Re “Critics pan city’s plan to reduce police OT, detectives” (May 8): Sadly, there is no way to reconcile this budget without painful cuts. But there are other solutions beyond slash and burn. First, any savings from removing beach fire rings will go up in smoke the first time someone steps on buried embers.
But the big elephant in the room is the bathroom closures. In Mission Bay Park alone, with 13 of 28 “comfort stations” being closed, what do you think will happen when the same summer crowds must use about half the bathrooms? How about more trash and more out of order signs?
Raising the TOT tax by 0.25% would provide the $1.8 million in extra revenue to keep the fire rings and bathrooms. According to Booking.com, the average nightly rate at a beach area hotel is $246. The TOT increase would amount to $6 a room.
— Chuck Dunning, La Jolla
OMG, all this dancing around the edges to save pennies and do nothing but infuriate the citizens. Reducing overtime for our already-overloaded Police Department, eliminating public restrooms (of which we actually need more, not less), pulling fire pits on the beach, the trash fee extortion, etc. — Mayor Gloria has taken a leadership lesson from Marie Antoinette: “Let them eat cake.”
In the meantime, the real pot of gold to correct the budget is our labor costs! But that remains a sacred cow for City Hall.
Simply get outside contractors for trash removal and street maintenance and don’t burden them with the 30% added cost of PLAs. Then resurrect Proposition B from 2012 that Mayor Jerry Sanders almost got across the finish line. Then a balanced budget is achievable.
— Bill O’Connor, Sunset Cliffs
