With the end of 2024 coming into view later this month, we can start taking a look at what may be coming down the pike next year. It’s not entirely a bed of roses, at least when it comes to the sensitive matter of money — taxpayers’ money.
For openers, we can anticipate at least two proposals for regional tax increases will be seriously considered for presentation to the overall Bay Area electorate.
These two fiscal packages would involve protections for vulnerable coastal areas as sea levels rise and rescue funds for troubled Bay Area transit systems that are running large operating deficits.
Those two likely grand plans have been under discussion for awhile. Tentative moves to place money measures for them on ballots this year were shelved.
The timing for both of them was considered much too iffy, particularly if they were to wind up on the same ballot. The new year appears to be a more realistic and favorable time for both big asks as the rate of inflation ebbs and the economy improves.
However, putting a potential damper on chances for success for them are a couple of negative factors: the specter of higher gas prices and ever-escalating PG&E bills.
The former is a function of new, tough, climate-related rules approved by the state; the latter is an ongoing and vexing circumstance that has generated some of the highest power costs in the United States.
And then there are the effects of inflation, though tamed a bit now. Steep price increases, already locked in, have affected everything from food and fuel to cars and appliances.
Consumers (taxpayers) are still trying to digest, and pay for, their everyday needs. Requesting more from their strapped wallets is going to be risky business for public agencies and the politicians backing them.
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SEEKING HIGHER GROUND: There was some unfortunate confusion last week in the wake of a major undersea earthquake off the coast of Northern California near the Oregon border.
A high-level tsunami warning was issued for low-lying coastal areas, including the San Mateo County coastside. It appeared to be an emergency when authorities announced that those near the ocean should seek higher ground.
In communities like Miramar, Moss Beach and Half Moon Bay, that’s not as easy as it sounds. That’s because Highway 1, in most stretches, is just a two-lane road and State Route 92 is much the same.
The result, almost immediately, was gridlock. Fortunately, the warning turned out to be a false alarm. There was no tidal wave. That’s a problem now.
Going forward, a true tsunami emergency warning might not receive the sort of citizen response it deserves. The feeling could be, “Why bother? We’ve been through this before and it was a mistake.”
In any event, it does leave open the critical question of how coastal residents could even get to higher ground on very short notice in the first place.
TWO SELFLESS MENTORS PASS: Two individuals who made lasting impacts on the lives of literally thousands of young people have passed away: Al Ford and Bob Drucker. Both were teacher/coaches, the former in the San Mateo-Foster City School District and the latter at St. Ignatius College Prep in San Francisco. Ford, who died Nov. 18 at age 86, worked for the district for 32 years in a variety of capacities, including administration. Drucker, a longtime Daly City resident who died on Thanksgiving Day at age 84, served the Jesuit school for 42 selfless years. He earned the apt nickname “The Wizard of Westlake” because of his impressive list of basketball successes.
CIRCLE STAR WAS BIG-TIME: Newcomers to San Mateo County may not realize it but, 60 years ago, a premier entertainment venue, the Circle Star Theater, opened for business on Industrial Road in San Carlos, not far from the Redwood City border. For 33 years, it was a must-visit site that featured stars like Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, The Four Tops, George Carlin and Sammy Davis Jr., among many others. The 3,700-seat theater-in-the-round presented Broadway shows and boxing matches too. It gave way to commercial development in 1997.
John Horgan has been writing about San Mateo County’s ins and outs since 1963, beginning at the long-gone Burlingame Advance Star. Contact him by email at johnhorganmedia@gmail.com.
(2) comments
Safety in a Tsunami is usually just a half mile and a 10 min uphill leading walk away.
A car is never the right way to escape from Half Moon Bay. HMB should prepare a few more walking routes and signage to lead people to higher ground on the other side of Hwy 1.
(Of course the Board of Supervisor might see that as a call for another highway expansion. "Why not turn 92 into a four-lane highway to increase traffic, pollution, congestion in HMB even more", they might say.)
Thanks for your column, Mr. Horgan, and your short term prediction of more pleas for taxpayer money. I’m going to go out on a limb and say your short term prediction can also be applied to the middle and long term. There will never be enough money to pay for ever increasing pensions and benefits as long as Dems retain the majority. Fortunately for some, they have the ability to leave the state for a better governed state, as evidenced by a recent Allied Van Lines migration report (https://www.allied.com/migration-map). And it must be said that usually, folks in a higher income range can afford to hire Allied Van Lines so there goes taxable state income…
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