Letter to the Editor: Vote NO on QQ, Union City Public Safety Services Tax

Dear Friends

Vote NO on Measure QQ, a Union City public safety services tax.

Measure QQ is:

Poorly and inaccurately written

• The City has an “opaque budget” meaning the everyday citizen of this city cannot tell how the city is managing the taxpayer’s dollar and what it is doing to be good fiscal stewards in managing expenses carefully
• The City does not do “long range budgeting” unlike prudent Bay Area cities
• The City continues to deficit spend, meaning the City is spending more of your tax dollars than they are taking in
• The community has asked the City for decades to provide parkland and recreational facilities for our children meeting the established city threshold and yet the City is today still 75 acres short
• The City continues to exercise poor land use planning and leadership that has contributed to the reason the City is asking taxpayers for this tax
• The City was going to approve for a developer changing the research and development to residential land use around the BART station. Residential development is a fiscal loser and generates, in general, far more in costs than revenues particularly for public safety services. Look for this project and similar residential projects to come back if you approve this tax

VOTE NO on Measure QQ for positive change! – We need accountability.

Elizabeth Ames
Former Union City Planning Commissioner