Measure A Passed

Measure A: City of Santa Cruz Children’s Fund

Carbonera Neighbors recommended a NO vote on Measure A. Measure A passed. Following is a summary of our analysis:

This proposal locks-in a particular allocation of city revenue to a given purpose.  Because of the way it is structured, future city councils won't be able to change the use of city revenues to adapt to future needs or situations.

The city council can, even without this proposition, allocate revenue the way the proposition suggests.  The proposition removes that flexibility from the council and carves the allocation of money into stone.

If one doesn't trust city councils and wants to remove their ability to govern, then this proposition could be a good thing.   Our opinion is that future flexibility is worth preserving.

This may be a preemptive act to lock-in decisions as the plan to shift away from "at large" elections to district elections of city council members becomes a reality.   The at-large format has given political dominance to students at the University.  The district elections will tend to reduce the student influence and reflect the interests of the various other parts of the city of Santa Cruz, probably in a way that is a bit more acceptable of values of older people, people in single family houses, and small businesses.

This proposition would bind and lock such a future elected-by-district city council to the revenue allocation established by the present city council (which supports this proposition.)