" NVC is not going to close if Bond Measure L does not pass. So what if the students only have two theaters instead of three... "

" Hmmm, "kevin", doesn't want the bond measure and since 'conservatives' are perfect reverse weathervanes, the wise course of action would be to do something for Napa's kids. I'm voting YES! ~Ruff "

" Has anyone else recieved the ridiculously missleading pastcard size mailer that attempts to give the reader the impression the Republican party is in favor of Measure L? The top line reads "California Republicans are Oposed to 93". Right below that, highlighted in a box it states "Yes on Measure L". On the back, on the bottom in fine print, the post card states the document was not prepared by an offical party organization. It's pretty pathetic the Measure L is now stooping to grossly missleading campaign ads to deceive voters. "

" A slight correction Ruff (as usual), while I agree that the Democrats are the true "weathervane party", always placing the moistened finger in the wind and checking the poll numbers before making a decision; the conservatives are more like a broken weathervane, always pointing in the same ideological direction: smaller government, lower taxes, the idea that the individual, not the government, is best able to decide where and how he wants to live his life... "

" Measure L is another regressive tax, and by that I mean that it falls on poor people, renters, elderly and people on fixed incomes at the same level as on wealthy people. And It will go on for 30 years. It impacts or houses, the property we rent, gas stations, food stores, hospitals, apartment buildings - all real esate. And those businesses who provide the most basic services we need must pass on these increased costs the people least able to pay it. We now have 4 school bonds on our taxes - Measure L will be the 5th and they last forever (30 years). When does it stop. Democrats amaze me - they say they want to tax the rich - but this genmtleman and every high profile Democrat in Napa County wants to tax the poorest the most! What are you saying?
We love Napa Valley College and we gave them $133.8 million in 2002. Now, 5 years later they are 86% over budget by $115,000,000. We need to reject Measure L and require the college to reprioritize and learn to live on a budget. They have projects scheduled like a 500 sq. ft. bathroom for $808,000 and $7,000,000 to returf ball fields - outrageous! I can substantiate every statement. email Vote_NOL@yahoo for proof. "

" Good points. Every landlord in Napa should inform their tenents that if this Bond passes their rents are going to immediately be raised. (Renters should understand this without being told, but its possible they attended Napa schools...) "

" I'm not entirely sure how this comes out as a regressive tax on the poorest of the poor. Measure L is assessed $19.85 per $100,000 of a property's value. This would seem to fall on homeowners most directly and progressively. Rent controls and other protections are designed to protect renters.

Now, in the big picture, that we have a taxation system in this country that takes the biggest bite out of the working class- well we can thank the Patron Saint of modern conservatism for that. Ever since Ronald Reagan became the folksy brand name for the Republican Party's shift into being essentially a huge corporate lobby which has repealed corporate taxation and taxes that would only effect the wealthiest 1% of our nation, while subsidizing petrochemical companies making record profits $60 million in taxpayer funds per year for "exploration"- and diffusing the tax burden out onto the working class- the richest 1% has gotten much richer, the middle class' upward mobility plateaued and is beginning to drop off and the poor have flatlined over the last 25 years. Since we don't have a national university system- local taxation is, unfortunately, the main vehicle for paying for higher education "

" Dear Matt: Taxes are labled "regressive" when they fall on everyone at the same rate - when rich and poor pay the same rate. School bonds are classic regressive taxes. The problem is that Measure L is not the only tax bond we have, it is the 5th school bond on our properties in Napa. School bond taxes fall not only on our residences but on apartment buildings, gas stations, hospitals and food stores in Napa. The providers of these basic needs such as gas, medical care and food must pass increased property taxes on to consumers.
You say rent control will take care of renters - Wrong. Higher taxes always pass through to renters. If they didn't, owning rental properties wouldn't make any economic sense and all private investors would abandon rentals causing a major loss in rental properties on the market.
You are seriously wrong about Ronald Regan having any effect on taxes. It has been 20 years and 3 presidents since he was in office. You look like a young person in your picture. It is sad that you have such a limited and twisted knowledge of the issues you write about. "

" While you may be able to make an argument that this is a regressive tax, It's certainly not a classic example of one.

Also, Matt is not really wrong about Reagan, at least on the surface. The Reaganomics (trickle-down) did nothing for the middle and lower classes and was simply a break for large corporations and the wealthy. It's well documented and has been something many Republicans have clung to over the years.

With that said, I will more then likely be voting NO on Measure L. At some point you have to draw the line on these bonds and with the mismanagement or miscalculations of the last bond for NVC I don't see why we should have any faith in them to get it right this time. I'll be sure to do more research before I go vote as I'm not really sure exactly what the consequences are of this measure not passing.
"

" There is absolutely Nada you can say to convince me to pour more money into NVC. 5 years ago -they were given a huge amount of money. A budget to work with and that was also a show of support from the community ie: taxpayer. Immediately thereafter they were over budget, and the largesse continued. In the current market environment-with so many homeowners struggling to pay their moortgage-the LAST thing we need is another tax. NO. Absolutely NOT. "

" The college bond is caught in a nation wide conundrum. Construction costs nation wide have been subject to material price increases that were not foreseeable. The major factor pushing up the costs of roads bridges and buildings are the cost of materials. In the last few years these prices have been skyrocketing. Unlike the price of labor these prices are not easily negotiated.

The college has chosen to ask for more funding to complete this project I do not believe it is due to their mismanagement but to unforeseeable economic factors. I do think they must go further to prove the reasons why they need the money.

It could be that this bond will fail because of the current economic atmosphere. Most of us want to see education promoted but will not choose a blank check so soon after allocating such a large part to new construction. The actual physical process of education requires very little in physical properties. A room and desks, a black board and chalk (I know I am dated) and an instructor are the basic costs.

