1 in 2 Alamedans don’t care!

OK … so I made that up. But how else would you describe the fact that nearly 50% of Alameda voters didn’t bother to send in their ballots? This was perhaps the easiest election to vote. There was just a single ballot initiative, all you had to do was connect the appropriate arrow, sign your name and drop off the postage paid envelope. What could be more easier? I find it hard to believe that our daily schedules are so tightly choreographed that many of us don’t even have the time to vote.

It is astonishing that we would let somebody else make decisions on our behalf — especially on  a pocketbook issue that directly affects your way of life.

Alameda Stirred Up on Tax Plan

We made it to the NYT … hopefully, for not the wrong reasons!

But when Mrs. Turcinovic put up a red sign last month that said “No on E” — a parcel tax measure to support local schools — it brought her nothing but trouble. More than a dozen parents and teachers who support the measure have stopped at the store to harangue her, Mrs. Turcinovic said. One man told Mrs. Turcinovic’s husband, who does not speak English, that the Turcinovics, who are Bosnian immigrants, could not understand the meaning of the sign and that they should go back to their own country.

Lauren raises some very pertinent questions for the other side as well.

Regardless of how one feels about Measure E, perhaps both sides will tone down the rhetoric and recognize that we will have to live together in this town … even after the June 22nd election.