Oct 30 2009
You want to spend how much money on dirt?!
Have you looked at the various versions of the water bonds that are being floated around the California State Legislature? I did. There is actually money in the bonds to buy dirt. $1.5 billion of the bond is to buy dirt - $1.5 billion!!!
The building of water storage and water conveyance (the politically correct terms for dams, reservoirs, and canals) probably does need some dirt. But, to build those things, don’t you have to displace dirt? Why not use the dirt you displaced instead of buying new dirt? Why not use the dirt that is existing around the state rather than buying new dirt? Why is the state buying dirt at all? With all the construction projects going on around the state, CalTrans cannot manage to transport dirt form one site to another? Dirt has to be bought?
This is simply an example of the ridiculousness of the water bond packages. Besides money for dirt, there is money for other materials. It is unclear what the market price for these materials are, but when you look at the Home Depot and Lowes websites, it is clear that the state is paying more than what it would cost to buy materials at these places. This is simply wrong. When you have market power - as the state does because it buys so many quantities of materials, you should leverage that market power to get a cheaper price.
The water bond needs to be something that the people can understand, support, and there needs to be a guarantee that the costs will not run over the limit of the bond. Otherwise, the people of California are not likely to approve a multi-billion dollar project that simply adds to the debt load California already has. Any money that is added to the debt load has to be taken away from somewhere else. In a situation where people are asked to make the choice between debt load payments and, maybe, health care for children - it is unclear that people will support the choice for more debt load (although common sense should tell anyone this is the case). And this assumes the state is going to be able to sell the bonds.
$1.5 billion for dirt?
That simply says all that needs to be said about the ridiculousness of the situation and the ineffectiveness of the state legislature.
I got to this website by googling “waste in california government.” $1.5 billion on dirt? On dirt? What is our government coming to? I am not a contractor - so don’t mimic me or anything - but dirt? Don’t you displace dirt when building things? We aren’t growing competition roses, do we need specific dirt? Is some dirt better than others? This better be some Harvard dirt that we are buying. Dirt. $1.5 billion. That about sums up california for me.