This is admittedly simple and unsophisticated but it is how many view education they do not view the local J.C. as an attractive and valuable asset to be nurtured.
"

" Matt et al, it is not Federal income taxes affecting the poor. They don't pay them anyway, or state income taxes either. The thing that makes the bottom half of wage earners pay a lot of taxes are local taxes like sales tax and various fees that local and state governments impose. The bottom 50% of wage earners only pay 4% of all federal income taxes. Reagan's or anyone else's policies did not affect that. The only way to reduce taxes on the middle class is to reduce sales and property taxes. Landlords pass property tax increases along to tenants, they have to or they would lose money. I know I am one. "

" Yes you are correct, President Reagan’s administration ended almost twenty years ago and there have been three administrations’ since then. Of those twenty years, eighteen have been under Republican presidents, Republican congresses or both; one only has to watch the GOP primary debates for a few minutes to see that just about every modern Republican is falling all over themselves to align with the policies of Ronald Reagan. Not coincidently, during that time America’s economy has seen Federal revenues from corporate taxation drop from around 30-40% down to the single digits, the very wealthiest 1% substantially consolidate their wealth, the middle class contract under stagnating real wages against rising costs and savings and personal net worth dropping to almost nothing, and the poor flat-lining, and our national debt spike to a $9 trillion. A robust middle class is the key to fiscal sustainability for a nation. But the undo influence of corporate agenda championed by a Republican party that has distracted the working class with a brilliant marketing campaign of playing to “wedge” social issues and “legislating by anecdote”, is weakening that structure. "

" I rented for many years- rent increases happened pretty regularly, school bond or not. The point was rent controls, while not a guarantee against increases for any reason, are in place to protect against extreme and arbitrary rent increases, and reasonably pin them to market conditions. "

" Since a bond measure is the vehicle we have to work with, and since a vital community college, I believe, will secure long term middle class opportunity, let’s get the job at NVC done- invest now to provide for long term future payoffs. "

" I can respect the perspective of folks who are saying that they don’t support another property tax increase, but understand this thing is going to cluster around middle to upper-middle class property owners. Let us not degrade the true concern of regressive taxation by trying to spin this Measure as that, and jumping on it as an opportunity to demonize Democrats as “wanting to tax the poor.” As I start by alluding to in my column- our taxation system in this nation, from the local to the Federal (and yes, I certainly understand Federal income taxes are not the direct issue for Meas. L, but rather looking at the broader taxation philosophy in our nation) is a dinosaur and desperately in need of reform. The last minute re-write of the AMT by Congress this year is a good example of a relic from a previous age that had not been adjusted for inflation of cost-of-living in forty years, coming close to ensnaring thousands of people it was never designed for. "

" Thank you for saying so “Musikluvr”, but I’m not actually all that young. My point is, and from what I’m often hearing and reading from both supporters and opponents of Measure L, the “regressive tax” label is one that comes across as more rhetorical than applicable in this case. Due respect, the only time I hear the Right bandy about the term “regressive tax” and concerns about the poor and fixed income is when their own interests are on the line. "

" It is sad to hear the Demo-Speak out of this guy. Whether something is right or wrong it doesn't matter as long as it is bash Republicans. This crap went away with the Clintons who are being put away big time for good by Obama. "

" My wife and I both voted FOR the last NVC bond, but will not be doing so this time. I have noticed that nearly EVERY construction project I have EVER heard of or witnessed first hand (@ 99.95%) ends up WAY over budget. Nope. Fooled me once, shame on you. The authors will NOT be fooling us twice. Perhaps we need to find volunteers to help the projects move along, and perhaps some of the high salaried Phd's could take some of their income and help their own institiution out, or the labor unions which are so entrntched behind our school system. OR, hey... how about those "rich" democrats, like Pelosi, Feinstein, Kennedy, et all, who continually tell us how bad things are, yet themselves are millionares? One other reason I will be voting NO is that anytime a socialist workers of the world unite democrat wants MORE of my money, they can take a long walk off a short pier. "

" Really, 'socialism', that's the concern? With an anemic social security retirement program largely supplemented by private mutual fund investments, waning pension plans or just working 'til you drop; an incredibly expensive and increasingly inaccessible privatized healthcare 'system'; crumbling public schools hopelessly tied to local property taxes- and thanks to Prop 13 w/ few other recourses for raising capital outside of bond measures; and no national university system- even though we're facing a dearth of scientists, engineers and teachers- somehow I think we'd have a ways to go before 'creeping socialism' need to be on our list of things to worry about. "

" That's right; socialism. Perhaps you could get local comrade Al Cardwell together and run as a ticket for this year's Presidential race... The thoughts and talking points are very similar. "

" Well Mr. Mathews, my guess would be we probably don't agree on much- except maybe for these two ideas: 1) caring about our community and nation, and 2) a belief in the old adage- if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.
On a less philosophical note, let me just circle around by saying: NVC has a responsibility to the community to expand in order to meet emerging employment needs such as nursing, hospitality, renewable energy, paramedic and law enforcement; construction costs are 10-15% higher now than in 2003 when Meas. N took effect- what cost a dollar in construction five years ago costs $1.64 today; NVC enrollment is expected to increase 32% over the next ten years; there is no evidence of mismanagement by NVC of Meas. N funds; and the majority of Meas. L goes to necessary learning centers and required upgrades to accomodate future needs. NVC is our local job creation and higher education resource. Vote yes on Measure L. "

" Most of the folks for this measure have not seen the crazy way money is spent at the colleg up close and first hand. The budget overuns have exceeded inflation drastically. The cost of certain projects are exhorbatent. The areas monies are being spent in huge amounts are foolish. Someone needs to take a realistic look at the project and set realistic priorities. They are living in lala land at the college. Time for a dose of reality. VOTE NO! "