$21 Million Garage

There's a lot of text in the new "Yes on R" mailer that hit voters' mailboxes around town today. But not once did I see the words MONSTER GARAGE. That tells me there's not much truth in advertising going on here. Sure, everybody agrees that the old library is outdated. But do we want to spend a total of around $60 million on a new library complex that ravages Civic Park, ruins traffic in the northern downtown and puts a polluting mega-garage on the creek bank? ... That's the debate, no getting around it. ... The new mailer also quotes an anti-eminent domain editorial from the Contra Costa Times out of context, although I have little doubt the Times will come out with soft official support from this wasteful $21 million property tax hike. ... Environmentalists and taxpayers alike are rightly concerned with the city's fluid library proposal, since, after a purported 17 years of study, the City still has no final blueprint (let alone a report on einvornmental impacts) for what it will actually be building in our park. ... And what does "no commercial retail space" mean? That's one of the lines in this slick mailer, but I have no idea what it means other than that all the new retail space will go to nonprofits. Fooey! ... But I have learned one thing for sure: somebody's pumping a heck of a lot of money into Yes on R. ... More on that soon. ...