Another huge fire in Santa Barbara area

[martha24]

Doug,
I guess I haven't been watching enough TV of late because I haven't seen those dumb ads. You certainly have a right to be irked.
During the Gap Fire "our dear governator" said the funds to fight such wild fires came out of special emergency funds and there was plenty of money in those funds. Funny how politicians want it both ways.

Sacramento politicians need to learn how to cut back on spending and the only way to make them do that is by giving them less money. They will never do it on their own. For how long they have known that sooner or later this financial mess was bound to happen?

Everything around here is back to normal except for the poor people whose house burnt down.

[S. Heisley]

Doug Hodder wrote:

I just have a problem when they beat this drum in a crisis for political gain! Jack your taxes...no way of knowing where it goes! Sorry, I have a hard time getting behind this stuff when they blow so much money on stupid things or stupid people! Meanwhile...my water $$ go up and it goes down to So. Cal to keep golf courses green or the local municipalities dump it on the landscaping along the roads, running down the gutter late at night....the real killer for me is when they came into the store and told me I needed to put in a lower flow toilet, while the landscaping was running full time all day, the lawn on the center was like walking on a water bed!....Oh yeah....I'm sure I'm going to change that! Doug

Doug, you're right. It's all about money. Up here, the city government makes no bones about it. On the news, they said the golf courses were getting all the water they need because they pay top dollar for it. It's a similar situation with So. Cal. Redding has a contract to supply a set amount water to Los Angeles whether they (LA) need it or not. In return, the city gets a guaranteed sum of money, every year; and, the city has gotten used to having that money, as have its residents.

However, in defense of So. Cal, they have been known to give every home a low-flow attachment for shower heads and have long advocated low flow toilets or, if not financially feasible, displacing some of the tank water by placing a filled, sealed quart jar or other such displacement vehicle in the toilet reservoir.

It is a sad fact of life that fat cats almost always get what they want...for a fee.

[caseydog]

We have one thing in common with California -- a dry climate and enormous thirst for water.

We waste soooo much water in north Texas trying to have beautiful golf-course lawns. We wouldn't need low-flow showers and toilets if people would plant more trees and native plants, and a lot less lawn area.

In my area, people regularly cut down mature trees in their yards because the tree shade won't let their lawns grow lush and full. Native trees and plants in North Texas can handle long, difficult droughts. Lawns can't.

Instead of working with the climate, people here would rather bitch at the local governments when water rationing kicks in during the summer months.

High taxes aren't a big problem in Texas (but people bitch about them, anyway), but low thinking sure is.

As a side note. I live in a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath house with a two-car garage. My Property taxes run about 3-grand per year total. There is no State income tax, and sales taxes are a maximum of 8.25 percent in any city in the state -- and my property taxes are above average for the state because I live in a choice city. I just paid $54 to register my car for a year.

I bet you Californians pay double or triple that, plus income taxes and sales taxes. But, people here complain constantly about their taxes. So, no matter how low one's taxes are, they are still too high. Nobody wants to pay them -- but everyone wants better schools, roads and law enforcement.

[S. Heisley]

caseydog wrote:

I bet you Californians pay double or triple that, plus income taxes and sales taxes. But, people here complain constantly about their taxes. So, no matter how low one's taxes are, they are still too high. Nobody wants to pay them -- but everyone wants better schools, roads and law enforcement.