Rushed Judgments: Vote no on Long Beach's Measure Q

 There are 52 races and ballot propositions for Los Angeles County voters at the 2022 general election. No person can possibly make informed judgments on so many items. So I'm spending 5 to 10 minutes looking at each issue and sharing my decision. 

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Measure Q would raise taxes on people who own property in Long Beach to pay for a long list of public school upgrades, repairs and construction. For someone owning a million-dollar home (and in 2022, in Long Beach, a million-dollar home is shockingly average), this will cost $600 a year.

This is a tough one for me because I believe in a strong public school system, but I am also disturbed at how frequently the Long Beach Unified School District comes to taxpayers begging for money. Just six years ago, the district asked for (and got) $1.5 billion in bonds. Now it's asking for another $1.7 billion.

I don't claim to fully understand what's going on, but this does raise questions about how well the district manages its money. We already pay for schools as part of our annual taxes, so why these extra demands? LBUSD gives a generous benefits package to employees (it pays 100% of healthcare premiums for most of its workers), but it can't set aside money for school construction and repairs? .

Even with those concerns, I probably would have voted for Measure Q except for one thing. Several years ago, LBUSD abruptly locked up all its school playgrounds, preventing children from using them during evenings, weekends and summer.

No one questions the need to keep schools secure during the instructional day, but for generations, children and families in Long Beach have been able to use the playgrounds during non-school hours. Many children, including my own, learned to ride their bikes on school playgrounds, a much safer venue than on the street. This was a great option for park-poor neighborhoods, since every part of the city at least has a school.

But now those playgrounds sit empty behind locked gates during evenings, weekends and summer. Yes, the school district has since decided to occasionally open some playgrounds for limited hours on some Saturdays, but it's a far cry from what's needed.

Not only does this locked-gate policy deny kids a place to play, it disrespects the taxpayers who paid for those playgrounds. It sends the message that LBUSD isn't a true partner with the community.