George:

Contrary to Republican opinion, Charlottesville City government has run "lean and mean" for years. We have not spent money frivolously. Equally important, we have not kept up with non-routine maintenance.

When I was on the Planning Commission in the 1980's, it was a major to-do when we put things like roof repairs at the schools into the Capital Improvement Program budget. I have not been a direct participant in these things for quite a while, but my general sense is that there is a great deal of maintenance that has been deferred for too long that could and should be done.

Then we get to capital items that we have always said, "Gee, that would be great, but we can't afford it." We set aside money every year for sidewalks, and it was never enough even to meet the high priority items. Maybe we could make a bigger dent in the backlog of sidewalk projects. Or the CHS baseball diamond (upgrades long promised, never delivered). Or undergrounding utilities -- expensive, but what a difference it can make (see 9th/10th and Main). Everyone could go on with their own list of projects.

If we are reasonably well caught up on maintenance and on basic capital needs, then a tax cut should be looked at. If we don't have capital or maintenance needs going unfilled, by all means give it back to the voters.

I am less thrilled about eliminating trash stickers. I don't like them either, but it has been a fundamental part of the landfill reduction program. Recycling is a nice goal, but without some financial incentive, people don't always do it.

Lloyd Snook (electronic mail, April 3, 2000).