I grew up hearing the phrase “Meanwhile, back at the O.K. Corral, ...” It meant that the real stuff was happening just around the corner while we were looking somewhere else. That phrase returned to me last week when I learned about the passage of Lindsay’s Measure O.
The O.K. Corral was a livery stable
in Tombstone, Arizona where the most famous shootout in the Wild West occurred in
1881. Wikipedia says it lasted 30
seconds, used 30 bullets, killed 3 out of 5 bad guys and wounded 3 out of 4 good
guys. U.S. Marshall Wyatt Earp was the
good guy who walked away unscathed.
It was an era when outlaws
outnumbered lawmen in the western part of the U.S. This
time, however, the lawmen won, forecasting the future. The West would eventually be safe for
settling in towns, homes, farms and ranches.
It’s hard to see the connection
between that event and the City of Lindsay’s victory at the ballot box. But there are some similarities, primarily that
“the good guys” appear to have won, saving Lindsay from pending financial
disaster. At least, that’s the hope.
Although I voted against it
privately, I didn’t oppose Measure O publicly for several reasons. First, I don’t know that it won’t help. I have my doubts that it will help and fears
that it will hurt, but I don’t know.
Second, I was chicken. With all
the perfect Vote Yes signs on the lawns of upstanding people in the community,
a hand-painted Vote No sign on my lawn would have been politically incorrect. Third, at least we had the opportunity to
vote for or against this tax increase (thanks to state law,) unlike the
property tax increases we experienced due to Townsend’s projects, which we had
no say in whatsoever.
But the fourth reason was
political. The current City
administration thinks this column causes a lot of their problems. I wanted to see if they are right.
Looking at the results, it’s hard to
call this a victory for democracy. Of an
estimated 8,000 voting-age residents, Lindsay has 2,789 registered voters. As of June 12, only 561 people had cast
ballots: 380 for, 181 against. Less than 14% of Lindsay’s registered voters
(and less than half of one percent of the voting age residents) raised our
sales tax to the highest rate in the county.
Six percent of registered voters resisted that increase, without any
campaign, any lawn signs or bumper stickers, or any prompting from this
column. A handful of people decided the
future of Lindsay’s retail merchants serving 12,000 city residents and
thousands more residing outside the city limits. That’s not a victory for the town even if it
is for the City.
Things aren’t O.K. down at the
corral. Two weeks ago in this paper, editor
Paul Myer advised vigilance on the part of community members to ensure that the
hoped-for additional revenues will be spent as projected. Unfortunately, thanks to this city’s uncivic
practices, citizen participation is marginal at best. I think we might need some new good guys to
ride into town and give us a hand.
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Trudy
Wischemann is a rural community researcher who writes. You can send her your
thoughts about our 8.5 % sales tax c/o P.O. Box 1374, Lindsay CA 93247 or leave a
comment below.
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