Measure O: Second try to pass 1/8-cent sales tax for parks

If passed, Measure O is expected to provide approximately $634,000 a year for 25 years to the Mid-Peninsula Regional Open Space District (MROSD).
MROSD already sucks more than $7,000,000/yr from San Mateo County South in property taxes.

I have suggested that this alien agency be detached from San Mateo County.

Jack Hickey

I've got a better idea, Jack.

Why don't you put down the poison pen, take a little break from railing against publicly-funded EVERYTHING, and take a nature walk in one of the county's fabulous open space preserves. It might clear your head and improve your disposition.

Open space enriches us all.

Sales taxes are the classic example of a "regressive" tax, one that tends to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. When I was young -- pre-Ronald Reagan -- all of California, state-wide, kept the sales tax down to a tolerable 5%. Reagan was the first to crank that up, followed by the Bay Area's own vampiric transit agency, BART, and every little county with a funding problem.

8.25% out of almost every dollar we spend to (e.g.) feed ourselves was and is already outrageous. 8.375% would have made a bad situation just that much worse. I'm glad the voters agreed.

Rick Moen
rick@linuxmafia.com

Speaking as a poor person, I'm a frequent user of the (free) park facilities in San Mateo County. I can't afford to buy much, but I'd be willing to pay an extra 1/8 cent sales tax to help with the upkeep of these wonderful community resources.