An ode to a local tax debate

And in that spirit, I am happy to announce that our newsletter schedule will change a bit for the coming months.

We currently post on both Tuesdays and Thursdays — the former including a Big Idea of the Week + Something Lighter, and the latter including a roundup of things I am reading and thinking about that week.

The Summer newsletter will go out each Wednesday, and will combine the best of both current newsletters, while varying in format depending on whats going on each week.

I hope you enjoy, and would welcome your thoughts on anything you’d like to see more of! 📬

The Moms Delivered for Trump. Now He’s Scamming Them. By Tressie McMillan Cottom, New York Times.

My Son Built This – Why Critical Thinking Is The One Skill Will Always Matter, By Bradley Tusk, Substack

Last month in El Cerrito, California, a dark Blue city nestled in the dark Blue San Francisco Bay Area, a major debate broke out over a proposed tax to fund a new library.

As I have now learned, the city’s current library is —and I quote —both “a dump” and “seismically unsafe.” This is not news to town residents.

Apparently, and again I quote, “the City has been talking about building a library for 20 years because for 20 years, citizens have named a new library as one of their top priorities.”

[I will note as an aside my conviction that libraries are social miracles. If you did not know about public libraries and I told you about public libraries, you would never believe our society was capable of such a feat. And yet, we take them for granted. I will truly never stop marveling at both of these things.]

Anyway, the residents of El Cerrito did not greet news of the proposal with a parade. The ensuing fight over what is now called Measure C “has driven a wedge into the community.”

Signs have sprouted up on lawns around town stating “LIBRARY TAX IS A BAD DEAL for El Cerrito.” The author of Measure C, who previously served as the city’s mayor and is a member of the city council, reports being “personally attacked,” and that “volunteers are being doxxed.”

Every word of her article for the Oakland Review of Books is worth a read, and not just because I love reading about spirited public meetings (don’t judge, we all have our things).

It’s worth reading because it offers insight into three very important things IMHO:

1. The first is that even when people are against taxes (including, in this case, liberals) they tend not to want to admit that outright.

   Here, they pointed to alleged procedural irregularities and cast doubt on minor provisions of the measure. They did everything except say they don’t want to have to pay for this piece of “essential infrastructure.”

2. The second takeaway requires I share this addendum to the story. Apparently, even after this meeting of the El Cerrito Democratic Club that was heavily attended by “No” voters, the Club “overwhelmingly endorsed the measure” (71% to 25%).

So, a good lesson. A “vocal minority” can often sound bigger than they really are, especially when they are composed heavily of a group that is available to show up at public meetings.

3. The third takeaway is that even when public meetings are frustrating and even when they do not reflect the actual public or its views on a matter, it is just indisputably better to be with your neighbors in person than to argue with them through a screen.

4. Steffen’s closing observation captures this beautifully:

Greg and Wally shake hands. William announces he’s going to ignore the Zoom chat and tries to get someone else to motion to adjourn the meeting as people begin folding up chairs and stacking them against the wall, that last ritual of all large community gatherings. “If you want the meeting to end, raise your hand,” William says, “If you want it to go longer, raise your hand.”

In that last moment of collective laughter, it does go on longer. And we carry the meeting, the sense of being together, of caring even if we disagree, into our neighbor’s car, through the dark, and up the hill where we’re surprised to find there’s still time: time to brush teeth, to read a book, and also, maybe, to think about what it means to invest in a future for the children sleeping in this house and all the others throughout the city.

Thanks to the lovely Emily Murphy for sending me this article, which she discovered via Courtney Martin’s substack, the examined family.