Thursday, January 10, 2008

A Resounding "NO" From Land Park & Curtis Park

The recent ballot measure in Land Park & Curtis Park on historic street lighting went down to defeat, by a 84% - 16% margin (my "no" vote didn't count, because I turned the ballot into the Post Office on Dec. 31st, and wouldn't you know it, the Post Office closed early on New Year's Eve).

I'm shocked that the folks at City Hall thought this idea would fly. The effort was pretty much under my radar. The first time I heard about it was through an official City of Sacramento mailing that announced I was going to be assessed $5,000 (about $11,000 if I chose the E-Z payment option).

And all this for an amenity.

Then I discovered that my assessment was a bare minimum - apartment building owners, and others with large holdings, would be assessed much, much more.

Livid campaigning by my neighbors ensued, but a big "NO" was all but assured anyway. I wasn't assured by the "YES" campaign that it would all amount to just $1.00 per day. This proposal must have been gold-plated with environmental impact report fees, engineering report and other consultant expenses, plus who knows, maybe even with tasteful, high-tech German lighting design.:
A $10 million plan to install 780 streetlights in the Land Park and Curtis Park neighborhoods has been rejected by property owners who cast ballots, the City Council was told Tuesday.

About 84 percent of the 1,315 ballots returned to City Hall opposed creation of an assessment district to pay for the lights, said Mark Griffin of the city Planning Department.

About 66 percent of the ballots were returned.

If the plan had been approved by a simple majority, and then by the City Council, a typical residential parcel would have paid about $4,940 in additional taxes over a 30-year period, according to the city and neighborhood activists who supported the plan.

Opponents claimed, among other things, that the ballot procedure was not properly announced and the lights were too expensive. City officials said they followed the law in the balloting.

After hearing the results, the council voted to terminate the proceedings for the Land-Curtis Park Street Lighting Assessment District.

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