? Of course they are. In 31 years of teaching at UCLA and 25 at USC, several La Cañada High graduates have taken my aerospace engineering classes. Most have made an A or a B+. However, none has had anywhere near as high an average as overseas students, where schools do a far better job of preparing their students. Don’t lose sight of the fact that American students generally finish last in international competition with industrialized countries.

Is a “no” vote on the parcel tax a vote against our outstanding schools in La Cañada? Absolutely not. You would be voting against the pathetic state of government schools in California. We get less money from Sacramento than all but one other district because Sacramento takes from each district according to its ability to pay and gives to each district according to its need.

If the parcel tax fails in La Cañada, it would be a great message for our school-board members and their union allies. That message would be that in La Cañada where we traditionally love and support our schools, voters have said “no more — account overdrawn!”

David C. Wilcox
La Cañada Flintridge