Dan Hopkins: Handing Amgen racers $75,000 is bewildering
Re “Amgen Tour cyclists to spend night in Modesto” (Page A3, Feb. 4): I was flabbergasted to see that the Modesto City Council voted to spend up to $75,000 from the general fund to house and feed the Amgen bicycle racers and their teams. Keep in mind that no part of the race will be in Modesto. City staff is justifying this by offering to “fundraise” to offset the expense with the hopes the race might return here.
When one considers that we are 20 police officers short and that the council recently placed a public safety initiative on the ballot that would have raised our taxes to pay for additional police officers, how in the world could the council justify this expense? It is expenses like this, and the restarting of the city tree farm in the middle of a drought, that leaves voters bewildered and wondering what role common sense plays in the decision making at city hall.
It seems to me that public safety should be the No. 1 priority of any city government. Since this $75,000 would come close to paying the salary for one new policeman for a year, it shouldn’t even be available. I am grateful my council representative, Kristi Ah You, voted no.
Dan Hopkins, Modesto
This story was originally published February 4, 2016 at 3:42 PM with the headline "Dan Hopkins: Handing Amgen racers $75,000 is bewildering."