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Letters Policy.....
Letters to the editor should be no longer than 300 words. All letters sent to the Outlook become property of the Outlook and may be edited and condensed for any reason. Letters must be submitted by one person only and be accompanied by a valid phone number. No pseudonyms or initials may be used. Deadline for letters is Tuesday at noon for the following Thursday edition. Send submissions by mail to LCF Outlook, Attn.: Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 578, La Cañada Flintridge, CA 91012 or by fax to (818) 790-7260.
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Updated June 25th, 2009
Letters to the Editor
Vote No on Parcel Tax
Three reasons to vote no (on
Measure LC, the school parcel tax).
Proponents’ motives and tactics.
Affluent La Cañada Unified School
District wastes money. It could
have gotten money elsewhere.
Proponents of raising our property
taxes for schools try to justify
it by saying good schools are desirable
because they raise prices and
demand of LCUSD homes and protect
residential property values.
Little or nothing is said about the
intrinsic personal, intellectual and
societal value of a good education.
Realtors love high demand and
prices and could care less about
increased property taxes and
assessments. They simply say
homes within LCUSD sell for more
per square foot than La Cañada
Flintridge homes in other districts,
without revealing any underlying
data or analysis: e.g., were all other
factors equal?; lot and house size?;
don’t larger properties typically
cost more per square foot?
The pro-tax people try to lure
older folks on fixed, quite limited
incomes into voting yes by offering
to exempt those 65 or older, but
only if they overcome a series of
obstacles the pro-tax people have
placed in the way. (There are) conflicting
deadlines (as to) when the
exemption form must be returned in
person to LCUSD headquarters.
LCUSD says July 17. What if the
July 15 deadline in L.A. County’s
Voter Instructions is correct? If seniors
misplaced or never got the
exemption forms mailed in April,
why make seniors try to get one on
the Internet (lcusd.net) or go in person
to LCUSD HQ to get the
forms? Why weren’t they more
timely and cheaply included with
the June Official Sample Ballot?
Why must the form be personally
delivered to LCUSD HQ by each
applicant, no matter how old,
immobile or infirm? Must voters
who jointly own a subject parcel
each apply separately for an
exemption?
Why do the exemption forms,
besides a sworn signature as to
being 65 or older and owner-occupant
of the property, require copies
(color or black and white?) of driver’s
license and property tax bill
(shows owner as of Jan. 1, 2008),
far more information and effort
than required to vote? LCUSD says
it will keep these copies on file
(probably also on a computer).
Neither of these necessarily shows
the current address of the holder.
The mail-in-only ballot requires
only the date and the address and
sworn signature of the voter. Why
amass the extra information, an
invasion of privacy subject to public
copying, misuse or identify
theft, other than (to) dissuade eligible
seniors, some of whom think
the exemption is automatic?
For weeks, LCUSD — its board
president, its superintendent, its
chief advisor on this election (he
went on vacation on June 23) and
staff — have refused to talk with
me or provide reasons and legal
authority for the above.
Our affluent district wastes
hundreds of thousands of dollars
due to, e.g., high turnover of executive
staff, the remodeling and relocations
of LCUSD HQ, redundant
elections, etc. Why didn’t LCUSD
ask for the $800,000-plus the city is
spending to put unneeded sidewalks
on La Cañada Boulevard to
accommodate the handful of La
Cañada Elementary School students
walking there? Why did
LCUSD publicly say it did not
know how it would spend extra
money if the tax passed? We’ll find
a way? Sushi for students?
Jim Short
La Cañada Flintridge
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