RE: Alturas Technology Park

[Bob Hoffmann <escape@alt-escape.com>]

At 06:18 AM 7/10/2002 -0700, B. J. Swanson wrote:
>Alturas is not a tax shift and is not subsidized because of the economic
>value.

Mrs. Swanson (I got it right that time; sorry for the misidentification),

This does not compute.  If I understand you, you are saying, "If there is 
economic value exceeding $X, there is no subsidy.  If there is economic 
value less than $X, there is a subsidy."

Subsidies are subsidies.  Whether they make sense or not has to do with the 
economic benefit.  I am not arguing about whether Alturas is a boon or a 
boondoggle--that part of the argument is actually less interesting to me 
than the fact that rational leaders in our community make statements like 
the one above.

I think it would be more honest to say, "Yes, this is a subsidy, taxes are 
being shifted, but we have done this for the greater good!"  Instead the 
argument is, "Alturas is great, but even if it isn't, it doesn't matter, 
because it wasn't subsidized by the public any way."  To me, this is a sign 
that so-called Alturas backers are not as confident of the project as they 
would have us believe.

Being a tech worker, I can appreciate the effort to create and keep tech 
jobs in our community.  Being a taxpayer, I would be hesitant to support 
such efforts in the future if there is no clarity about the degree of 
public funding.

Bob Hoffmann

P.S.  The virus you refer to is unlikely to come from my computer.  Being a 
tech worker, I realize the importance of having a virus protection software 
installed and frequently updated.   Forging "From" addresses has made it so 
much more difficult to discover the transmitter of viruses these days.

We all are using anti-virus software, right?  And updating it every few days?