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Reader Responses In response to an item in the Sept. 28 “Buzz” column about an HOA’s height restrictions for trees, Mitch Kronowit emailed: “I hope someone tells that HOA with the 25-foot tree height rule that palm trees aren't actually trees but rather large flowering plants. I don't have a palm tree on my property, but my neighbor does, and I would hate to see the poor thing get topped if this 25-foot rule catches on.” *** Last week’s CUSD Update stated: CUSD administrator Eric Hall said it wasn’t an illegal use of Mello-Roos money [to spend it on the administration center instead of local schools], as it was spent within the Mello-Roos district where it originated. Hall also used the specious argument that the district built the administration center to save money on rent. Mathematically challenged administrators continue to promote the myth the district is saving money by spending $1.5 million on interest instead of paying $500,000 on leases. A reader responded: Maybe the spending of Mello-Roos funds on the district office was legal, but it is not what we, the taxpayers, expected when we purchased homes that had this tax. It is unethical that the leadership of CUSD spent millions of dollars intended to go toward schools to make sure administrators were comfortable while children and their teachers have been left to deal with learning in inadequate, rundown and unsafe buildings. In addition, if I use the numbers the district provides (which I do not agree with, by the way): $500,000 savings in lease payments $54 million divided by $500,000 is 108 years to break even. That means every person alive on this planet will be dead by the time CUSD realizes a savings on their investment. Did anyone think about that? In the grand jury testimony it is confirmed that CUSD did not do any type of financial analysis to determine if the new building would be cost-beneficial, but that is the CUSD way. |
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