Don’t let California virus spread here

I read with interest the “My Turn” guest opinion by Emily Sinclair. Since moving to Northern Idaho a year ago, I too, have run into the “attitudes” when some people find out I came from California I have pretty thick skin, so I got over it.

I have some advice for the people here who are worried about the population boom. California has long ago gone through what Northern Idaho is going through right now. Maybe it is time you start asking how California handled the boom in population. Take the good things and leave the rest. Let’s talk about the “L” word first, LIBERALS.

The thing I hear most from people here in Northern Idaho is that they are afraid that the liberals from California will take over. I think that the people fleeing California are not the liberals. I know I’m not. A liberal from anywhere scares me and I can only say get involved in all politics, local and national. It might just be your only defense.

Wake up. Once the liberals get a majority it is too late. In California they have a 2/3 majority, which means they can pass whatever law they want along with all the tax increases they want. This breeds corruption like you can’t even imagine unless you came from California

In California the liberals even passed a law that keeps a Republican off the ballot in most elections. The top two winners of the open primary go to the general election and they are normally Democrats. Once the liberals have this kind of control, it is almost impossible to take back the state at the ballot box. So, the time to act is now.

Just like here, property values in California continued to rise at a rapid rate. Most people couldn’t afford to buy a home in the urban centers and moved farther and farther out into the suburbs. Newsflash: This is the way it is in most population centers.

Along with the increase in property value, the property taxes also went up. In 1978 a group of citizens (not the corrupt liberal politicians) were able to get Proposition 13 on the ballot. This passed and limited the counties’ valuation of property to a maximum increase of 2% and maximum increase of the tax to 1% per year.

This allowed not only myself but millions of other people to remain in their homes instead of being taxed out of the property. Only after the home is sold can the property be re-evaluated to the current market price or selling price.

The liberal California politicians who can’t ever get enough tax money are trying to do away with this law which is now part of the state Constitution. If the Idaho Legislature can’t figure out how to keep the average citizen from being taxed out of their homes, maybe it is time for the citizens to get a proposition on the ballot to limit the property tax increase.

Another problem I hear people complaining about here is traffic. In California some cities had a PLANNING Dept. that actually planned. Those cities widened the streets and any new roads were built with more lanes than were needed at the time. Other cities had planning departments that did nothing along with the state. There were times that you knew not to leave your house to even drive just to the grocery store.

Morning and evening rush hours, the main roads were clogged and you couldn’t get anywhere. Only after years of dealing with this was a fix found that provided relief for the local travel in my city. Still today, because of no or poor planning from the state, counties and cities the traffic in Southern California is unbearable. They started working on the problem only after it had become a major problem. There are no more rush hours in California; traffic is 24/7/365. What is your planning department doing?

I don’t know how to stop the population boom. But, there are ways to make it better. I love my new life here in Idaho and will do anything I can to keep it from becoming California

Remember, I left California for the same reason you did.

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Dale Gibboney is a Post Falls resident.