As Mr. Ruggini said during the first half of the presentation on January 31, “the city has been underfunding it’s infrastructure probably since the 1970s,” and “the deferred maintenance is probably on the order of hundreds of millions of dollars.” So, they’re trying to catch up.
In my opinion most institutions and households underfund and defer maintenance, a poor financial practice. It’s good news that this has been acknowledged and a positive step proposed. It’s bad news that this has been going on since the 70s.
I'm appalled that we're spending $300k for a police tank. It really smacks of the need for machismo. It is most certainly overkill. l. Am sure there will be a picture of this vehicle in the newspapers showing how formidable is our police force. Also, my utility bill has increased significantly, the need for which was discussed in one of your previous newsletters. The prospect of seeing additional charges for transportation costs is somewhat daunting. The question of whether my property taxes will be less is certainly not resolved. There's so much that is approved and decided upon without actually considering the unintended consequences.
A few points of clarification on the piece. My motion was to deny the BearCat but hold the funding to allow the Police to procure something else since it was a bond eligible purchase. Second, I called it a "scaled down tank in a civilian setting." Regardless, it was extremely disappointing.
Regarding this statement,
As Mr. Ruggini said during the first half of the presentation on January 31, “the city has been underfunding it’s infrastructure probably since the 1970s,” and “the deferred maintenance is probably on the order of hundreds of millions of dollars.” So, they’re trying to catch up.
In my opinion most institutions and households underfund and defer maintenance, a poor financial practice. It’s good news that this has been acknowledged and a positive step proposed. It’s bad news that this has been going on since the 70s.
It is an older article but summarizes the macro picture very well.
https://www.brookings.edu/research/shifting-into-an-era-of-repair-us-infrastructure-spending-trends/
ASCE in 2021 gave US roads a grade of D, Bridges a C, and US overall infrastructure a C-. Not good at all.
https://infrastructurereportcard.org/
I'm appalled that we're spending $300k for a police tank. It really smacks of the need for machismo. It is most certainly overkill. l. Am sure there will be a picture of this vehicle in the newspapers showing how formidable is our police force. Also, my utility bill has increased significantly, the need for which was discussed in one of your previous newsletters. The prospect of seeing additional charges for transportation costs is somewhat daunting. The question of whether my property taxes will be less is certainly not resolved. There's so much that is approved and decided upon without actually considering the unintended consequences.
A few points of clarification on the piece. My motion was to deny the BearCat but hold the funding to allow the Police to procure something else since it was a bond eligible purchase. Second, I called it a "scaled down tank in a civilian setting." Regardless, it was extremely disappointing.
Thanks for covering as always.
Thanks, fixed.