“Red Phone, I was hoping you could find out how the county could build a $4 million visitors center at the base of Anderson Dam. In a time when they cannot provide adequate law enforcement or road repairs, and are always trying to find more ways to tax or fee us to death, how can this be built? How can they justify building it at the base of a non-destination site that another overpriced government agency says they cannot fill over 50-something percent because it may fail in an earthquake. On top of that the cost does not include the thousands of dollars in county staff time spent on designing and approving the project or the thousands of dollars for architects and engineers to draw the project. And on top of that when was the last time you saw a government project come in on budget and where is the money to staff and maintain this site going to come from? One more comment. It is time for government agencies to drop the prevailing wage requirement on their projects. It is time to drop the requirements that unions have forced on the general public projects. There are many, many, many, non-union companies out there that have done beautiful work on government projects, and were forced to pay their employees the ridiculous wages just because some gang of thugs “negotiated” it into their contract. Please let us know how the county is justifying this project.”
Red Phone: Dear What a Waste, In short, your assumption that this is a county project is false.
The cost of the project is $2 to $3 million and will be built where the existing ranger station is located, not at the base of the dam. The money does not come from the county’s general fund, which is facing an end of the year deficit of up to $60 million. Rather, it is funded by the Parks Charter Fund that is paid for by a small percentage of county resident’s property taxes. Voters approved the measure to dedicate funding to county parks in 1972. Also, according to Deedee Flauding, the county’s capital projects manager, the project does not interfere with the Santa Clara Valley Water District’s proposed seismic retrofit of the dam.
Good caller, if you enjoy the county’s park system, be thankful voters were wise enough back then. Can you imagine what our park system would look like as the county looks to close the $60 million budget?
Hope that answers your question, good caller.
