A Measure AV

s a change of pace from the discussions about the Presidential election, discussing a local issue might be of interest.

Palmdale has Measure AV on the ballot. Measure AV will increase the sales tax. The “Official Sample Ballot” from the County Registrar includes an analysis by the City Attorney and an argument in favor.

The analysis by the City Attorney gives the law and the numbers (we would be paying 10.25% sales tax), and notes that there would be a “Citizen’s Advisory Committee” to review and comment upon expenditures before the money is spent.

The argument lists twelve “local services” which the measure would “protect and improve.” There is nothing in the statement by the City Attorney that substantiates this claim, nor is there any such wording in the resolution itself (CITY COUNCIL, CITY OF PALMDALE, CALIFORNIA, RESOLUTION NO. 2O2O-OB2). Further, the list of services is a dreamy smorgasbord of jobs the City should be doing already.

The word “improve” is dangerous. Everybody wants to improve our city, but, without some definition, there is nothing guarding us against the “improvement style” of the administration of John and Linda Cook.

Not to be outdone, there is a flyer advocating passage of the measure. The flyer raises the alarm of the state and county closing our places of worship, restaurants, hair salons, schools, and business, and then enjoins us to “vote yes on AV for local control.”

One thing any true desert rat longs for is local control rather than suffering the burdens of the bureaucracies of county and state governments. Measure AV does nothing to relieve that suffering. Admittedly the flyer does not make such a claim per se, leaving it to inference in the reader’s mind. Or is “innuendo” the more proper word?

Jorg Largent Palmdale