This version of Measure A deserves a no vote

The proposed extension of the Measure A sales tax needs to be better focused on our greater needs. Therefore, it should be rejected by voters in the June 7 election. Doing so would likely lead to a revision that would create a more strategically focused proposal on our more important unmet (or too poorly met) needs.

Measure A, the original and its renewal, have been overloaded with gifts for every constituency — like hanging ornaments from a Christmas tree.

But the beneficiary matrix far too disproportionately favors the unneeded and the unneedy.

I wish we didn't allow public sales tax measures to be promoted without any real independent accounting for need or credibility. It seems that anything can be claimed in support of it regardless of efficacy. Measure A says nothing about the other needs going unmet that these resources could be and should be addressing in a more focused way.

Too little of the Measure A extension is allocated for wildfire protection and the maintenance of local parks. By design, these beneficiaries were merely included to help sell the measure.

Don't let Marin be bamboozled again. A responsible, positive no vote on this unfocused miss of a measure is a credible choice on the current ballot.

No essential program or service will be threatened by a demand that Measure A be better focused and greener. My experience leads me to believe that our parks and open space programs are very amply funded via regular property taxes.

If it passes, Measure A's unnecessary, unfocused spending won't be our politicians' fault, it will be ours, collectively.

Vote no for a better, more focused, greener, less “greenwashed” Measure A.

We can have a greener and more focused Measure A, but only if we voice our disapproval of the version on the June 7 ballot.

It's on us, Marin.

— Randall Knox, San Rafael