— from Jay Ibold BA History, University of Oregon ’88 —
It doesn’t take a history degree to see that tax increases are primitive attempts at problem solving. Yes San Juan County has a bad affordable housing situation. It’s been this way since we moved to Friday Harbor in 1999.
Proposition 1 is a lame way of kicking the problem down the road. It doesn’t help working families trying to buy their first home. At least the resolution could have set a threshold (say $500K) and only taxed purchases above that price.
I give San Juan County Council a C for effort and a D- for creativity on Proposition 1. Get back to work! This is a supply and demand problem. We need more homes. We need more rentals. A Yes vote for Proposition 1 is better than doing nothing.
