There is much support for Measure W

I am writing to Mr. McCarty in response to his paid advertisement aimed at John Johnson, Robert Johnson and Pat Patrick for supporting Measure W.

My first question is, why are you singling out only these three people? Four of our five City Council members have publicly supported Measure W, as have thousands of other Lodians. You are claiming to be the grassroots campaign, but I see a groundswell of support for the "Yes on W" campaign coming from many different groups including police, fire, city employees, the LOEL Center and Lodi Unified School District.

The premise of your open letter is that the future tax dollars of Lodi will be better spent by the county rather than by the city of Lodi. We have one elected county official who represents the Lodi area: Ken Vogel. Ken has done an outstanding job representing Lodi, but, on the County Board of Supervisors, he is just one of five fighting for our ever-diminishing piece of the pie for our town. As an example, the people of Lodi have supported Delta College, and Delta has gladly taken our money, but where is our local campus? I do not want to depend on the county to support Lodi and our needs.

I understand and respect your position on Measure W, and I believe everyone has a right to an opinion. However, I am disappointed you are not looking at Measure W as an opportunity to help people who so deserve our support on the Eastside. Lodi will benefit by keeping our tax dollars here versus giving those dollars to the state or county. Vote "yes" on Measure W on March 3.

Mike Georguson
Lodi

Reader Feedback

edumacation wrote on Mar 1, 2009 10:10 PM:

" What happenedd to the other GRAND schemes? Where is Reynolds Ranch and the other housing developments? Zip! Zero! Nada...because no one can afford to pay super high prices for low budget tract houses when people can't even pay down their credit card debt. Over ten percent of Lodians are unemployed, sales are down, taxes are down and WHO WILL BE BUYING when people have continued low to mediocre pay (with notable exception for LUSD school adminsitrators)?

Its time to grow up, be responsible, and realize going into a HUGE debt as with the RDA will only be the demise of Lodi as we know it. The developers who beg for this RDA can always pack up and go to another city. They will have our money. Many of us without means, will be forced to stay or sell at lower prices to avoid the staggering debt.

We need to strongly enforce our code enforcement to clean up the "blighted" areas, but we WON'T. Do we want a "Little TJ", or a respected community with older houses? Owners, buy some paint and do it yourself. Have some pride and responsibility. "

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edumacation wrote on Mar 1, 2009 9:57 PM:

" Look around you and open your eyes. Our country is facing possibly the greatest financial disaster since the 1929-1940 economic depression. What got us there? Unrealistic optimism, Greed, wishful thinking and we pretended we were all millionaires. Wake up and smell the coffee! California has a growing unemployment rate that that has passed 10.5%. San Joaquin County has a greater unemployment problem. House values have dropped to 2004 levels and are still dropping. The reason for the RDA is to increase taxes from the county property taxes because of increased valuations. Wwe are looking at the floor dropping out on house prices. Millions of people because of poor planning or just plain greed have walked or been locked out of "their houses". We have agreed to increase taxes so that we can bail out billionaire bankers and the fraud continues. WHY AN RDA TODAY??? What important reason is it that you have that can justify that TODAY March 2009 Lodi needs more debt...to be in the debt mode for the next 45 years? "

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