We received an email response to our post from two days ago. We had wondered if macro-economic problems won't trickle down to the local level and if our city leaders are preparing for that possiblity.
The reader wonders if the city should really be frittering $50,000 to the Friends of the Claremont Library for a collection of local authors:
Dear Insider,
In the "Trickle Down" blog on July 15, you pointed out Claremont City Council's possible reluctance to spend $500,000 to mitigate the tree problems on Shenandoah Drive. Note that at the same meeting on July 8, the council was not reluctant to spend $50,000 from the general fund for cataloguing books, by Claremont authors, at the county public library. Granted, $50,000 is only 10% of $500,000 but given the current dire economic conditions, was this expenditure really necessary on a project that is not really of high priority? Would it not be more prudent for the council to hold off on such expenditures until the economic situation improves? This is the same council that would not use general fund dollars to cover the Lighting and Landscaping District cost increase of about $65,000 this year. Instead, the council passed the cost on to the property owners.
Prioritizing has certainly been a problem for our city government in the past. No telling where they're headed this time, though the reader probably has a opinion or two on that.
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