Re: Old High School

["John and Laurie Danahy" <JDANAHY@turbonet.com>]

 On Wed. 8 Jul 1998, Dale Goble wrote:

> A project may seek to obtain values that are not economic.  For example,
a
> public swimming pool might be constructed to allow its use by a broader
> range of people (including disabled) while a private swimming pool might
> be designed simply to maximize the return on the investment.

Certainly, for example, tax dollars could be used to subsidize user fees to
allow use by everyone in a community.  This concept is seen in almost all
activities, from high school vasity sports to the streets we drive on.  
  
> 
> Stated differently: dollars are not the only thing that we seek.  We may
> also seek community values -- the idea that a public pool ought to be
> accessible to all citizens, for example -- values that are inadequately
if
> at all expressed in dollars.
> 
> A contractor for a public project may also have to jump through
> affirmative action hoops because we as a society have concluded that it
is
> important to take steps to change the effects of racist behavior.

Again this is correct.  And it is appropriate for tax dollars to be used
this way.  However, this does not relieve local government of the need to
be responsible and think in the long term.  Especially when it is proposed
to increase tax dollars to fund the project.  It surley is more
responsibile to look at other alternatives, a process that may take some
extra time, rather than rely solely on tax increases to fund public
projects.

John

John and Laurie Danahy
jdanahy@turbonet.com